Australia Data Privacy Laws | Conversive

Over the past few years, although SMS messaging has been among the most used and effective marketing tools, businesses have faced trouble for violating regional laws. At times, while implementing SMS strategies, companies may get carried away and it can be unclear where exactly to draw the line between spam and effective marketing.

Spam (unsolicited or unwanted messages) is strictly regulated. For instance, product promotional messages, or marketing and service messages, if sent without the customer’s consent, will get flagged as spam.

Just like in any other country, Australia has its own messaging system restrictions. Your messages can be designated as spam and your business may be slapped with millions of dollars in fines if the laws are not followed. It is critically important to be messaging compliant with Australia’s data privacy laws.

What does the current legislation look like?

The Spam Act 2003, enforced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), defines the spam regulations in Australia. It is the individual business’s responsibility to assure that their messaging behavior is compliant with the Spam Act. To be specific, the Act covers all types of commercial electronic mail such as email, IM, MMS, and importantly SMS.

In essence, the spam act laws require organizations to:

Give an option to customers to unsubscribe.
Obtain required consent from recipients.
Provide clear identification while sending the messages.

What you need to do to be compliant

Get Consent from Recipients: The recipients may give you an express consent, otherwise the consent can also be implicit. When the recipients sign-up to receive messages, it means they have given express consent. Implicit consent always relies on the existing relationship of the business with its customers. These can be customers who have already purchased products from your organization and you want to send them more marketing information.
Provide Identification: It is a must that messages contain clear identification of the organization or individuals who are authorized to send the messages. To provide your identification, you can include a Sender ID along with the name of your company. Another way to provide your identification is to send a message that begins with your business name.
Unsubscribe Option: All promotional or marketing messages must have an option to ‘unsubscribe’, allowing the recipient to opt out from receiving any messages in the future.
Avoid Collecting Unnecessary Information: It is always important to collect only the required information from your customers, else your messages will be marked as spam. Unless any information is reasonably necessary, it is pointless to collect it.
Review Data Storage: If it is required to disclose personal information overseas, the business must take required steps to make sure that the overseas recipient follows the Australian Privacy Principles.

Conversive’s Solution

Conversive stores all customers’ data strictly in Australia by utilizing servers located in Australia. Your business data is stored locally with Conversive, which is crucial if you are an Australian-based business!

The Conversive Messaging Solution enables you to effortlessly get compliant with the SPAM Act and push healthy marketing and promotional texting seamlessly while avoiding pricey violations.

Enforcements & Penalties

If the laws are not followed, the Act outlines several enforcements. The ACMA has the right to determine appropriate action that needs to be taken on a per-case basis. ACMA presents formal warnings to indicate concerns related to a breach or alleged incidents and allows individuals or businesses to take necessary compliance actions to avoid future contraventions.

Exemptions

There are certain exemptions if the messages sent are not related to marketing. Generally, informational messages are exempted. Non-government bodies, charities, religious organizations, educational institutions, and government bodies in Australia are certainly exempt from this Act, provided the message content is specifically related to the services and goods offered by the organization.

If you want to start using the Conversive messaging solution in the Australian region, reach out to our Sales team at [email protected].