Use a 90-minute review to catch practical problems in your next email campaign: misleading sender details, a missing address, a broken unsubscribe link, or a contact who is accidentally added back after opting out. This is an operational check, not a legal opinion or a certification of compliance.

The critical list check: an unsubscribed address should leave the sendable audience and remain on the suppression list. Deleting the suppression record can allow a later import to add the person back.

Start With the FTC’s Commercial-Email Requirements

CAN-SPAM applies to commercial email, including business-to-business messages. Whether a mixed promotional and transactional message is commercial depends on its primary purpose. Review the FTC’s compliance guide for the full requirements and exceptions.

• Use accurate sender and routing information and a truthful subject line.
• Clearly identify advertising as required and include a valid physical postal address. The FTC permits qualifying street addresses, registered PO boxes, and registered private mailboxes.
• Provide a clear opt-out method. Do not charge a fee, require information beyond the email address, or require more than a reply email or a visit to a single webpage.
• Honor opt-outs within 10 business days and keep the mechanism available for at least 30 days after sending.
• Allow subscribers and members to opt out of marketing too, and monitor vendors sending on your behalf.

Those are federal requirements to review, not the whole operating policy for every platform or recipient. Your email provider’s permission rules, mailbox-provider requirements, and other applicable laws may be stricter. Check them before importing contacts or launching a campaign.

Check the Whole Sending Workflow

Write down every system that can send marketing: your email platform, CRM, booking tool, ecommerce platform, and any agency-managed account. Name the person responsible for each. An unsubscribe in one system is not useful if another continues sending the same marketing.

1. Create a test contact. Use an address you control and record which list and automation it enters.
2. Send a real test through the intended workflow. A template preview may not exercise live unsubscribe links or audience rules.
3. Unsubscribe. Confirm the address is excluded from future marketing and retained in the relevant suppression records.
4. Check other systems. Inspect integrations, scheduled sends, and imports that could restore the contact accidentally. Use a test segment rather than sending more messages to real unsubscribed people.
5. Document resubscription rules. An import should not override an opt-out. Handle a genuine new opt-in through a documented process that follows your provider’s requirements and applicable law.

Review SPF, DKIM, and DMARC with your sending provider or technical support. Authentication can help recipients verify mail and reduce some spoofing risks; it does not make a domain impossible to impersonate or guarantee inbox delivery.

When a Problem Needs Escalation

The FTC describes potential civil penalties per violating email and notes that businesses cannot contract away their responsibility. The maximum amount can change; consult its current guide rather than treating a figure copied into a blog as permanent. Actual liability and penalties depend on the facts.

If a campaign appears to have ignored opt-outs or used misleading information, pause the affected workflow and preserve the send logs, audience settings, templates, and suppression records. Correct the technical problem and get qualified legal advice about the response. Do not automatically send a “remedial” campaign to everyone; that decision needs its own review.

Practical Problems to Look For

• A stale footer: compare the business name and address in saved templates with current business information.
• A preference center with no clear exit: make the option to stop all marketing easy to find and use.
• A broken integration: compare the same test contact’s status in every connected sending tool.
• An unexplained list import: inspect the source and the provider’s permission requirements before using it.
• A misleading subject line: read it alongside the actual offer, including price, availability, and conditions.

A 90-Minute First Pass

This timebox is a starting point for a small setup. Multiple brands, complicated automations, or unresolved legal questions require more work.

Save screenshots and relevant logs to help reproduce a problem and verify the fix. Documentation supports the work; it does not substitute for fixing a broken process.

Keep the Source Guidance Close

Use the FTC’s CAN-SPAM compliance guide for federal requirements. Keep your email provider’s current acceptable-use, permission, authentication, and unsubscribe documentation alongside the campaign checklist. Recheck the workflow after a template, platform, or integration change.

Make the Campaign Clear and Useful

A good campaign needs a recognizable sender, an honest offer, a readable design, and a useful next step. A working opt-out respects the reader’s choice. Those decisions support a better experience, but compliance alone does not guarantee delivery or engagement.

Charles Choate Creative’s Marketing & Strategy service covers campaign planning, email marketing, copywriting, and content strategy. Define design, writing, platform setup, and ongoing management in the project scope. Legal advice and compliance certification are separate from creative services.

Common Questions

What About Suspicious Incoming Email?

Do not use an unexpected message’s links to verify an account or payment. Open the organization’s known website or contact it through a trusted channel. This campaign checklist is about messages your business sends.

What Does This Checklist Prove?

It records the checks you performed on a particular campaign and workflow. It does not prove that every message, recipient, or legal obligation has been reviewed.

Is Permission the Same as CAN-SPAM Compliance?

No. Do not treat a federal checklist as permission to use any email list. Your provider’s rules and the laws relevant to your recipients still need to be considered.

Should an Unsubscribed Contact Be Deleted?

Keep the information your system needs to suppress future marketing, consistent with applicable data obligations. Confirm the contact is no longer sendable and cannot be restored by a routine import.