Get POPIA consent right before electronic direct marketing

Start from the general rule

Section 69 prohibits processing personal information for direct marketing by any form of electronic communication, including automatic calling machines, SMSs and email, unless the person has consented or is an existing customer under the conditions the Act sets. You may approach someone who has not previously refused only once to ask for consent, in the prescribed manner and form.

The Information Regulator's guidance note on direct marketing treats telephone calls as electronic communication, so outbound marketing calls also need consent. Plan outbound calling around that interpretation.

Use the customer route carefully

The existing-customer route is narrow. The contact details must have been obtained in connection with the sale of a product or service, the marketing must be for your own similar products or services, and the customer must have been given a free, simple opportunity to object when the details were collected and on every later message, unless they refused at the start.

A lead who filled in a form from an advert but never bought anything is not a customer for this purpose. Treat leads as people who need to give consent.

Include the required details in every message

Every direct marketing communication must identify the sender, or the person on whose behalf it is sent, and give an address or other contact details where the recipient can ask for the messages to stop. Keep a record of people who have refused consent so they are not contacted again by another team or supplier.

• Design lead forms with a clear, separate consent choice.
• Ask for consent only once from people who have not refused.
• Apply the customer route only to real customers and similar products.
• Identify the sender and include an opt-out in every message.
• Keep and share an internal do-not-contact list.