Canspam Compliant

How to Be Canspam Compliant when sending emails legally and effectively.

CanSpam Compliant Rules

Email CanSpam rules and guidelines to follow

The CAN-SPAM laws require commercial emails to follow certain guidelines. These are set by the FTC, allowing B2B organizations to market to new prospects within clear compliance rules.

7 steps to be CanSpam compliant.

Best practices and a basic understanding of the law will ensure that your business email follows all regulations and reaches your recipients’ inboxes.

An email header contains crucial metadata about the email’s origin, route, and other information that can help troubleshoot, verify authenticity, or identify issues. Here are the key components of a typical email header:

  • From: The sender’s email address. – Company Name
  • To: The recipient’s email address.

The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message. For example, you can’t have a subject line that says, “Win a new car!” without mentioning a car or a contest in the body of the email. The subject line of an email is a summary of the content of the email. It serves several important purposes:

  1. Summarizes the Content: It gives the recipient a preview of the email.
  2. Attracts Attention: A well-crafted subject line can encourage the recipient to open the email.
  3. Prioritizes the Message: It helps the recipient determine the importance and urgency of the email.
  4. Avoid Spam Triggers: Avoid words and phrases that could cause the email to be marked as spam.
    • Example: Avoid using “Free,” “Earn Money,” or “Limited Time Offer.”

According to the CAN-SPAM Act in the United States, businesses must identify promotional emails as advertisements. This can be done straightforwardly and compliant while maintaining professionalism and clarity.

How to Identify a Message as an Ad

  1. Clear Statement: Include a clear statement at the beginning or end of the email to inform the recipient that the email is an advertisement.
  2. Disclosure Language: Use simple and direct language to avoid any ambiguity.

Your message must include your valid physical mailing address. This can be in fine print at the bottom of the email.

Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future emails from you.
Your message must clearly explain how the recipient can opt out of getting an email from you in the future. You may say “Reply, or “unsubscribe” to be removed from our mailing list. Or you may have a valid opt-out link.

Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your message. You must honour a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days.

The law clarifies that even if you hire another company to handle your email marketing, you must ensure they comply with the law.

By including a clear statement at the beginning or end of your email, you can ensure compliance with legal requirements and maintain transparency with your recipients.

Please visit the FTC website for the complete guide
to US CAN-SPAM compliance.