Obey business email messaging laws

Article written by Macxcess

Businesses using email for advertising should pay attention to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and its revised version in 2008. It sets rules for commercial messages where commercial advertisement and promotions of a product or service, recipient right to stop commercial email, and establish penalties for violation of the law.

Here’s what you should know and what to avoid:

• Header information on your message should be accurate. Use correct “TO”, “FROM” and “SUBJECT” information.
• Don’t use deceptive subject lines and clearly state that the message is an advertisement.
• Location information is important and includes your location on the message. This is to be your physical location and postal address. Postal boxes are okay if it is registered with the U.S. Postal Service or they approved mail box.
• Clearly and conspicuously show how recipients can opt out of your email messages and honor all requests for opt outs. An email address of your business should be shown for recipients to contact your business. Opt out requests must be honored within ten business days. Law prohibits charging a fee to opt out.
• Monitor your site traffic and what others are doing on your behalf. Both parties can be held liable for commercial email messaging.