How to Build a CASL-Compliant Email List for Your Canadian E-Commerce Store

Building an email list in Canada is fundamentally different from list building in the US, UK, or Australia — because Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) is one of the most stringent consent-based email laws in the world.

The good news: CASL compliance and effective list building are not in conflict. In fact, a CASL-compliant list is a better list — higher quality, more engaged, and more valuable than a list grown by any means available. The discipline that CASL forces on list building creates the kind of subscriber base that actually generates revenue.

This guide walks through every major list-building channel for Canadian e-commerce brands, with specific guidance on how to make each one CASL compliant.

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CASL Consent Basics

Before diving into tactics, it’s essential to understand the two consent types that govern Canadian email list building:

Express consent: The subscriber has taken a positive, specific action to opt in to receiving commercial emails from you. This means:

• Ticking an unticked checkbox with clear opt-in language
• Completing a form specifically for email sign-up
• Express verbal consent with a documented record

Express consent does not expire unless withdrawn by the subscriber. It’s the gold standard for list quality.

Implied consent: In specific circumstances, CASL permits sending without express consent:

• Existing business relationship: A customer who has purchased from you within the last 3 years
• Prospective business relationship: A person who has made a business inquiry within the last 2 years

Implied consent has an expiry — 3 years from last purchase or 2 years from last inquiry. It’s also narrower in scope: it covers communications related to the business relationship. And critically, if a subscriber unsubscribes, their implied consent is terminated regardless of how recently they purchased.

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List Building Channel 1: Shopify Checkout Opt-In

The checkout is your highest-volume list building touchpoint. Every order comes through checkout, and a well-optimised checkout opt-in can capture 15–30% of purchasers as email marketing subscribers.

CASL-compliant checkout opt-in:

• Include a separate, unticked checkbox with clear consent language: “I’d like to receive marketing emails from [Brand Name] including product updates, promotions, and news.”
• Do NOT bundle email consent with acceptance of terms of service
• Do NOT pre-tick the checkbox — pre-ticked boxes do not constitute express consent under CASL
• The consent checkbox must be visible and not buried in small print

Note: Under CASL, customers who complete a purchase without ticking the marketing email checkbox still have implied consent as existing customers (for 3 years from purchase). However, this implied consent is narrower and expires — so capturing express consent at checkout is always preferable.

In Shopify:

• Go to Settings > Checkout > Email marketing
• Enable “Preselect the email marketing option” = OFF (critical for CASL)
• Customise the opt-in checkbox label to include clear consent language

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List Building Channel 2: Website Pop-Ups

Pop-ups are highly effective list builders for Canadian e-commerce brands — when set up correctly.

CASL-compliant pop-up requirements:

• Clear, specific consent language: “Sign up to receive marketing emails from [Brand Name]” — not just “Subscribe to our newsletter” (which is less specific)
• The action of submitting the form constitutes consent to what is clearly stated in the opt-in copy
• Must include your brand name in the consent copy
• A clear reference to what subscribers will receive (promotions, product news, tips, etc.)

Pop-up consent language examples:

Good: “Join our community and receive exclusive offers, new arrivals, and style tips from [Brand Name]. By submitting this form, you agree to receive marketing emails from [Brand Name]. You can unsubscribe at any time.”

Problematic: “Enter your email for a chance to win!” (ambiguous — does this consent to ongoing marketing emails?)

Lead magnet pop-ups:

Pop-ups offering a lead magnet (discount code, free guide, quiz result) are among the highest-converting list-building tools for Canadian e-commerce brands. CASL compliance requires that the consent language is clear even when a lead magnet is offered:

“Get 10% off your first order. Enter your email to receive your discount code and agree to receive marketing emails from [Brand Name].”

Record-keeping: Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Campaign Monitor, HubSpot, and Mailchimp all capture the form submission as the consent event. Ensure your pop-up tool is correctly passing the source identifier to your ESP.

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List Building Channel 3: Landing Pages

Dedicated opt-in landing pages — linked from social media bios, ads, and content — can be very effective for Canadian brands building targeted segments.

Examples of landing page list building:

• “Join our VIP community” page linked from Instagram bio
• “Get our [guide/quiz/resource]” page for content-based list building
• Product waitlist pages
• Event or webinar registration pages

CASL compliance on landing pages:

The same principles apply: clear consent language, unchecked box or clearly implied consent through form submission with explicit language. Landing pages have the advantage of space — you can be clearer about what subscribers are signing up for, which improves consent quality and sets better expectations.

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List Building Channel 4: Facebook / Instagram Lead Ads

Meta lead ads allow you to collect email addresses directly within the social platform. They’re effective for growing lists at scale but require specific CASL handling.

CASL compliance for Meta lead ads:

Meta’s lead ad forms include a “custom disclaimer” field — this is where you must add your CASL consent language. Example:

“By submitting this form, you consent to receive marketing emails from [Brand Name]. You can unsubscribe at any time. View our privacy policy at [URL].”

Without a custom disclaimer with explicit consent language, Meta lead ad opt-ins may not constitute express consent under CASL.

Data transfer: When leads come through a Meta lead ad, ensure the data (including the consent timestamp and source) is passed to your ESP — either directly via Klaviyo/ActiveCampaign native integrations or via Zapier.

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List Building Channel 5: Physical Retail and Events

Canadian brands selling through markets, pop-up shops, trade shows, or physical retail locations need CASL-compliant consent processes for in-person list building.

What does NOT constitute CASL consent:

• Business cards collected at events
• Sign-up sheets where visitors wrote their email (without explicit consent language)
• Verbal “is it okay if I add you to our mailing list?” without documentation

What DOES constitute CASL express consent:

• A physical sign-up sheet that includes clear consent language at the top and a dated signature
• A digital tablet form with a clear opt-in checkbox and consent language
• A QR code at an event linking to a CASL-compliant digital opt-in form

Best practice for in-person consent: Use a tablet or iPad at physical events with a simple digital form that captures email address, opt-in timestamp, and event source. Feed this data directly into your ESP with the event as the consent source.

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List Building Channel 6: Referral Programs

Word-of-mouth referrals can generate new subscribers — but only if the referral mechanism is CASL compliant.

What’s problematic under CASL:

• “Tell a friend” mechanisms where you send a commercial email to a third party’s address based only on another customer’s recommendation (without consent from the third party)
• Importing referred email addresses into your main marketing list without the referred person opting in

What works:

• Referral links that take the referred person to a landing page where they can opt in for themselves
• Referral discount codes that the existing customer shares — the new person can use the code and opt in at checkout

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List Building Channel 7: Content-Based List Growth

For Canadian brands with content marketing (blog, podcast, YouTube, social media), gated content or content upgrade opt-ins can be highly effective list builders.

Examples:

• Blog posts with an opt-in to receive a related guide or checklist
• Email-delivered courses (“7 days to [outcome]”)
• Quiz tools where results are delivered by email
• Product finders or recommendation tools requiring email input

These opt-ins tend to generate highly engaged subscribers because the person is actively seeking value from your brand.

CASL compliance: Ensure the opt-in copy is clear that submitting an email address constitutes consent to receive marketing emails from your brand — not just consent to receive the content piece.

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Consent Record-Keeping: What You Must Store

Under CASL, you must be able to prove consent. For each subscriber, you should have on record:

1. Date and time of consent
2. Source of consent (checkout, pop-up name, landing page URL, event name)
3. Method of consent (express via form submission, or implied via purchase with purchase date)
4. The exact consent language that was presented (screenshot or text record of the form at the time of consent)

In Klaviyo, you can use custom properties to store consent source and method. ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, Campaign Monitor, and Mailchimp all support custom fields for this data.

A best practice: screenshot every opt-in form at the time of setup and store these records. If your form language changes, update your records. CRTC investigators have asked for this level of detail during enforcement actions.

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Managing Implied Consent Expiry

Canadian e-commerce brands with growing customer databases need a process for managing implied consent expiry.

What to implement:

1. Tagging at purchase: When a customer completes a purchase without express consent, tag them with the purchase date (your ESP may do this automatically)

2. Expiry monitoring: At 2.5 years post-purchase (if no further purchase and no express consent), trigger a consent capture campaign:

   • “We’d love to keep in touch — confirm you’d like to stay on our list”
   • Include an explicit opt-in button
   • Suppress those who don’t respond within 30 days

3. Express consent conversion: Throughout your email programme, offer opportunities for implied-consent subscribers to convert to express consent (clear opt-in prompts in transactional emails, preference centre links)

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List Quality vs. List Size

A common mistake for Canadian e-commerce brands is optimising for list size rather than list quality. Under CASL, you should prioritise quality:

• A list of 10,000 express-consent, engaged subscribers generates more revenue than a list of 50,000 mixed-consent, low-engagement contacts
• Larger mixed-consent lists carry compliance risk, deliverability costs, and higher ESP fees without proportionate revenue
• Suppressing lapsed implied-consent contacts and unengaged subscribers is an investment in list quality, not a loss

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How Excelohunt Implements CASL-Compliant List Building

Excelohunt reviews and implements CASL-compliant list-building architecture as part of every client engagement. This includes:

• Checkout opt-in audit and configuration
• Pop-up and landing page consent language review
• ESP consent record-keeping setup
• Implied consent expiry management automation
• Event and in-person consent process design

We work across Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, Campaign Monitor, and Mailchimp.

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Ready to Build a Better, Compliant Canadian Email List?

Our free audit covers your current list-building practices, consent architecture, and record-keeping — and gives you a clear action plan.

Book your free email marketing audit and build a Canadian email list that’s compliant, engaged, and revenue-generating.