What You Need to Know About Restrictions on Outbound Prospecting

It’s Not Just An International Issue

It’s the dreaded word for all outbound sales people: SPAM. Despite best practices to ensure emails get to inboxes, sometimes the nuances of spam regulations change from place to place. If you use email as a primary way to contact potential clients and customers, it’s important that you’re aware of different restrictions and regulations on email and spam.

The CAN-SPAM Act “sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.”

How do you know if you’re CAN-SPAM compliant?

Start by asking yourself what the primary purpose of your message is. There are three different types of information that your email could contain: Commercial, Transactional/Relationship or Other content.

Commercial: Commercial content that advertises your product or service falls under the CAN-SPAM Act. This includes content from your website, pitch emails, newsletters and messages advocating your service or product.

Transactional/Relationship: Transactional/relationship content helps facilitate an ongoing transaction or something that was already agreed upon. These emails don’t attempt to sell anything new, instead they continue established communication or arrangements. This means they don’t fall under the CAN-SPAM Act.

Other: The last type of content, “Other,” is neither commercial nor transactional; it is often personal or unrelated to your business. If your message contains this type of content, you are (for the most part) exempt from following the CAN-SPAM Act.

5 Tips for Complying with the CAN-SPAM Act

It’s very important to read and diligently follow the CAN-SPAM guidelines (or know the rules wherever you are, especially internationally).

Always disclose who you are in your signature and why you’re contacting the person you’re emailing. Make your location very clear by including your physical postal address in your email signature too. CAN-SPAM guidelines indicate that this can be your current street address, a post office box registered with the U.S. Postal Service or a private mailbox registered with a commercial mail receiving agency (established under Postal Service regulations).

Always provide the ability to opt-out of the email list or unsubscribe to mailings—with a crystal-clear explanation of how to opt out of future emails. Some find it helpful to include alternatives to opting out completely, such as offering different newsletters on specific topics. Give the recipient options to choose either to receive targeted emails or to opt out of all emails completely.

Honor the opt-out request within 10 days. Any opt-out you offer must last for at least 30 days after your email is sent, but the CAN-SPAM law states that you need to fulfill a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days.

Don’t sell or transfer the recipient’s email address after they have requested to opt out. The only exception is that you may transfer the addresses to a company you’ve hired to help you comply with the CAN-SPAM Act.

These will help you steer clear of violating the CAN-SPAM Act. Penalties for violation are up to $16,000, so there’s no time like the present to ensure your emailing practices are professional! The main thing to keep in mind is that the CAN-SPAM act is there to prevent irritating spam from being sent repeatedly—if your company has good email etiquette, you should be safe.