Understanding the CAN-SPAM Act: Are You Following Email Marketing Laws?

Marketers who are at least somewhat familiar with U.S. email marketing laws have probably heard of the CAN-SPAM Act. Knowing what it is and how to abide by it is essential for enabling marketing efforts to go smoothly and be maximally effective. 

What Is the CAN-SPAM Act? 

The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003 established the United States’ first national standards for the distribution of commercial email. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is responsible for enforcing the Act.

The CAN-SPAM Act covers numerous aspects, and the details of many of them are covered below. Some people initially believe that these specifics only apply to emails sent in bulk. However, they concern all emails sent commercially. 

Photo by Stephen Phillips – Hostreviews.co.uk on Unsplash 

How Can Marketers Abide By These U.S. Marketing Laws? 

Although the CAN-SPAM Act has required email marketing professionals to make some critical changes, it is less encompassing than some people may expect. Its main requirements concern these areas:

• Subject lines
• Unsubscribing
• Identifying details from businesses
• Designating messages as promotional

Let’s go into some of these requirements in greater detail. 

Subject Lines

The CAN-SPAM Act forbids marketers to entice consumers with deceptive subject lines. Instead, this part of the email must accurately reflect its content. 

Unsubscribing

Although a separate section provides more details about this element of CAN-SPAM, the main requirements are that companies make it easy for people to unsubscribe and honor those requests within 10 business days.

Identifying Business Details

Another component of the CAN-SPAM Act prevents companies from concealing their identities or locations. Firstly, the From, To, and Reply-To fields must clearly identify the business. Additionally, the email must contain a valid postal address for the company, which can be a P.O. Box if necessary. 

Labeling the Message as an Ad

Although the CAN-SPAM Act does not specify how marketers must tell consumers that their emails are ads, there must be content to that effect in the email’s body. Although some states require companies to put “ADV” in subject lines to designate them, the CAN-SPAM Act assumes authority over those. 

Do Other Countries’ Email Marketing Laws Concern CAN-SPAM? 

CAN-SPAM supersedes some but not all state-level email marketing laws in the United States. Although this Act only applies in that country, other areas of the world have similar laws. Since email marketing is often a global effort, marketers must familiarize themselves with the applicable regulations governing the locations of their target markets.

Many companies’ laws have similar elements to CAN-SPAM, including requirements that companies must take certain actions at customers’ requests. One of the most often-cited examples is an aspect of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which requires entities to disclose which information they have about customers and to delete it if asked. 

How Does the CAN-SPAM Act Make It Easier to Unsubscribe From Marketing Emails? 

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash 

Most people dislike unsolicited emails. Even when they sign up for specific companies’ email lists, those consumers sometimes realize that they no longer want to receive those communications. Unsubscribing from marketers’ lists should not be difficult, and that is largely due to the CAN-SPAM Act.

Commercial emails must include clear and easy-to-locate instructions about how people can unsubscribe. The FTC recommends changing the font size, type and color to make this information readily seen. 

Although the CAN-SPAM Act allows marketers to create unsubscribe prompts that let people to stop receiving some — but not all — communications from companies, they must also provide options that will make all emails from those businesses stop arriving. 

Once people say they want to stop receiving emails, companies have 10 business days to honor their request. Additionally, the opt-out mechanism must be able to keep processing unsubscribe messages for 30 days after a company distributes an email. 

The CAN-SPAM Act’s stipulations also mention how marketers must remove friction that may otherwise discourage people from choosing to unsubscribe. For example, they must not require individuals to pay fees, provide identifying information besides their email addresses or make it necessary to visit dedicated webpages to unsubscribe. 

Another important point concerns what marketers cannot do once consumers say they want to unsubscribe. They are disallowed from selling or transferring those parties’ email addresses, even if that content is part of a mailing list. 

There are also unsubscribing specifics for people who join companies as subscribers or members. In those cases, marketing teams do not need to get those individuals’ permission to send them emails, people in those groups retain the right to unsubscribe as desired. 

What Are Penalties for Violating the CAN-SPAM Act? 

Each violation of the CAN-SPAM Act can result in fines of up to $51,744, emphasizing the importance of marketing professionals understanding and abiding by these email marketing laws.

In August 2024, news broke of a $2.9 million fine issued to a security company for running afoul of the CAN-SPAM Act and other allegations. The company reportedly failed to provide recipients with unsubscribe or opt-out information, and their messages lacked the businesses’ physical postal address. Additionally, the details alleged that marketing efforts flooded potential customers’ inboxes with emails.

Although the CAN-SPAM Act does not specify how many emails companies can send within specific time frames, marketers should always put themselves in the position of their customers and explore ways to get them to respond favorably without annoying them. For example, if a customer has not opened the last five emails sent, it is highly unlikely the sixth one will get their attention, even if it contains a seemingly urgent or enticing subject line. 

Plus, the time when emails arrive could impact how likely people are to open them. Suggestions indicate sending messages on Tuesdays increases the open rate. It can also be helpful to dive into internal email metrics to identify various demographic trends that could reveal what marketing teams should do differently to gain traction. 

Which Measures Supplement the CAN-SPAM Act?

Although it is important to stay abreast of these U.S. email marketing laws, those responsible for distributing commercial messages must also understand that many platforms have built-in spam filters that could prevent some legitimate communications from reaching recipients. 

Anyone who has ever looked at what ended up in their email service’s junk mail category knows that, while these tools are not perfect, they prevent many truly spammy messages from ending up in inboxes. Many email providers have their own rules, applicable to anyone sending emails in bulk. This reality means that people may need to abide by new particulars even if their messages do not have a commercial purpose. 

They often center on authenticating the sender through various methods. Additionally, Google requires marketers’ messages to support one-click unsubscribing. 

These particulars emphasize why it is necessary to go beyond email marketing laws and see what those providing the messaging platforms require. Most people have experienced the frustration of expecting a legitimate email from an important sender and seeing that it landed in the spam box. Learning the public-facing details about how email providers’ filters function can help marketers succeed with their inbox-related plans. 

Operate Confidently Within Email Marketing Laws

This overview of the CAN-SPAM Act and what it requires should help marketers feel well-equipped to launch and tweak email-based campaigns and know that all their messages follow the law. However, since email services also have spam-blocking methods, marketing teams must learn about those and how to stop communications from getting caught in them.