At Perkville, we are committed to helping businesses not only grow their customer base but also adhere to important regulations like Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). Our referral feature is designed with flexibility and compliance in mind, allowing businesses to effectively manage how referrals are handled.

Referral methods:

Perkville’s referral system provides two main methods for customers to share referral offers with their friends:

Direct entry: Customers can enter their friend’s name and email address, and Perkville will then send the referral offer on behalf of the customer. This method includes the original customer’s name in the subject line and body of the email, ensuring transparency and compliance with CASL’s requirements. For example, the email subject reads, "John Smith sent you an offer for ABC Gym," and the body states, "John Smith recommends ABC Gym."
Customer’s own communication tools: Customers can choose to share the referral offer through their own communication tools, such as personal email or text. In this case, the message is sent directly by the customer, and CASL does not apply to this type of referral. When their friend claims the offer, they enter their own contact information and consent to the business’s marketing terms directly.

New feature for enhanced compliance:

To provide an additional layer of safety and CASL compliance, we’ve recently introduced a new option. Businesses can now choose to disable the direct entry method (#1), meaning customers will no longer enter their friend’s information for Perkville to send the offer on the customer’s behalf. Instead, all referrals will be made through the customer's own communication channels (#2).

By turning off the direct entry method, businesses ensure that no referral communications sent from Perkville on the customer’s behalf could be viewed as being sent on behalf of the business. This approach guarantees that all outreach is handled directly by the referring customer, thus minimizing potential CASL compliance issues. Referred prospects will only be contacted after they have explicitly consented to receive marketing communications from the business.

Opt-out option:

For additional peace of mind, all Perkville emails include an explicit opt-out option. This allows recipients to unsubscribe from receiving emails from Perkville specifically, ensuring that their preferences regarding Perkville communications are managed independently of the business's own email settings. This helps avoid any potential conflict between our notifications and your business’s email preferences.

Further information:

To ensure complete understanding and compliance with CASL, we encourage you to review Canada's FAQs on CASL. Specifically, check the answers to the questions "Do I need consent to send a commercial electronic message following a referral?" and "Does CASL apply to commercial messages sent by friends or family members?" These resources will provide valuable insights into the nuances of CASL compliance related to referral offers.