Email marketing · Compliance
What the US law requires in every marketing email, what it costs to get wrong, and where Canadian and European rules go further.
Honest sender and subject line
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The CAN-SPAM Act sets the US rules for commercial email. According to the FTC, every marketing email must: use accurate From, To and Reply-To details; have a subject line that reflects the content; identify the message as an ad; include a valid physical postal address; include a clear way to opt out; honor opt-out requests within 10 business days; and stay compliant even when a vendor sends it for you. Each email that breaks the law can bring a penalty of up to $53,088, the current inflation-adjusted maximum, last set in January 2025 (16 CFR 1.98).
CAN-SPAM does not require opt-in consent before you send. That is the biggest difference from Canada’s CASL and Europe’s GDPR-era rules, which generally do. This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your specific situation with counsel.
The law applies to commercial messages: email whose primary purpose is to advertise or promote a product or service. That includes business-to-business email. There is no exemption for B2B.
Transactional or relationship messages, such as order confirmations, receipts, account notices, warranty information and changes to terms, are largely exempt, but their routing information must still be accurate. The FTC reads the transactional category narrowly. An email that mixes a receipt with promotions is judged by its primary purpose: if a reasonable reader of the subject line would expect an ad, or the transactional part is not mostly at the start, it is treated as commercial.
Newsletters with offers, product announcements, promotions, event invitations that sell something. Full CAN-SPAM rules apply.
Receipts, shipping updates, password resets, account and warranty notices. Mostly exempt, but headers must be accurate.
Judged by primary purpose. Put the transactional content first and keep promotions secondary, or treat it as commercial.
Each separate email in violation can bring a civil penalty of up to $53,088, according to the FTC’s compliance guide and the inflation-adjusted amount set in January 2025. That adds up quickly on a list of thousands. Certain aggravated conduct, such as using false identities or hijacked computers to send, can bring criminal penalties including prison.
Liability is shared. If you hire an agency or use a platform, you are still responsible for what is sent in your name. When several businesses are promoted in one email, they may designate one as the sender, but if that sender does not meet its duties, all of them can be liable.
Book a free 30-minute call. We check your templates, footers, unsubscribe handling and sending setup with you and tell you what we would change first. No obligation. Pick a time.
If any of your subscribers are in Canada, the UK or the EU, US rules are only the floor.
The practical rule for a small business with any international audience: collect clear opt-in consent at signup, store when and where it happened, and follow the strictest rule that applies to each subscriber.
Gmail now enforces its own sender requirements, which matter as much as the law for whether your email arrives. Google’s sender guidelines require bulk senders (5,000+ messages a day to Gmail) to authenticate with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, support one-click unsubscribe in marketing messages along with a visible unsubscribe link, and keep spam rates below 0.30%, ideally below 0.10%. Meeting these is good practice at any volume.
JLB USA runs email marketing on MailChimp, Klaviyo and HubSpot for growing businesses. We set up compliant templates and footers, connect unsubscribes across your systems through systems integration, and configure your sending domain. For legal questions, we work alongside your counsel rather than replacing them. More on the basics: email marketing for Fort Lauderdale businesses.
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No. CAN-SPAM is an opt-out law: you may send commercial email until a recipient opts out, provided you meet its other requirements. Canada and the UK generally require consent first. This is general information; confirm with counsel.
Within 10 business days under CAN-SPAM, and the opt-out mechanism must work for at least 30 days after you send.
Up to $53,088 per email in violation, the inflation-adjusted maximum set in January 2025 and listed in the FTC’s compliance guide.
Yes. There is no exemption for business-to-business commercial email.
Yes, if it is registered with the US Postal Service, or a private mailbox registered with a commercial mail receiving agency, according to the FTC.
