Canadians confident that new anti-spam regulations will mean less spam in their inboxes

Canadians say new law will reduce spam (62%) and reported taking advantage of emails from businesses to reconsider their email subscriptions (67%)

OTTAWA, Oct. 7, 2014 /CNW/ - Summer in Canada this year was marked with an influx of email messages asking users to confirm their consent to continue receiving commercial email newsletters. According to a poll released today by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) and Ipsos Reid, 67 per cent if Canadian email users took this opportunity to evaluate their commercial email and decide whether to keep receiving a company's email newsletter.

This survey demonstrated that the anti-spam legislation is top-of-mind for many Canadians:

• 62 per cent of Canadians are aware of the new anti-spam legislation and of those who are aware, 84 per cent have taken advantage of it to reduce the amount of spam in their inbox by not confirming receipt of messages from organizations.
• Those that reported receiving confirmation emails confirmed their consent to continue to receive messages from the sender 55 per cent of the time.
• Canadians were confident that the new legislation will help reduce the amount of spam in their inboxes and two thirds (62%) of respondents think the legislation will be successful.

"Our research shows that Canadians are both aware of new anti-spam laws and have high expectations for the impact that legislation can have on their email inboxes. Businesses need to make sure that their email marketing campaigns are in line with these expectations," said David Fowler, Director of Marketing and Communications at CIRA. "As more Canadian small businesses turn to the web to drive their marketing efforts they need ensure that they understand the laws and regulations in the space."

Confidence in the law was higher among those 35-54 (64%) and 55+ (63%) than younger Canadians (59%). Respondents over 35 were much more likely to review their email subscriptions based on the new consent emails (71%) than those 18-34 (56%).

These survey results will be the subject of a panel discussion at the upcoming Canadian Internet Forum in Ottawa, Ontario. The forum will take place on Thursday, October 9 and will be streamed live online here.

For more information on this survey data, consult CIRA's factsheet.

About CIRA

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) manages the .CA top-level domain, Canada's online identifier, on behalf of all Canadians. A Member-driven organization, CIRA also facilitates the development of a better Internet for all Canadians, and represents the .CA registry internationally.

SOURCE: Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)

For interview requests: Ryan Saxby Hill, Communications Manager, CIRA, [email protected], 613-361-2397; Mike Colledge, President, Ipsos Reid, Canadian Public Affairs, 613-688-8971