Does CAN-SPAM apply to transactional emails?
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CAN-SPAM distinguishes between two types of email, and it matters which category yours falls into.
Commercial messages (advertising, promotions, marketing) get the full CAN-SPAM treatment: accurate headers, non-deceptive subject, physical address, unsubscribe mechanism, 10-day opt-out processing. Transactional and relationship messages (order confirmations, shipping notifications, password resets, account alerts) are partially exempt. They don't need unsubscribe links, advertisement disclosure, or a physical address. Though including a physical address is still good practice.
What transactional emails must still have: accurate routing information and non-deceptive subject lines. You can't use false headers regardless of email type. A shipping notification with a fake return address still violates the law.
The tricky part is hybrid emails. An order confirmation that's 80% promotional content with a brief shipping update doesn't get transactional protection. Regulators evaluate based on primary purpose: what would a reasonable reader think this email is fundamentally about? If it's about selling, it's commercial, even if it has transactional elements.
This matters practically: stuffing promotions into your order notifications to avoid consent requirements is a pattern regulators know about. It also annoys customers who expect functional receipts. Keep transactional emails genuinely transactional, and use separate promotional emails for your marketing goals.
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