Retailers Testing CAN-SPAM By Making Unsubscriptions More Difficult

A new study has revealed that many businesses have been pushing the envelope as far as the CAN-SPAM Act goes. It found that 39% of major online retailers force users to go through 3 or more clicks to unsubscribe from a mailing list, up from 7% in 2008, and 30% send 2 or more emails after the unsubscribe request has been received.  This is not a good trend, in fact it can get a business in hot water.

When you’re competing against the ruthless efficiency and trustworthiness of the ‘report spam’ button, your email opt-out process needs to be friction-free and provide options ISPs can’t give their users,” said Chad White, Research Director at Responsys and author of the study. “But an examination of the unsubscribe processes of the largest online retailers shows plenty of room for improvement on both those points.”

The study also found that 4% of the top 100 online retailers refuse to honor opt-outs, a blatant violation of the CAN-SPAM Act. Passed in 2003, the CAN-SPAM Act makes it unlawful for retailers to ignore opt-out requests and mandates that they make the process as clear and easy as possible and specifically says a user who wishes to unsubscribe must not have to do anything more than sending a reply email or visiting a single webpage.

It’s crucial to make sure your company is in compliance with CAN-SPAM. Not only could not doing so land you in legal hot water, but making unsubscribing from your mailings a hassle could lead to frustrated customers flagging your messages as spam. If their ISP gets enough such reports you could find your mailings blacklisted all together and that will keep untold numbers of customers who actually want your info from seeing it!