Complying with the CAN-SPAM Act When Sending Emails

This information is not legal advice. While we do our best to provide useful information as a starting point, Yotpo advises all merchants to seek professional legal advice to ensure that all marketing campaigns are sent in full compliance with all applicable laws.

The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act ( CAN-SPAM Act), is a US law that regulates commercial email messages. The primary goal of the CAN-SPAM Act is to protect consumers from receiving unwanted or fraudulent email messages while still allowing legitimate businesses to use email marketing as a communication tool. Companies that violate the provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act can face substantial penalties and fines.

In this article, you’ll learn about the guidelines you must follow to stay compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act.

CAN-SPAM Act requirements

The CAN-SPAM Act requires merchants to comply with a few simple rules that apply to every commercial email. The Yotpo email builder has addressed some of these requirements, but merchants are responsible for ensuring compliance with the remainder.

Don’t use false or misleading header information

The email address and domain name of the sender or business that initiated the message must be clear and accurate. To learn how to easily authenticate your sending domain, see Adding and Authenticating a Sending Domain.

Don’t use deceptive subject lines

The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message. Don’t send clickbait or include “RE:” or “FWD:”.

Identify the message as an ad

While the law allows for different approaches, it is necessary to disclose explicitly that the message is an advertisement.

Tell recipients where you’re located

Your message must include your valid physical postal address. This can be your current street address, a post office box you’ve registered with the US Postal Service or a private mailbox with a commercial mail-receiving agency established under Postal Service regulations.

By default, the Store full address personalization tag is included in the footer of every email you send. You can also add the Store secondary address and Store main address tags. You need to have at least one of these tags in the footer to be able to save your email and then send it.

To learn more about how to add personalization tags to emails, see Adding Dynamic Content with Personalization Tags.

Important:

If you add your store address as plain text or image, it won’t be recognized by the email editor and you’ll be prompted to use a personalization tag instead when saving your email.

Provide a simple and reliable way to opt out of every email

Every email must include a clear and easily noticeable explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting emails from you in the future.

By default, the Unsubscribe linkable text personalization tag is included in the footer of every email you send. If you remove the tag, you won’t be able to save your email before adding it again.

Honor opt-out requests promptly

Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your message. You must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days.

By default, any subscriber who clicks the unsubscribe link in your email will be added to the unsubscribes list and will stop receiving emails. You can also remove subscribers manually from the Customers page.

Next steps

To learn more about how to create email campaigns, see Creating an Email Marketing Campaign.