You have a pool of loyal clients you want to stay in touch with. You've also got a handful of people you'd like to join your client list. You pool together all of the email addresses you can glean from business cards and websites, paste them into the BCC field in your email client, compose an email advertising your newest product, and hit "send." No problem, right?
...not exactly.
You might not know that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has regulations in place for commercial emailers, with the Department of Justice backing them up. These aren't just recommendations; they're provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act, which has been in place since January 1, 2004. Violate any of their regulations and risk penalties up to $11,000 for each offense. You can also be sued by your Internet Service Provider and/or state and federal agencies.
Here are a few provisions of the act:
- No false or misleading information in "To", "From", or "Subject" fields
- You must provide an Internet-based opt-out method
- The email must include your physical postal address
Read the full
FTC Requirements for Commercial Emailers on their website.
You might be thinking, Do I really have to follow these regulations? Absolutely!
But if you're worried about adhering to the regulations on your own, you can use a service such as Constant Contact, which ensures you adhere to all of the FTC guidelines AND gives you pretty templates to type your messages in.
If you're sending an email to a single client, that's known as a "transactional" or "relationship" message, and presumes an existing business relationship and/or agreed-upon transaction. This type of message is exempt from most of the CAN-SPAM Act, but you still can't fake information in "To" and "From" fields.