Is Your Business Complying With The CAN-SPAM Act?
Does your company send out emails as a marketing tactic? Maybe your business sends out a monthly newsletter or a monthly sales promotion. If you don’t, you are missing a tremendous opportunity to nurture leads, build brand awareness and increase sales.
Email is one of the most common forms of business communication. In fact, 59% of B2B marketers say email is their most effective channel regarding revenue generation.
While email has the potential to grow your business tremendously, if you don’t follow The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM ACT), you could be hurting your business.
The CAN-SPAM Act was set up to protect consumers from unsolicited emails and contains several requirements that businesses must comply with. Here are the seven main rules your business must follow under The CAN-SPAM Act:
The recipient must know the email is from your company:
Open rates tend to be higher when you send an email from an individual rather than a business. The way around this is having an employee send the email from their work email. As long as the business name is mentioned in the “from”, “reply to” and “routing information” sections of the email, you are adhering to The CAN-SPAM Act.
Your subject line must be transparent:
This is pretty straightforward; however, some companies choose to be misleading with their subject lines to secure higher open rates. Not only will this practice make your business look dishonest but it also goes against CAN-SPAM. Make sure your subject line is impactful by relating it to the email contents. Keep it short and use words that will entice the reader to open the email without being deceiving.
Inform recipients that you are sending an advertisement:
According to the CAN-SPAM Act, your business must say somewhere in the email that it is an ad. You don’t have to say it in the subject line or even draw attention to it with a picture. Just put it in small text in the footer saying “This advertisement was sent to you by (your company logo). As long as it is in there somewhere, you are following best practices!
Provide your business address:
You must provide your physical business address on each email your business sends. You may give a PO Box if you don’t receive mail at your business location, but either way, you must provide current and valid information. You can place this in the footer of the email where it won’t be distracting or take away from your content.
Make unsubscribing easy:
You probably don’t appreciate it when a business keeps sending you emails and the unsubscription process is time-consuming. If you don’t like it, don’t put your prospects through it! Under the CAN-SMAP Act, your business is not only required to offer an opt-out, but it must be a natural process for email recipients. Put the unsubscribe link at the bottom of your footer and make the landing page simple and to the point.
Remove opt-outs quickly:
It is always sad to see an opt-out request come through, but don’t take it personally. It happens to even the best of businesses! Ensure you are complying with the law by removing unsubscribers from your database within ten business days. Once removed, you can not use their email, transfer it, or sell it.
Be responsible:
If you are outsourcing your marketing requirements or have someone within your business handling email marketing, it is ultimately your job to ensure they are complying with The CAN-SPAM Act. Ensure you approve each email before it goes out and double check each aspect covered in this blog.
Following The CAN-SPAM Act means your company wants to protect your potential customers and also proves that your business has integrity, is transparent and honest in communication efforts. If you are looking for a trustworthy third party to handle your business ’s email marketing, give us a call here at Marketing Eye. With over 15 years of experience, we will create authentic emails that attract your prospects and increase conversion rates.
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