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You probably don't consider yourself a spammer, but recent Federal Trade Commission actions against two brand-name marketers demonstrate it will treat you like one if your email messages don't follow CAN-SPAM's email regulations to the letter.
The FTC recently won judgments against Kodak Digital Imaging and jewelry marketer Ice.com for sending messages that lacked such basics as unsubscribe links, opt-out instructions and company physical addresses, labeling emails as commercial messages and honoring opt-outs within 10 days.
The FTC also levied a record fine against a company it accused of deceptive advertising, in part for a tactic many reputable marketers and online publishers also use: its forward-to-a-friend mechanism generated emails that looked like they came from friends instead of the business.
Here's a digest of recent FTC settlements:
- The FTC won a $26,331 judgment against Kodak Imaging Network, formerly Ofoto Inc., because the company sent an email message lacking three key elements to 2 million recipients:
- A working opt-out link
- Notice that recipients could opt out of future emails
- The company's street address.
The judgment represented the gross proceeds Kodak collected from the campaign. (This makes it pretty clear sloppy email doesn't pay: $26,331 collected on 2 million emails equals 1.3 cents gross per email.)
- Jewelry marketer Ice.com had to pay a $6,500 penalty after the FTC charged it with sending more than 6,000 messages to consumers who had opted out of its email program.
- JumpStart Technologies paid the record-setting $900,000 fine for disguising its solicitations as personal emails from friends, failing to honor opt-outs and misleading customers about the terms and conditions of its email promotions.
The FTC said JumpStart offered free movie tickets to anyone who provided names and email addresses of friends. The company then used the referring friend's name in the "from" line, phony personalization in the subject line and message text that sounded as if the friend wrote it.
The FTC also said the JumpStart opt-out link, labeled "Message Preferences," did not clearly state that it could be used to unsubscribe.
How to Avoid Run-Ins with the FTC over CAN-SPAM:
- Audit your entire email program, including newsletters, stand-alone offers, announcements and transactional emails to make sure they comply with CAN-SPAM down to the smallest requirement. Test all subscription-preference links to make sure they work. Verify that you are removing all opt-outs well within the 10-day window. See the resource list at the end for material to help you understand the law and how to review your email program for compliance. Start an internal do-not-email list in your database.
- Audit all your affiliates, salespeople and anyone else who sends commercial email on your behalf to make sure their messages and practices also meet CAN-SPAM provisions.
- Conduct a CAN-SPAM workshop with all employees who create or send email so that all parties understand the requirements and the risks of noncompliance.
- If you give users a forward-to-a-friend form or other mechanism to forward your emails, offers or Web pages, make it clear the message comes from your company. List your company or brand name in the "from" and subject lines, and avoid message text that looks as if the friend generated it.
Wrong: From line: "John Doe." Subject line: "Hey Jane, Check this out!" Message copy: "I found this great deal at XYZ.com."
Right: From line: "XYZ Co." Subject line: "Your friend John Doe recommended us." Message text: "John Doe visited our site at XYZ.com and thought you would be interested in receiving this great deal. We respect your privacy and will not add your address to our database unless you opt in." Add a similar privacy statement on your Web site's forwarding form, and then honor it.
- Marketers who use profile updates to let subscribers opt out or change preferences should make sure the email message states clearly that unsubscription is handled on the preferences page.
For example: "To modify your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe from these mailings, please click here."
- Monitor reply emails, ISP feedback loops and blacklists, and resolve spam complaints quickly. The FTC most likely learned about the violations it cited in its investigations, because lots of people complained to their ISPs or forwarded offending emails to the FTC's whistle-blowing email address.
Additional resources:
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