In the United Kingdom, they have instituted a set of laws referred to as the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations of 2003. In Canada, they also have the CASL laws. However, the most commonly followed law is the CAN-Spam Act established in the United States of America. While the law favorably targets spammers, it still comprises few nuances that even legitimate marketers can accidentally violate. Thus, it is worth to note and learn these rules and regulations so that you will know how to be compliant. Included here is the rundown of the main requirements in the Can-Spam Act. Provide Proper Header Information Using misleading or false heading details is not allowed. Routing information and other headlines that include “reply-to, from, and to” should involve the originating email address and domain name. It must be accurate and should specifically identify the business or person that initiated the message. Use Clear and Certain Subject Lines The subject line should clearly point the content of the message. Any deceptive and misleading subject line information is a violation of the law. Establish the Message Firmly as an Ad If you are going to send a message in a form of an advertisement, it is crucial that you will identify and disclose it clearly. The law provides you a huge leeway in doing this; thus, abiding it is a must. Disclose Your Location to The Recipients Your message must contain information on your physical and valid postal address. It can include your post office box with the U.S. Registered Postal Service, private mailbox, or current street address. If you are sending it with a private mailbox, you need to ensure that it is registered with a mail drop or a CMRA recognized under the Postal Service Regulations. Discuss How the Recipients Can Opt-Out in Your Future Email Your recipients must be disclosed with a conspicuous and clear explanation about how they can opt out receiving future email from you. Devise the notice in a manner that an ordinary person can easily read, recognize, and understand. Proper use of location, color, and type size can improve the message clarity. Provide a return-path address to allow people to deliver their choice and response to you. You may construct a menu that allows the recipient to opt out of a particular type of messages. Correspondingly, it must include an option that can cease all your commercial messages. You should also ensure that your spam filter does not block any opt-out requests. Promptly Recognize Opt-Out Requests Your opt-out mechanism must be able to process the request for a minimum of 30 days after your message has been sent to the recipients. Any opt-out requests must be recognized promptly within the 10 business days. You are not allowed to require recipients from giving you their personal identification details nor charge them a fee for honoring their opt-out request. Ending Note Email marketers are subjected to follow these laws and the variety of conditions accompanied by it in order to avoid substantial fines. Most legitimate businesses that are utilizing an email marketing tool and are sending valid and authentic email campaigns usually comply with the laws. Apparently, the rules and regulations are highly focused on spammers. It was specifically designed to prevent them from procuring email addresses without the owner’s consent and to avoid the spamming of unsolicited emails.
