WHY
USE A LIST BROKER? WOULDN'T I JUST GO DIRECT TO THE LIST COMPANY?
Sure! But it makes no difference to price in fact, you'll
probably get a quote quicker through us. And we know what lists are
suitable for your campaign. We don't charge any markup on lists that we source for you, nor do we charge a fee. The list owners pay us a commission.
And we're not beholden to any list owner so we're free to recommend
the best list for your promotion.
HOW
DO WE STOP GETTING TELEMARKETING CALLS AT HOME?
The Australian Government has set up a Do Not Call Register that is
regulated by legislation. Consumers can register to stop getting telemarketing
calls. Note that the Do Not Call list applies to telemarketing to consumers (and government departments and emergency services, and now fax).
Political parties, charities, religious organisations and legitimate
market researchers are exempt. If you call somebody who has registered
on the Do Not Call list, you risk a fine. For more info on the Do Not
Call Register click
here.
I'M
A TELEMARKETER - HOW DO I COMPLY WITH THE DO NOT CALL LEGISLATION?
The law says you must not, or must not cause a call to be made to a
number on the Do Not Call Register. The Do Not Call Register was set
up to assist companies to abide by this law, and of course be a revenue
generator for the government! The DNCR offers an online data washing
service where you can clean, or 'wash' your own data against the DNCR.
You need to setup an account with the DNCR and upload your CSV files,
and you'll receive your cleaned file back. Sounds too hard? Let us do
it for you. Click here for more
info on our data washing service.
HOW CAN I STOP GETTING FAXES?
On 1 June 2010, the Australian Communications & Media Authority upgraded the Do Not Call Register to now include faxes. So if you do not want to receive cold faxes, register your number here
WHY DOESN'T ANYONE HAVE BUSINESS EMAILS TO SELL ME?
We get asked for business emails every day. In most cases we simply cannot get business email data, or what we can get is not spam-compliant. This means it is illegal to send a 'cold email' to the person's email address because they have not given you consent to send them emails.
The Spam Act makes it almost impossible to supply you with spam-compliant or 'opt-in' data for businesses. And because of the Spam Act, list owners find it too hard to stay within the law, so they just don't collect emails.
There are a few special business member databases that are Spam-compliant and the list owner will send your email on your behalf to their members. These tend to be small business owners and not corporates.
Our advice? Unless you are an exempt organisation, do not send spam and risk a hefty fine and being branded as a spammer. Send a letter via the post instead. More info on Spam in the next 2 paragraphs.Given that emails are now the domain of "daily deals" and cheap offers, would you want your email to be mixed up in all of that and seen to be cheap? It is worth considering if you want your brand to be seen in that light.
And note that the Spam Act is NOT the Privacy Act . Some list companies may try to confuse you with the Privacy Act or tell you "it is public domain therefore it's okay" to sell you non-compliant emails. It is not correct. If you have no consent to send an email, IT IS AN OFFENCE.
WHAT
DOES "OPT IN" AND "PERMISSION MARKETING"
MEAN?
Opt-in and permission marketing mean the same thing and
really apply to email and SMS (mobile) marketing. Under Australian law,
you must have the person's permission to send them email or an SMS (text
message). If you DO have the person's permission either via your website
or phone call, then this is called an "opt in" database because
the person has given you permission to send them stuff via email or
SMS.
If you don't get their permission, this is called spamming (more on
this below). The CONSUMER email lists and member databases that we use for your consumer campaigns
all have the recipients' permission...they have opted in to receive
marketing messages. We
don't spam anybody.
BUSINESSES are a little tricky. There's currently only 1 or 2 BUSINESS email member databases that are permission-based. And one list that is not.
Those emails you get for viagra pills and weight loss potions and dodgy
Nigerian businessmen? They are all spams. We can't imagine anyone giving
permission to receive those!
I'M
CONFUSED ABOUT WHAT'S SPAM AND WHAT'S NOT
So are many people. Spam is unsolicited emails or SMS (text messages).
If you send out a bunch of emails and text
messages to people who have not given their permission, then you are
breaking the law. However, if you have an existing relationship with
that person (they're a client on your database), then you are not breaking
the law.
A good example is, if you emailed us for a quote, and then a month later
we emailed you some FURTHER information about another service of ours
that we thought you'd like, that would not be considered spam, as there's
an existing relationship, and you would reasonably expect us to follow you up. But we wouldn't automatically start emailing
you our newsletter each month...we'd ask you first. That's a good approach
for you to take too.
Here's a snapshot of the Spam Act:
The Spam Act prohibits the sending of unsolicited commercial electronic messages - known as spam - with an Australian link. A message has an Australian link if it originates or was commissioned in Australia, or originates overseas but was sent to an address accessed in Australia.
If your business uses any form of e-marketing, including email, SMS (text message), MMS (image-based text messages) or instant messaging, you must understand and meet the following three key requirements of the Spam Act:
1. Consent - the message must be sent with the recipient's consent. The recipient may give express consent, or under certain circumstances consent may be inferred from their conduct or an existing business or other relationships
2 .Identify - the message must contain accurate information about the person or organisation that authorised the sending of the message and how to contact them
3. Unsubscribe - the message must contain a functional 'unsubscribe' facility to allow the recipient to opt out from receiving messages from that source in the future. Unsubscribe requests must be honoured within five working days.
A message does not necessarily have to be sent out to numerous addresses to be considered spam. Under Australian law, a single electronic message can be considered spam.
...and regarding lists:
If you wish to purchase marketing lists to send commercial electronic messages, it is your responsibility to determine whether consent has been obtained from each person on the list. Under the Spam Act, you may have to prove that consent has been obtained to send messages. It is not sufficient to assume that mobile telephone numbers or email addresses have been obtained with the consent of the account-holder without having proof of this from the provider.
Before purchasing a marketing list, you may wish to seek written details of how the provider obtained the email addresses or mobile telephone numbers and under what terms and conditions. Think carefully about whether you can rely on inferred consent and remember you must still include accurate sender identification information and an unsubscribe facility in your messages.
For more info on Australia's anti-spam laws click here . ACMA staff are actually very helpful, so feel free to call and ask direct questions.
Please note that telemarketing to non-government businesses, or direct mail is not spam, therefore not illegal in Australia. But most companies will happily remove you off their list if you ask. It's in nobody's interest to annoy you.
ACMA also has a blog with interesting posts on the Spam Act and how it applies to your business. Visit here to view the articles.
WHAT DOES "PERSONALISED DATA" AND "NON-PERSONALISED DATA" MEAN?
With consumer or residential databases, personalised lists is where the data contains a person's name, as in Mrs Jan Brown or Mrs J Brown or J Brown. For business lists this could be a CEO's name like Mr Rupert Murdoch.
Non-personalised simply means no person's/boss' name is included. Confused? Please contact us on 1300 668 287 and we'll explain the different to you or send you an example.
WHAT'S
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RENTING AND PURCHASING A LIST?
This can be confusing, but 99% of list owners have these 2 options....for whatever reason.
Renting is a one-off use of the list only . If you are cold calling , this means an actual conversation with the person . Or if you use postal data, sending out 1 letter only. Or if you rent both telephone and postal data, sending out a letter followed up by a conversation is a one off use of the data. Rental means you cannot use that list more than once (multiple times) without paying again or unless it is stipulated in your agreement..
Of course anyone who responds to you directly from you using the list , or 'opts in' to you in some way (becomes a client) can then be considered 'yours' and you can contact them as often as you like.
So how would we/the list owner know if you use rented data more than once? The list
owner 'seeds' the data with a "spy" so they can catch you if
you use it illegally and will pursue you (and us!) for payment.
Purchase, or multiuse or leasing, is more expensive to buy, but it's yours to keep and use forever OR within a 12 month period depending on the agreement.
This is perfect for populating your own CRM program or database. You may wish to purchase if you want to run regular campaigns, like post out a newsletter each month, for example.
So which option should you choose? In many cases, renting is usually sufficient for cold call telephone data, and it's much cheaper. Some list owners will also let you rent 2 or 3 times, which is usually cheaper than purchase. But it depends on what your goals are and how often you want to contact people. Please discuss with us so we can look at the best option for your marketing campaign.
WHY DO YOU CHARGE A SETUP FEE? IT'S A BIT ROUGH DON'T YOU THINK?
The list owners impose a setup fee on us, so we have to pass this on to you. A setup fee is really a delivery fee and covers the cost of extracting and tidying up the data.
You'll also notice many list owners charge a minimum order, especially with consumer data. Business lists are a bit more generous and most do not charge a minimum order anymore...rather they have the setup charge which really is their 'get out of bed fee'! But as delivery systems improve, setup fees and minimum orders will likely reduce or disappear, which is already the case with a few of the list owners we deal with.
WHY IS DATA IN AUSTRALIA SO EXPENSIVE?
Australia just doesn't have the population or volumes of overseas countries, so data here can be a bit more expensive. You are also paying for someone else's time and research, which adds to the cost, as many list owners use local facilities to update their data. But if you are looking to buy large volumes, we can usually get a better rate for you. Please ask.
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WANT MORE INFO, A QUOTE, OR PLACE AN ORDER?- Click here to open our Quick Quote form and send us a brief of what you need
- Or email us your instructions and tell us what you need. We'll come back to you within 24 hours (usually quicker)
- Or call 1300 668 287 between 9am-6pm Monday to Friday (EST)
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