If you've ever spent anytime with email marketing then surely you have heard about CAN-SPAM. CAN-SPAM is the legislation that regulates the use of email marketing messages in the United States.
If you fail to comply with CAN-SPAM, you could face serious legal penalties in terms of huge fines and even potential jail time. Therefore, complying with these laws is an essential and you have to know how to do it.

One of the biggest ways that you can mess up your campaign is by either purchasing email addresses or by harvesting them illicitly from around the web. Either way, you are collecting email addresses from people who don't know you, have no interest in you and never gave you permission to contact them. This is the basic definition of spamming, and it of course has become a widely practiced technique, especially over the last few years.

If you do these things you can run into serious trouble with the law. As mentioned, you can face huge fines and even could potentially face jail time. The reputation of your entire company will be publicly tarnished, and your business will suffer as a result if it survives at all.

Before those serious consequences start kicking in, the reputation of your business will suffer in another key area, the reputation you hold with the ISPs, or Internet Service Providers. If your reputation falls in their eyes, they will stop delivering your emails. Then even the customers who want to receive your emails won't be able to do and you'll get tied up in lengthy ordeals trying to re-establish your online reputation. It's a battle that you may never be able to win.

With all of this said, complying with CAN-SPAM by building a permission based list also makes sense from a business point of view. The people you'll end up adding to your list are going to be legitimate prospects who want to hear what you have to tell them. You'll have every opportunity to actually convert them into customers or to get them to take whatever action you want them to. All of your key statistics, from ROI to click through rate to conversions will skyrocket with a sound permission based list as opposed to one harvested from anywhere else.

The key to following CAN-SPAM is to build a permission based list. You can do this in any number of different ways. From opt-in forms and signup buttons on your website, to email address collection sheets that you keep in your physical storefront. However you go about doing it, the point is that you are getting express permission to add someone to your list.

CAN-SPAM compliance makes sense in more ways than just keeping yourself out of trouble with the law. You'll also be improving the success of your business by following the best practices that can lead to success with your campaigns.