With many jewelry businesses forced to close their in-person operations around the country, many of you may be ramping up your digital marketing efforts with the goal of retaining existing customers and drawing in new customers to your websites. But, before you go full speed ahead with new digital marketing, you should keep in mind that the federal CAN-SPAM Act establishes the following key requirements (and more) for commercial messages:

  1. Don’t use false or misleading subjects or headers – these items must be accurate and identify the business who initiated the message.
  2. Explicitly identify the message as an advertisement – you must clearly and conspicuously disclose that your message is an advertisement
  3. You must include a valid physical postal address – this can be your current street address, a P.O. box or a private mailbox you have reserved for commercial mail.
  4. You must provide opt-out information – this information must clearly and conspicuously explain to the recipient how to opt out of getting email from you in the future and must provide an easy-to-use mechanism for this request (e.g., an email to send requests; a button that automatically notifies your company).
  5. Your company must promptly honor opt-out requests – 10 business days is your maximum deadline for honoring a consumer’s opt-out request. Once a consumer requests an opt-out from your business, you also can’t sell or transfer that consumer’s email address, even in the form of a mailing list.

Please familiarize yourselves with the remaining requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act by visiting the Federal Trade Commission website here. And, don’t forget – state, international and other federal laws may also place additional restrictions and requirements on your business’s marketing, use of consumer information and other activities. Stay tuned for more on this topic.