Back in the dark-ages (before the CAN-SPAM ACT went into effect in 2004), email marketing was the Internet version of the Wild, Wild West. Nothing was illegal, no matter how unethical it might have been.

Today, there are rules that email marketers must abide by or suffer the considerable consequences set forth in the CAN-SPAM Act.

If you promote any kind of products via email, CAN-SPAM applies to you. Here are three tips that will help you avoid problems:

1. Know the Law:

Ignorance of the law is not an acceptable defense if you’re caught spamming. If you’re doing email marketing, be sure to understand the provisions of CAN-SPAM and abide by them…all of them. You can find an excellent and easy-to-read explanation of exactly what is required in the Federal Trade Commission’s The CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business.

2. Prevent SPAM Reports:

Even if you carefully abide by every guideline of CAN-SPAM, your readers might still report you as a spammer. There are two things that you can do to help prevent this:

A. Remind your readers why they subscribed to your list in the first place. Readers sign up for a list and then promptly forget they signed up. So in each marketing email remind them WHY they are receiving a marketing email from you.

B. Make your unsubscribe option obvious. While you don’t want your readers to unsubscribe, if you make unsubscribing difficult, or complicated, you’re more likely to get reported as a spammer. You can fight the charge and win … but it’s a time-consuming hassle.

3. Avoid Honeypots:

“Honeypots” are spam traps. They’re set up with the sole purpose of catching spammers; an email address is “hidden” on a webpage but it can be found by email harvesting programs that are commonly used by spammers.

You’re thinking “but I’m not a spammer and I don’t use an email harvesting program, so what’s the problem?” The problem is that an unscrupulous competitor can add a honeypot email address to your list. You are then guilty of spamming even if it wasn’t intentional and the same laws (and penalties) apply.

However, you can prevent this by using a double opt-in option. A double opt-in option means that all email addresses have to be verified with a confirmation email before being added to your list.

It’s ten times easier to avoid a problem than it is to solve a problem….or “a stitch in time, saves nine.” Use these steps to avoid email marketing problems, which can cost you time and money!

The CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business