What information must be included in commercial emails under CAN-SPAM?
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CAN-SPAM has three mandatory content requirements for commercial email. Miss any one and you're out of compliance.
A valid physical postal address. This can be a current street address, a PO Box registered with USPS, or a private mailbox at a commercial mail receiving agency. It must be a real address that receives mail. A fictional address or expired PO Box doesn't qualify. Most ESPs require this in their terms of service anyway, which means your email template already needs a footer with it.
A clear and conspicuous unsubscribe mechanism. Usually a link in the footer, but it needs to be easy to find and use. It can't require a fee, can't ask for more than an email address, and can't force more than one step beyond clicking a link or sending a reply. The mechanism must stay functional for at least 30 days after you send the email. If someone opens your April campaign in May and clicks unsubscribe, it still has to work.
Disclosure that the message is an advertisement. The law doesn't require specific language. You don't have to write "This is an advertisement." The disclosure just needs to give recipients fair notice of the commercial nature. In practice, this is often handled implicitly through context (a promotional email to a customer list is obviously commercial), but making it explicit is cleaner.
These three are the floor. For full CAN-SPAM compliance you also need accurate headers, non-deceptive subjects, and prompt opt-out processing. Check your email template footer right now. The postal address is the most commonly missing piece.
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