The CAN SPAM Act, which took effect January 1, 2004, stipulated that all commercial emails that are sent in the United States meet certain requirements. On July 7, 2008, Congress updated the law to clarify some of the ambiguities in the initial law and refine a few points.

The law applies to commercial bulk email, not to individual or transactional
messages, such as a receipt for an online sale. So, if you send an email newsletter or any other form of bulk email communication, be sure to follow these key rules. If you don’t, you are breaking the law and could potentially be sued in federal court.

Three tips for keeping it legal below:

The sender is responsible for unsubscribing email recipients who opt-out. The company, brand, or employee name that appears in the “From” field of the email message is the “sender.” This is important to note if you are running ads for other companies. Just remember, if you are identified as the sender, you must provide email recipients with an opt-out link and ensure that they are removed from list.

When you are conducting “forward-to-a-friend” email marketing campaigns, or if you offer something in exchange for forwarding a commercial message, be sure to also follow the Act’s requirements.

If you’re an Online Outbox customer, you don’t really need to concern yourself with this. We’re handling it all for you, automatically, with every message you send.

Do not alter the Internet headers of the message.
An Internet header is a block of information that a properly configured email server tacks on automatically to identify the Internet Protocol (IP) address of where a message originated and a few other technical details.

Again, Online Outbox customers needn’t worry. We keep things above board to maintain strict compliance with email laws, and to keep your deliverability rate high.

No misleading subject lines.
If your subject line reads “Wine Country Event Registration Now Open” but your message content is about the latest male enhancement drug, you are clearly trying to trick your recipients into opening your message. Just keep your message and subject line consistent. This is a good practice regardless of its legal implications.

Whether you’re using Online Outbox, another email service provider, or blasting out thousands of emails from Outlook Express (not a good idea, by the way!), you, as the email sender, have full control of your content, so you do have an active part in following this rule. However, when you’re acting in the best interest of your readership, you act in the best interest of yourself as well. A willing subscriber will typically continue to be so. A reader who is tricked into opening your email with misleading subjects is likely to delete your message, unsubscribe from your email campaigns, or even submit a complaint of abuse.

More tips for keeping your email campaigns legal are coming in our next edition!

A high bounce rate can be detrimental to your continued email campaigns. In order to protect their customers from unsolicited or unwanted email communication, many Internet Service Providers and Spam Filters look at previous bounce rates for your sending email address to determine whether to deliver your emails. The logic is this: if an email has a high bounce rate (20% or greater), the sender is a potential spammer, “making up” email addresses to try to hit a lot of recipients with their message.

If a lot of your emails are bouncing, we do recommend removing those particular email addresses.

Online Outbox utilizes a technology called “Automated Bounce Processing”, which helps control your bounce rate. If a particular email address bounces three times within a relatively short period of time, that email address is automatically deactivated from the Contact List. This helps keep your emails deliverable over the lifetime of your email campaign.

Emails coming from trusted email addresses are less likely to be knocked into a Spam or Junk Mail folder, or delayed or even blocked by your subscriber’s Internet Service Provider (ISP). And it’s all about deliverability, right? Or at least, it all begins there. If you can make it simple for someone to add you to their address book, you’ll have a higher probability of your email being received.

Here’s what you can do: Include a line of text that reads something like “Keep our emails out of your Junk Mail folder. Add us to your Address Book!”, and insert a hyperlink (using the icon that looks like two chain links, in front of a globe) to this non-descript page: http://www.memberlandingpages.com/address_book/address_book_add-a.htm

Instructions for adding you to their address book in a wide variety of email clients are listed within this document. Again, what could be more simple?

Hey, here’s a tip: watch your content! Many ISP’s check the content of emails for key words that are typically used by spammers. Each word it finds is assigned a certain point value. And they’re bad points, like in golf, or Uno. If the total score of an email is over a certain number, the email will be flagged as Spam and either get lumped into a junk mailbox, or not show up at all.

Online Outbox actually has a “Spam-checker” tool that will allow the system to scan your email to notify you of potential problems. Rewording potentially troublesome phrases can mean a great increase in your deliverability rate.