I'm building a email newsletter that is send out once per week. I've seen the basic CAN SPAM rules, but do these apply to opt-in newsletters? For example, on an opt-in newsletter, do I actually need to have a physical mailing address included in each mailing? Also, it appears to me (although I may be wrong) that CAN SPAM allows you to add people to your list, unsolicited, as long as they have the ability to opt out easily and the opt-out is honored. Is this true? Thanks for the help.
As far as I know, if your readers opt-in, then you don't need a physical mailing address. Also, as far as I know, you can not add someone to your mailing list who hasn't opted in even if you make the op-out link super obvious. If you read something to that effect, it may mean you can send a one time unsolicited email to potential members, asking them to opt in, I seriously doubt you can legally just add them to the list.
You're not wrong. You know how the anti-spam activisits call this law? YOU-CAN-SPAM Act. Why? For the reason you mentioned: the bill does not require emailers to get permission before they send marketing messages. I recommend you not to do what this bill allows you to do. Sending one-time unsolicited emails (under some conditions they are not spam according to the bill) is the sure way to have your domain name blacklisted.
Thanks for the info. I wouldn't really want to just add emails to my list and mail them unsolicited anyway, I was just curious. I've been getting most of my sign ups via craiglist, flyer advertising around town, and google adwords (it's a local oriented email newsletter). It's just a slow process, averaging maybe 7-8 sign ups per week. How does a domain become blacklisted? How does a server know whether the email was solicited or unsolicited? Is there a chance that my domain will become blacklisted even if I'm using a double opt-in method? Thanks.
If people click the "this is spam" button on their email service provider inbox, it tells the server that your domain is sending spam. Too many of those and the server blacklists the domain from sending email to any of their users, regardless of whether their user has opted in or not. It is a royal pain in the @$$ to get unblacklisted so try to avoid it . If you are using double opt-in, it's less likely you'll get blacklisted as people won't click "this is spam" for your message, they'll know why they're getting it.
1) Take into consideration what meaghannf explained you. She's right. 2) Double opt-in protects you better, but you can never have a 100% protection. You're never in full control because you cannot control other people's dumb actions. 3) There is a situation when your domain name can be blacklisted even if you don't send one single email: when you setup an affiliate program and one of your affiliates sends spam emails that contain his affiliate link (from your domain name).