Email marketing rules every online store should know

If your store sends marketing email, the main US law to know is the CAN-SPAM Act. The FTC's compliance guide says the Act covers commercial messages, and that it makes no exception for business-to-business email. A research supplier that only sells to labs and companies still has to follow it.

This page sets out the core rules as the FTC describes them. It then covers a second point that matters for research suppliers: making sure your emails say the same thing about your products and your buyers as the rest of your store.

Which emails count as commercial

The FTC's guide uses a primary purpose test. A message whose primary purpose is to advertise or promote a product or service is commercial. Messages that contain only transactional or relationship content, such as an order confirmation, fall into a separate group, and the FTC says the law views those categories narrowly.

Mixed messages are common: an order confirmation with a promotion at the bottom, or a newsletter that also carries an account notice. The guide says a mixed message is treated as commercial if a reasonable reader of the subject line would think it promotes a product or service, or if the transactional part does not appear mainly at the beginning. If you are unsure, treat the email as commercial and apply every rule below.

The core CAN-SPAM requirements

• Accurate header information. The From, To, Reply-To and routing details must not be false or misleading, and must identify the person or business that sent the message.
• Honest subject lines. The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message.
• Say that it is an ad. A commercial email must disclose clearly and conspicuously that it is an advertisement. The law gives you some flexibility in how you do this.
• A valid physical postal address. This can be your street address, a post office box registered with the US Postal Service, or a private mailbox registered with a commercial mail receiving agency.
• A clear way to opt out. Explain clearly and conspicuously how to stop receiving your email, using a return email address or another easy internet-based method. The FTC says you must offer a way to stop all marketing messages from you, and your spam filter must not block opt-out requests.
• Honor opt-outs within 10 business days. Your opt-out method must also keep working for at least 30 days after you send the message.
• Keep opting out simple. You cannot charge a fee, ask for personal information beyond an email address, or require any step other than a reply email or a visit to a single web page.
• Do not sell or transfer opted-out addresses. The only exception the FTC describes is passing an address to a company you have hired to help you comply with the Act.

The guide also says you cannot contract away your legal responsibility. If an agency or a partner sends email that promotes your store, both your business and the sender may be held liable. That matters if affiliates email on your behalf; see affiliate and influencer programs for research suppliers.

The FTC's guide says each separate email that violates the Act can carry a civil penalty, and it states the current maximum amount. The figure is adjusted for inflation, so check the guide for today's number.

Consent and how you build your list

The FTC's guide is built around opt-out, and it does not say that CAN-SPAM generally requires prior consent before you send commercial email. Other laws, including the laws of other countries, can set different rules. If you email buyers outside the US, speak to a qualified lawyer about which rules apply to your business.

For a research supplier, the list is also a question of who you are marketing to. A list built from your own business customers, and from people who asked for updates, is a list of buyers you know something about. A bought or rented list is not, and it can put your offers in front of people you would refuse at checkout.

• Record where each address came from and when it was added.
• Leave marketing sign-up boxes unticked by default, so every subscriber made an active choice.
• Keep marketing sign-up separate from any research-use confirmation, so one is never a condition of the other.
• Remove contacts whose orders you refused because they did not fit your buyer profile.
• Process opt-outs from every channel: the unsubscribe link, replies and support tickets.

Keep email copy consistent with your store

Email is advertising. FDA's regulation on intended use, 21 CFR 201.128, describes a product's intended use in terms of objective intent, which can be shown by labeling claims, advertising matter, and oral or written statements, as well as the circumstances of distribution. The emails you send about a product are part of that picture. A careful product page does little if the newsletter about the same product reads differently.

Apply the same standards to email that you apply to product pages:

• No health, wellness, fitness, weight, cosmetic or performance claims, and no hints at them in subject lines, preview text or images.
• No dosing, preparation or use instructions for people or animals.
• No testimonials or reviews that describe personal use.
• No offers aimed at individual consumers, such as gifting or personal shopping promotions.
• Product names and descriptions that match your product pages and labels.
• The same research-use and buyer eligibility wording you use at checkout.

Promotions deserve a second look, because a discount email forwarded to a coupon site can reach an audience you never intended. See discount codes and promotions in a regulated store and the list of claims to remove from a research supply store.

Order and shipping emails

Keep order confirmations, shipping notices and receipts factual: what was ordered, the lot or SKU where relevant, where it ships, and the terms the buyer agreed to. If you add promotional content to them, the FTC's mixed-message test may make the whole email commercial, and the advertising rules then apply. The checkout copy checklist for research suppliers covers order emails line by line.

A pre-send checklist

1. Does the subject line accurately describe the email?
2. If the email is an advertisement, does it say so?
3. Is your physical postal address included?
4. Does the unsubscribe link work, and are opt-outs processed within 10 business days?
5. Does every product mention match the product page and label?
6. Is there any health, performance or personal-use language, including in images and alt text?
7. Is the audience your business and research buyers, rather than a bought or broad list?
8. If a partner is sending it, have you reviewed and approved the final copy?

What this page does not cover

This is a summary of the FTC's guide, not a full statement of the law, and it cannot tell you whether your own email program complies. Claddr's weekly monitoring checks product pages, policies and checkout copy against your compliance profile. It does not review email campaigns, so build email into your own review routine, such as a weekly storefront monitoring routine.