The Australian Communications and Media Authority announced on 25 October that it has accepted an enforceable undertaking from Tiger Airways Holdings Limited—and payment of a $110,000 infringement notice by its subsidiary Tiger Airways Australia Pty Limited—for failing to unsubscribe customers from marketing emails.
An ACMA investigation found this was despite their customers’ repeated requests to be removed from mailing lists—as well as several warnings from the ACMA.
‘This is one of a number of investigations in which the ACMA has found businesses have allowed faulty unsubscribe facilities to continue, in spite of repeated customer complaints,’ said ACMA Deputy Chairman Richard Bean.
‘This action is another reminder to businesses that that they should pay attention to what their customers are saying, test their email unsubscribe facilities regularly, and not simply set and forget them. Tiger has now committed to ensuring its unsubscribe facilities are functional and effective.
‘Marketing to customers who have unsubscribed is not only against the law, it causes consumer frustration and that ultimately damages a business’s reputation,’ he added.
Breaches of enforceable undertakings can result in Federal Court action.
The ACMA’s e-marketing blog—Successful e-marketing…it’s about reputation—highlights that e-marketing to recipients who do not want to receive your emails is not a successful business strategy. Businesses using e-marketing are encouraged to sign up for the blog to get further information about successful e-marketing.