Email Advertising and the Law

With the crunch on spam mail becoming more widespread, legitimate email marketing campaigns must now adhere to certain restrictions laid out by the FTC. Here, a rundown of the main rules and laws that regulate email.

1. You may not include false or misleading information in your email's "From," "To," and routing information. The domain name and email address must identify you as the initiator of the message.

2. You may not mislead the recipient about the contents of the message through use of a deceptive subject line.

3. Email advertisements must be identified as such and must include your valid physical postal address.

4. Your email must inform the recipient of an opt-out option.

5. You must provide that opt-out option. This means you must either include a valid email address for opt-out requests or some other Internet-based option which allows the recipient to inform you he or she no longer wishes to receive your email.

6. By law, you have 10 days after receiving an opt-out request to stop sending email to that recipient.

7. Once you receive an opt-out request, you may not have another entity continue to send mail to that recipient on your behalf.

8. You may not sell email addresses of recipients who have sent an opt-out request.