Strategy
Part of Real Estate Email Marketing Program Guide
Common Real Estate Email Marketing Questions: US & Canada
Common real estate email marketing questions for US and Canadian leads: CAN-SPAM, CASL consent, sender identification, unsubscribe deadlines, and suppression.
What to take away
Common real estate email marketing questions often turn on which country’s rules apply and whether a lead can be emailed.
- In the United States, CAN-SPAM is opt-out. Honor opt-outs within 10 business days, and keep the mechanism live for at least 30 days after each send.
- In Canada, CASL requires consent. Express consent lasts until withdrawn. Implied consent runs 24 months from a purchase and 6 months from an inquiry or a business card.
- Proof means the source, the date, the notice shown and the action the person took.
- Suppression records belong to the business, not the vendor, and must survive a platform change.
Which rules apply to a US sender
CAN-SPAM governs commercial email sent to US recipients. It is an opt-out rule, not an opt-in rule. No permission is required before the first send.
The text of 16 CFR Part 316 lists what each message must carry and how fast an opt-out must be honored. A real estate email marketing program can be built on those basics if the underlying list is honest.
Five duties sit on every commercial send. Check each one before the send goes out:
- An accurate from name, reply address and routing information
- A subject line that matches the body
- A valid physical postal address for the sender
- An opt-out that needs no login, no fee and no more than one step
- Opt-out requests honored within 10 business days
Keep that opt-out mechanism available for at least 30 days after the message goes out. Once someone opts out, do not sell or transfer the address for another sender's marketing.
Transactional and relationship messages carry fewer requirements. The primary purpose test decides the category. A market update with one listing attached still counts as commercial.
What CASL adds for Canadian recipients
CASL follows the recipient, not the sender. One Canadian address on a US list brings that message under Canadian rules.
The CRTC guide to express and implied consent sets out the consent categories, the identification duty and the unsubscribe duty. Express consent has no expiry unless the person withdraws it.
Each CASL-covered commercial electronic message must identify the sender and, if different, the person on whose behalf it is sent. Include a mailing address and at least one of a telephone number, email address, or web address; the contact details must remain valid for at least 60 days after the message is sent.
Implied consent does expire. A purchase or an active contract supports 24 months from the last transaction. An inquiry, a quote request or a business card supports 6 months.
CASL also requires a clearly and prominently stated unsubscribe mechanism that is readily performed and available at no cost. It must let the recipient unsubscribe by replying to the message or using a link to a web page, remain valid for at least 60 days after the message is sent, and be honored without delay and no later than 10 business days after the request.
CASL also places the burden of proving consent on the sender. A consent record is only as good as the program around it, which is the ground the email marketing improvement checklist covers.
Canadian privacy law covers the stored lead data apart from the sending rules. That is the PIPEDA framework, and it applies whether or not anything is sent. For lead data handled by a Quebec private-sector business, Quebec’s Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector, as amended by Law 25, may also apply.
For day-to-day list management, the consent, identification and unsubscribe duties determine whether a send can proceed; the suppression process below shows how to carry an opt-out across campaigns.
Example of a consent record that holds up
One row per person per source is enough to answer a complaint. That row should show who, when, what they were shown, what they did, what they were promised and when the permission ends.
Field / Example value
- jane@example.com
- Source
- /sell-your-home landing page, form v3
- Timestamp
- 2026-02-14, 09:12 ET
- Notice shown
- "I agree to receive listing alerts and market updates"
- Action taken
- Checkbox ticked by the user, unchecked by default
- Program promised
- Weekly listing alerts, monthly market updates
- Jurisdiction clue
- Ontario postal code, Canadian IP
- Consent type
- Express under CASL
- Expiry
- None until withdrawn
- Suppression history
- None
- Stored where
- Brokerage CRM, exportable as a dated file
The landing page that collected the consent is part of the record, because the promises made there have to hold. That is the discipline behind real estate SEO best practices on form copy and page claims.
Phone follow-up on the same lead sits under other regimes, including the Telemarketing Sales Rule in the US and the national do not call list in Canada. Email consent does not cover a call.
Keeping suppressed addresses suppressed
Every removal request needs a named owner and a dated record. When an owner is missing, the work still has to land somewhere.
| Situation | Owner | Record to keep | If the owner is missing |
|---|---|---|---|
| May we send? | Program owner | Source, notice and promise | Hold the send until a named person signs off |
| Must we stop? | Preference owner | Suppression event with date and channel | Route to the broker of record within one business day |
| Who answers a reply? | Service owner | Reply text and the route taken | Forward to a monitored shared inbox |
| Privacy or accessibility request | Compliance officer | Request, action and date | Escalate to counsel the same day |
Run the same four steps for every removal:
- Log the request the day it arrives, with the channel and the exact wording.
- Apply it to the master suppression list, not to one campaign list.
- Re-check that list after every import, vendor migration and template change.
- Confirm the removal in writing if the person asked for confirmation.
A vendor status of unsubscribed covers one list only, so it does not show that the sender has applied the request across its other email lists.
Common questions
Do I need prior consent to email a US lead?
No. CAN-SPAM is opt-out. You may send without permission as long as the message is honest and the opt-out works.
How long should I keep consent records?
Neither statute sets a fixed period. Keep the proof while you rely on the consent, plus a buffer for complaints and limitation periods. The date on the record matters more than the file format.
Can I email a Canadian address found on a US list?
Not on the strength of that list alone. CASL follows the recipient. Either document consent for that person or leave them out of the send.
Does a working unsubscribe footer settle everything?
No. The mechanism has to work, the request has to reach every list, and the rest of the message still has to be accurate. A footer is one duty among several.
