New Updates to the CAN-SPAM Law

 Source: VR Marketing Blog from Vertical Reponse  (Original entry posted on May 23, 2008)

CAN-SPAM - New Updates to Federal Law

I asked our ISP Relations & Deliverability Manager George Sukara to update me on some new CAN-SPAM rulings that just happened this past week (and break it down in plain English for all of us.)

1) POSTAL ADDRESS - Valid Physical Address can include a PO box or Mail Stop, as long as the USPS recognizes it. This might be an obvious one but it used to be a gray area, now it’s not.

2) PERSON is now defined not just as a human, it can also be a corporation, non-profit, etc. This is who is responsible for CAN-SPAM compliance when sending a commercial email. So business entities, as well as regular folks are now responsible for CAN-SPAM compliance in regards to all commercial email they send.

3) DESIGNATED SENDER RULE - This applies to you if you include any advertising or partners in an email. If you don’t include your company name "in the email" with a link to access your site, your advertisers are responsible for CAN-SPAM compliance even if your name is in the From Label. This mainly applies to companies who send coupons or offers on behalf their partners.

For example: Company A sends an email to their list with a special offer from Company B. In the email, Company A must have some information that advertises their own service, and some way for the recipients to access their site.

If Company A does not include some kind of ad for their own company inside the email, then Company B being advertised within the email would be responsible for all CAN-SPAM compliance.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you’re advertising in another company’s email marketing campaign, make sure they put something about their services with a link to their site. You don’t want to be on the hook for their CAN-SPAM compliance.

Also, CAN SPAM states (again) that all commercial emails:

• Must have a working reply-to address or other web based opt-out mechanism (which must also be conspicuous) for the company listed in the From Label
• Can’t be false or misleading
• Can have no deceptive subject lines
• Must comply with the SEXUALLY EXPLICIT label

4) UNSUBSCRIBE - Unsubscribes must not be complicated, nor can it require some kind of purchase, or taking a survey. The only thing you are allowed to ask for in an unsubscribe is an email address and the user’s email preferences.

As usual we’ll keep you informed on most of the CAN SPAM updates, just be sure you follow the simple the rules above and you’ll be AOK.