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Email Newsletters for Ontario Realtors: Consent, Content and Follow-Up

Nov 2, 2026

An open-house visitor gives you an email address for the feature sheet. Send the information they requested. If you also want to send monthly market updates, make that a separate choice and record the answer. Those two purposes are easy to blur when someone imports the sign-in sheet into a mailing list.

Who can receive a realtor’s marketing newsletter?

For a commercial electronic message covered by Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL), identify the consent basis before sending. Express consent can be given orally or in writing and generally continues until withdrawn. A clear, optional sign-up makes that agreement easier to document. Implied consent is narrower and often time-limited. ISED’s consent guidance

An inquiry may support implied consent for six months in qualifying circumstances. A qualifying transaction may support an existing business relationship for two years. Record the event and date that actually apply to the recipient and sender. A CRM import date, contact-list purchase or email open does not establish a new relationship. CASL, section 10

For each subscriber, keep the sign-up wording, when and how they agreed, which sender they agreed to hear from and any withdrawal. For implied consent, also record the basis and expiry. If you cannot establish a basis, leave that person off the promotional send. A new sign-up opportunity can be offered on your website or at the next in-person event.

What should every commercial issue include?

Identify the sender and anyone on whose behalf the message is sent. Include a current mailing address and another contact method. Keep the contact information valid for at least 60 days after sending. Provide a working unsubscribe mechanism, and process withdrawals without charge within 10 business days. Test the link with an address you control and check suppression before importing another list. ISED’s commercial message checklist

Have the brokerage review the template as advertising. Use the appropriate registered names and descriptors, and make the brokerage clearly identifiable. When an issue includes an identifiable property, a client or a sale price, check whose consent is required for that use. A public listing is a poor substitute for a permission record. RECO advertising requirements

What makes a local newsletter worth opening?

Choose one decision a reader is trying to make. A Vaughan townhouse owner preparing to sell may want to know which documents to assemble before a pricing conversation. The useful issue is the one they can save or forward to a co-owner.

Subject line: “What to gather before pricing a Vaughan townhouse.”
Opening: “If you’re comparing recent sales, start by separating freehold townhouses from condominium townhouses. The monthly fees and what they cover belong in the comparison.”
Useful detail: Invite the owner to gather a floor plan, a list of dated improvements and, where applicable, the current condo fee and its inclusions.
Reply invitation: “Which comparison is giving you trouble? Reply with the neighbourhood and the property type.”

If you include market figures, name the reporting organization, period, geography and property type next to the number. A GTA-wide average does little to answer a question about one building. Write the issue at a pace you can sustain and send the topic and frequency people actually signed up for.

What should you track after sending?

Log substantive replies, requests for a pricing conversation and appointments held. Keep unsubscribes and complaints visible alongside those outcomes. Tagged links can distinguish visits from a newsletter from traffic arriving elsewhere. A click tells you someone visited. The agent’s notes establish whether a conversation followed. Google Analytics campaign URL guide

Discuss your realtor newsletter with Torred if you have a list of contacts and want to turn it into a publication people choose to receive.