Free Email Marketing – Following the CAN SPAM Act

Free email marketing is a branch of the more widely known bulk email marketing technique of advertising one’s products and services over the internet medium of email. This is quite an effective mode of advertising when you consider that you would have a captive audience, you would not waste by targeting the wrong users, and you can reach your entire audience at once. However, the more nefarious branch of bulk email marketing, spam, also believes in the same benefits of bulk email marketing. Spam is a term used to denote unsolicited mails. In most part, all of us get our daily dose of spam but thanks to the existence of spam filters, we rarely notice these on a daily basis until the number of unread messages in the spam folder reaches the hundreds.

Spam is a contentious issue. Spammers believe that they are just practicing free trade but mailbox users would state that their right to privacy is being infringed. This is the very reason that an act of congress was required to regulate the practice of spamming with the passing of the CAN-SPAM act. CAN-SPAM is very categorical in allowing unsolicited mails under certain conditions. Apart from this, there are content and delivery guidelines to follow as well.

Free email marketers have to understand the basic tenet of this act, which is that email addresses that have been acquired from some kind of spider software is considered spam and is subject o legislation. Therefore, get your opt-ins before you even think of embarking on a mailing spree. It is also necessary to respect internet privacy and add an opt-out line or an unsubscribe line in your mailers as well.

CAN-SPAM is very categorical about the content that goes into a mail. Any material that is adult in nature or pornographic must be categorized so, explicitly. Additionally, advertisements must also be tagged in a similar way in their subject lines.

CAN-SPAM also categorically states that there can be no misleading subject lines or from lines in the mail. Additionally, the sender must be a valid one thereby negating the use of open relays. This set of anti-spam guidelines require an honest approach to bulk email marketing.

Bearing all these in mind, it should not be too restrictive to carry on your business of bulk email marketing. This is also one of the criticisms of the legislation. Many opponents to the act say that rather than curbing the menace of spam it actually encourages spammers. However, there is another way of looking at this situation. One can give a fair chance to free email marketing and spamming in equal measure but the most likely person to default among the two would be the spammer and this legislation would also make it easier for the spammer to be caught and punished. This is largely conjecture because since the advent of CAN-SPAM, there have been no real convictions. Also, spammers can still operate from overseas.

Originally posted 2009-11-02 13:50:30.