3.0 EMail Marketing
Online "solicitations" are e-mails that are sales messages or advertisements. If you send an e-mail notifying a consumer on the status of an order, or any other customer service matter, such as updating account information, or acknowledging a transaction, payment, or communication, that is not a solicitation and these guidelines would not apply. When such customer service messages and sales messages or advertisements are combined within the same e-mail, these guidelines would apply.

3.1 EMail Marketing Guidelines
Emails you use for marketing should have the "Affirmative consent" of the person you are sending it to. This means the person has to take an action before being added to an e-mail list, for example, through a check-off box. It is another way of saying "permission was granted" or "the individual said yes " or "the consumer opted in." The overriding principle here is that consumers on your lists, and on lists you received from others should have agreed to receive e-mails.

This principle also applies to third party lists. Permission would have been granted to the third party marketer (or the marketer's agent) who is sharing the e-mail list with your company. In other words, it is the original marketer's responsibility to provide the individual with notice and an opt-out opportunity (for example, a check-off box) before renting or exchanging the e-mail addresses with your company.

You should note that it is your responsibility to ask the list provider whether permission was granted or opt-out notice was given.

3.2 EMail Content
In each email sent, the marketer needs to furnish the individual with a mechanism so that they can request to not recieve further solicitations and request that the marketer not rent, sell, or exchange their email address.

The e-mail should include specific contact information for your company including the company's physical address.

Specific "unsubscribe" mechanisms must be included in the email. Specific instructions on how to "opt-out" may be in the email itself. An example of this mechanism would be "To unsubscribe from this e-mail list, reply to this e-mail with unsubscribe in the subject line." Alternately, a link saying something to the effect of "Press here to unsubscribe" is also satisfactory. It would not be satisfactory to just state "See our policy for instructions about unsubscribing."

3.3 EMail Addressing
Solicitations sent online should disclose the marketer's identity, and the subject line should be clear, honest, and not misleading. A marketer should also provide specific contact information at which the individual can obtain service or information. The marketer's street address should be made available in the e-mail solicitation.

The return address should be the sender's address, so it is easy for the recipient to hit reply and type "remove" or "unsubscribe".