Following up on leads without breaking Canada's anti-spam rules

What CASL covers, in brief

CASL applies to commercial electronic messages, such as emails and texts. According to the CRTC's guidance, as of October 2026, these messages generally need three things:

1. Consent from the recipient, either express or a qualifying form of implied consent.
2. Identification of who is sending the message and how to contact them.
3. An unsubscribe mechanism that works.

The CRTC also says senders must be able to prove consent, and it enforces the law. For the precise rules, exceptions and definitions, read the CRTC's FAQ directly or ask a lawyer. Our job here is to turn the general principles into habits a busy trades office can actually keep.

Personal information you collect, such as names, phone numbers and addresses, is also covered by privacy law. In Ontario, the federal PIPEDA applies to private-sector businesses. Treat customer contact details as something you're responsible for, not just a list to market to.

The difference between follow-up and promotion

The most useful distinction for a trade is between replying to someone and marketing to them.

• Replying: a homeowner calls about a leaking water heater. You text back to say you missed the call and will ring in 20 minutes. You send the quote they asked for. You check in two days later to see if they have questions.
• Promoting: you send everyone who has ever called you a spring discount offer, or add quote recipients to a monthly promotional email.

The first kind of message is part of the conversation the customer started. The second is marketing, and that's where consent rules bite hardest. Many CASL problems start when a trade quietly moves people from the first category into the second without proper consent. Check the CRTC's guidance on how consent works for each kind of message before sending anything promotional.

Step 1: Record how each contact reached you

Keep a simple record for every enquiry. A spreadsheet or a field in your job software is enough.

This record does two things. It helps you answer the customer properly, and it gives you a way to show how and when someone agreed to hear from you, which the CRTC says senders should be able to prove.

Step 2: Identify yourself in every message

Every text and email should make it obvious who's writing. For texts, that's usually your business name and a way to reach you. For emails, include your business name, a contact method and your business details in the footer.

A sample missed-call text:

Hi, this is [Your name] at [Business name]. Sorry we missed your call. I'm on a job and will call you back by [time]. If it's urgent, reply here. Reply STOP to opt out.

Short, clear and polite. The homeowner knows who you are, when to expect a call and how to stop messages.

Step 3: Make opting out easy, and honour it

If you send anything promotional, include a working way to opt out, such as a reply keyword for texts or a link or reply instruction for emails. When someone opts out, record it and stop. Don't make them ask twice.

A practical habit: once a month, check that every opt-out in your system has been applied everywhere you send messages. Owners sometimes find that their email tool honours opt-outs but their texting tool doesn't, or the other way round.

Step 4: Build a respectful quote follow-up

Quote follow-up is where most trades leave money on the table. A simple, respectful sequence:

1. Same day: send the quote, with a short note on what's included and how to reach you.
2. Two days later: a brief check-in. "Hi [Name], it's [Your name] at [Business name]. Just checking whether you had any questions about the quote for [job]."
3. One week later: a final note. "I'll close this quote on [date] unless you'd like to go ahead or talk it over. Thanks for considering us."

Then stop. Three touches over a week is service. Daily messages are pressure, and they make homeowners less likely to call you next time.

Here's what that can be worth. A trade sending 40 quotes a month and winning 10 has a 25% close rate. If a consistent follow-up lifts that to 30%, it wins 12 jobs. At an average of $2,200 per job, that's $4,400 more each month from leads you already had.

Step 5: Keep promotions separate and honest

If you do want to send promotions, such as seasonal tune-up reminders or offers, set up a separate list for people who have agreed to receive them, and check how consent works under the CRTC's guidance.

Keep the content honest too. Canada's Competition Bureau warns against misleading representations, including advertised prices that leave out mandatory fixed fees, and unsupported environmental claims. "Furnace tune-up $99" should mean $99, not $99 plus a mandatory trip charge.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Importing your whole phone history into an email tool. Past callers haven't necessarily agreed to promotional email.
• No business name in texts. A text from an unknown number saying "Still interested?" looks like spam.
• Ignoring opt-outs on one channel. Opt-outs need to apply wherever you send that kind of message.
• Automating the human out of it. Automation should get a reply out fast; a real person should still call back.
• No records. If you can't show how someone came to receive your messages, you're relying on memory.

Where to go from here

If you'd rather we set this up, our call, text and quote follow-up service covers the routine, the templates and the record-keeping. For a closer look at missed-call text-back tools, CallText.chat goes into detail. Our budget worksheet shows how to compare follow-up gains with buying more leads, and the guides library lists everything else.