What is the CAN-SPAM Act?
The CAN-SPAM Act, which stands for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing, is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations. It was enacted in the United States in 2003 and remains a critical guideline for
email marketers today.
Who Must Comply with CAN-SPAM?
The CAN-SPAM Act applies to all commercial messages, which the law defines as "any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service." This includes business-to-business emails, and its rules apply to both bulk email and individually sent commercial emails.Key Requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act
To ensure compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act, email marketers must adhere to several key requirements: Don't use false or misleading header information: Your "From," "To," "Reply-To," and routing information—including the originating domain name and email address—must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the message.
Don't use deceptive subject lines: The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message.
Identify the message as an ad: The law gives you a lot of leeway in how to do this, but you must disclose clearly and conspicuously that your message is an advertisement.
Tell recipients where you're located: Your message must include your valid physical postal address. This can be your current street address, a post office box you've registered with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox you've registered with a commercial mail receiving agency established under Postal Service regulations.
Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you: Your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future. Craft the notice in a way that’s easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand.
Honor opt-out requests promptly: 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 honor a recipient's opt-out request within 10 business days. You cannot charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any personally identifying information beyond an email address, or make the recipient take any step other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website as a condition for honoring an opt-out request.
Monitor what others are doing on your behalf: Even if you hire another company to handle your email marketing, you can't contract away your legal responsibility to comply with the law. Both the company whose product is promoted in the message and the company that actually sends the message may be held legally responsible.