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When subject lines are criminal
Posted on Tue, 01/22/2008 - 14:53 by Amy Black
You may have heard that using the word “free” in your subject line can negatively impact your email’s deliverability. It is one of the words that can trigger the Internet Service Providers that receive your email to categorize it as spam.
Well, now there is a new motivation to avoid using the word “free” in your email campaigns. A recent court ruling set a new precedent: unless the “free” item is completely free, without strings attached, advertising it in a subject line may be considered deceptive, which goes against CAN-SPAM legislation. In other words, it may be breaking federal law.
This is a lesson learned the hard way by Adteractive, Inc., a company recently charged by the FTC of using deceptive advertising. One of the key allegations was that the company promised various kinds of “free” merchandise in their subject lines, but required the consumer to make a purchase in order to receive the free items. While the company did not admit to any wrongdoing, their settlement with the FTC involved a $650,000 fine and required them to change their advertising practices to clearly disclose any qualification requirements.
What does this mean for you? Our Principal Technologist here at Constant Contact, Ellen Siegel, is the one who brought this case to my attention. She wrote a FAQ that will help you to understand what you can do to make sure you are compliant and above the law in this matter.
Read the FAQ
You can also read more about the settlement on the FTC website.
Comments
Free is WEAK - Complimentary is Better
Posted on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 19:51 by Tom K