Majority of Email Marketers Not Aware of CAN-Spam Regulations

(PRLEAP.COM) Karen Scharf of Modern Image Communications has released a free CAN-Spam checklist which allows email marketers to quickly asses the legality of their messages before hitting the send button. Since violation of the CAN-Spam act is subject to huge monetary fines and possible jail time, this regulation is not one that marketers want to take lightly. And yet, two out of every three email messages received by today’s business users can be legally classified as spam.

83.2% of marketers surveyed chose email marketing as the most important advertising medium for 2007 according to Datran Media Research. The average company sends 23 million email messages per year (Forrester Research).

Despite this high reliance on email, according to WebSurveyor Corp, 81% of email marketers are unaware of the CAN-Spam Act and 84% have received no training in CAN-Spam compliance.

The consequences for not complying with CAN-Spam regulations can be severe. Two spammers were recently convicted by a federal jury and now each face fines of half a million dollars and a maximum 20 years in prison. While this case might be extreme, "innocent" marketers can not only encounter monetary penalties, but they also face the prospect of having their email address or IP address blacklisted and possibly losing their email service provider and internet service provider. For many marketers, this would literally put them out of business.

To combat this issue, Karen Scharf of Modern Image Communications has released a free CAN-Spam checklist which allows email marketers to quickly asses the legality of their messages before hitting the send button. Since violation of the CAN-Spam act is subject to huge monetary fines and possible jail time, this regulation is not one that marketers want to take lightly. And yet, two out of every three email messages received by today’s business users can be legally classified as spam (Nucleus Research).

"I don’t believe that most emailers are intentionally breaking the CAN-Spam laws," says Karen Scharf. "It’s just that they’re not aware of what the legal regulations actually are. This high reliance on email combined with limited or no understanding of the law is putting these marketers at extremely high risk."

"In most cases, a few simple changes to an email will quickly bring that message into compliance," Karen continues. "My CAN-Spam checklist will allow marketers to scan through the list of regulations and see at a glance which requirement they might be missing, make the necessary changes, and avoid the possibility of legal ramifications."

The CAN-Spam checklist is available as a free download at http://www.SuccessfulSiteSecrets.com/canspam.htm, or by calling Modern Image Communications at (317) 490-0176.

Founded in 1998, Modern Image Communications provides marketing services to small businesses and entrepreneurs, including strategic marketing plan development, complete email marketing, website design and development, copywriting and info-product creation. Karen Scharf, owner of Modern Image Communications, specializes in helping independent professionals find and retain all the clients they can handle.

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