I hate SPAM, you hate SPAM and I bet your customers hate SPAM. The marketing email you send certainly isn't SPAM…right? Your recipients may have a different answer to that question.

In general, the rules to send marketing email are tighter than those for sending a similar traditional-mail campaign. U.S. CAN-SPAM laws provide a good starting point, and can be summed up simply:

• You can't send marketing emails to addresses you aquired from another company, purchased or not. Or to email addresses you just "found" on the internet.  
• You must include a way to unsubscribe from every email, plus the user has to be able to unsubscribe by hitting the reply button.
• You must include the street address of where your business is located.

If it were only that easy. When sending email marketing, you need to see things from the recipient's point of view. If any more than 1 recipient out of every 1,000 report your email as SPAM, it doesn't matter if you're complying with the law. The email provider (such as Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail) or ISP (DSL and cable companies) will block future emails coming from your company. If your customer doesn't know why they got the email from your company, they may consider it SPAM.

It's (generally) ok to send email to:

• People who explicitly signed up to receive your marketing email, via an online or offline form.
• Someone who gave you their business card at a trade show.
• Recent customers from the last 6 months, but if you are a low volume, large price tag company you could stretch that up to 2 years. The best practice would be to include a checkbox when they order allowing them to opt-in.

The benefit from all this means that those who get your email actually want it. In turn, your email is much more likely to do what it was intended to do and build a strong relationship with your customers.

Further Reading & References:

• Reclaiming Old Customer Emails with Example
• What you need to know about permission
• The "getting started checklist" for new email campaigns
• Complying with CAN-SPAM laws

by Peter V Cook

A top graduate of Asbury College's acclaimed Media Communications program, Peter is as creatively wise as he is technically savvy. He knows business and marketing while spending his days where the rubber meets the road in code and design. Peter also writes at his blog, PeterVCook.com.