CAN-SPAM Compliance: What Small Businesses Need

CAN-SPAM sounds like something only large marketing teams need to think about. In reality, it applies the moment a business sends a single promotional email, regardless of size or how the list was built.

The rules that catch small businesses off guard

• A subject line cannot mislead the recipient about what the email actually contains
• Every commercial email needs a real physical postal address, not just a reply-to email
• Opt-outs need to be honored within ten business days, not whenever someone gets around to it

The most common mistake we see

It is rarely intentional. A business sends a genuine, well-meant email update and simply forgets the unsubscribe link, or includes one that points to a dead page. Both count as a violation the same way a deliberately hidden opt-out does.

What real compliance looks like

• A real postal address in the footer of every commercial email sent
• A one-click unsubscribe link that works immediately, with no login or extra form required
• Opt-outs applied before the next campaign goes out, not weeks later

The penalties are not symbolic either: the FTC can pursue fines of tens of thousands of dollars per individual email that violates the Act, which adds up fast across a real list. Read the FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide

How we handle it on our own list

Every email we send includes a signed, working one-click unsubscribe link built directly into the template, and an opt-out is applied immediately, before any future send goes anywhere near that address. See our Privacy Policy