Docs/Compliance/CAN-SPAM & Unsubscribe

CAN-SPAM & Unsubscribe

The CAN-SPAM Act establishes rules for commercial email in the US. EmailSendX handles most requirements automatically, but you need to configure your sending identity and physical address.

CAN-SPAM Requirements

The CAN-SPAM Act requires the following for all commercial emails:

Clear sender identification

Auto / Manual

The From name and email address must accurately identify your business. Do not use misleading or deceptive sender names.

How: Configured in EmailSendX per campaign — From name and From email are set by you.

Non-deceptive subject lines

Auto / Manual

The subject line must not mislead recipients about the content of the email.

How: Your responsibility — set per campaign.

Clear identification as an advertisement

Auto / Manual

Commercial emails must be clearly identified as advertising, unless the recipient gave prior consent.

How: Your responsibility — ensure email content is clear about its commercial nature.

Physical postal address

Auto / Manual

Every commercial email must include your current physical postal address (street address, PO Box, or private mailbox).

How: Automatically appended by EmailSendX to every email footer from workspace settings.

Opt-out mechanism

Auto / Manual

Every email must include a clear, easy way to opt out of future emails. You must honor opt-out requests within 10 business days.

How: EmailSendX automatically processes unsubscribes — contacts are suppressed immediately.

One-Click Unsubscribe (RFC 8058)

Gmail and Apple Mail (and increasingly other major clients) display a prominent Unsubscribe button in the email interface when an email includes the proper RFC 8058 headers. This is called one-click unsubscribe — clicking it unsubscribes the user without requiring them to click any link in the email body.

EmailSendX automatically adds the required headers to every outgoing email:

bash
# These headers are added automatically by EmailSendX to every campaign send
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:unsub@emailsendx.com?subject=unsub-abc123>, <https://emailsendx.com/unsub/tok_abc123>
List-Unsubscribe-Post: List-Unsubscribe=One-Click

When a recipient uses one-click unsubscribe from Gmail or Apple Mail:

  • EmailSendX processes the unsubscribe request in under 1 second.
  • The contact's status is set to unsubscribed.
  • The email.unsubscribed webhook fires with method: "one-click".

Google requires one-click unsubscribe for bulk senders

As of February 2024, Google requires bulk senders (those sending >5,000 emails/day to Gmail addresses) to support RFC 8058 one-click unsubscribe. EmailSendX handles this automatically — no action required on your part.

Physical Address

CAN-SPAM requires every commercial email to include your physical postal address. In EmailSendX, configure your address once and it's automatically appended to every email footer:

  1. Go to Workspace Settings → Compliance → Physical Address.
  2. Enter your company's physical address (street, city, state/province, ZIP, country).
  3. Click Save.

The address is rendered in the footer of every campaign sent from this workspace. It appears as:

bash
Acme Corp | 123 Main Street, Suite 100, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA

You received this email because you signed up at acmecorp.com.
Unsubscribe | Manage preferences

PO Boxes and private mailboxes are acceptable

You do not need to use your company's street address. A PO Box or private mailbox registered at a commercial mail receiving agency (CMRA) is acceptable under CAN-SPAM. Do not use a residential address unless you're comfortable making it public.

Need GDPR compliance details too?

Read our GDPR guide covering consent tracking, data export, deletion requests, and DPA agreements.