The CAN-SPAM Act is a federal law that regulates commercial email messages—those whose primary purpose is to advertise or market a commercial product or service.

Emails that are typically NOT covered by CAN-SPAM include transactional or relationship messages (like personalized impact reports to donors showing how their funds were used), purely informational newsletters with no promotional content or donation asks, and account updates or confirmations. These emails do NOT require unsubscribes or opt-outs.

Examples of transactional/relationship content include:

• confirmations or updates about a donor’s involvement
• membership or subscription updates
• internal account or relationship news

 
If your email campaign includes marketing to make a purchase, it's likely classified as commercial and must comply with CAN-SPAM requirements, including "a clear and conspicuous way for recipients to opt out of future emails".

If you are sending commercial emails, you can easily use iFOLIO to meet CAN-SPAM's unsubscribe requirements by adding an unsubscribe link in your email signature.

To do this:

1. Copy your CRM's unsubscribe link. If you don't have one, you can easily create an unsubscribe form (using Google Forms or another web form).
2. In Step 2 of the iFOLIO campaign builder, add text to your email message like "Unsubscribe from future emails" and paste the link to your unsubscribe form URL. Now your link is included in your campaign.
3. Alternatively, include plain text like "To unsubscribe, reply to this email".