CAN-SPAM compliance checker: unsubscribe, postal address and subject before you send
In short: Checks a pasted email for an unsubscribe link or merge tag (or a reply-only opt-out), a physical postal address (street, P.O. box or postcode), a subject without a fake Re: or Fwd:, a From name that identifies you and CASL's contact-method rule; the rules it can't read from text are listed for you to confirm. Limit: It finds address-shaped text; it can't confirm the address is real or yours.
Paste the email, footer included, with its subject and From name. It checks the parts of CAN-SPAM you can see in the message: a working opt-out, a physical postal address, a subject without a fake Re: or Fwd: and a sender that identifies you, plus Canada's rule for a contact method. Ad disclosure and honouring opt-outs are listed to confirm yourself.
Price: this tool is free. Checking a whole email list is from $9/mo, and the first 100 checks are free with Google, no card. See pricing
The email you're about to send
Checked in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere. Not legal advice.
Sample result
This email has no postal address and a fake Re: subject; its opt-out is reply-only.
- CAN-SPAM basics
- 2 to fix
- To check
- 2
- Yours to confirm
- 2
What this means for you
Add your postal address and a clear unsubscribe line, and drop the Re: before you send.
- Unsubscribe link or merge tag
- Physical postal address
- Fake Re: and Fwd: subjects
- CASL contact method
- CAN-SPAM
- CASL
- Footer
By SimpleVerifier Team · Last updated · Runs in your browser; nothing you paste is sent to us
How do I check the list before sending?
- Fix the footer here.
- Upload your send list at /verify. Every address gets a live mailbox check, and valid, risky and invalid download as separate files. The first 100 email checks are free with a Google sign-in, no card.
- Send only to the valid file, with every past unsubscribe in your suppression list.
How do I check an email for CAN-SPAM compliance?
- Paste the whole email, signature and footer included. HTML or plain text both work.
- Add the subject line and From name to check those too.
- Press Check the email and fix anything marked to fix: a missing opt-out or postal address first.
- Work through the items marked yours to confirm; they can't be read from the text.
Example
- You enter
- Subject
Re: your spring order, From nameinfo, and a plain-text body with a link, a sign-off and the line "If you'd rather not hear from us, reply STOP." - You get
- 2 to fix (no postal address, and the subject starts with Re:), 2 to check (opt-out by reply only, and a From name that is a bare role word), 1 pass (a web address as the contact method CASL asks for) and 2 to confirm yourself (ad disclosure and honouring opt-outs).
- Limits
- Runs in your browser, so the email is not uploaded; one email a run.
What does CAN-SPAM require in an email?
The FTC's compliance guide lists seven requirements for commercial email: no false or misleading header information, no deceptive subject lines, identify the message as an ad, tell recipients where you're located with a valid physical postal address, tell them how to opt out, honour opt-outs promptly, and monitor what others do on your behalf. It applies to all commercial email, including business-to-business, and each separate email in violation can cost up to the penalty amount the FTC publishes, adjusted each year.
Three of those can be read from the message itself, so this tool checks them: the opt-out, the postal address and the subject. The From name is checked for a bare role word. The others depend on what you do, not what you write, so they're listed for you to confirm.
Is a "reply STOP" opt-out enough?
Under CAN-SPAM, the opt-out can be a return email address or another easy internet-based way, so a reply-based opt-out can comply if every request is honoured within 10 business days. It can't require a fee, more information than an email address, or more than a reply or a single page visit.
Mailbox providers ask for more from bulk senders. Google's sender guidelines require marketing mail from bulk senders to support one-click unsubscribe in the headers and show a visible unsubscribe link in the body. The List-Unsubscribe header generator builds the header.
What about Canada and the EU?
Canada's anti-spam law (CASL) is stricter: you need consent first, and every commercial message must identify the sender, include a mailing address and a phone number, email address or web address, and have an unsubscribe mechanism, according to the CRTC. This tool checks for a contact method; consent isn't something an email can show.
In the EU and UK, the GDPR and the ePrivacy rules generally need consent for marketing email to individuals, with narrow exceptions for existing customers. This tool doesn't check those.
Who uses this tool, and for what?
- Cold emailers
- Make sure every sequence step has an opt-out line and a postal address before it runs.
- Small businesses
- Check a newsletter footer built by hand has everything the FTC lists.
- Agencies
- Review a client's template before it goes to the client's list.
- Senders to Canada
- Confirm the mailing address and a contact method are in every message.
What can’t this tool tell you?
- It finds address-shaped text; it can't confirm the address is real or yours.
- Whether the message is clearly an ad, and whether opt-outs are honoured, can't be read from the text.
- GDPR, PECR and other consent rules aren't checked.
- Not legal advice.
Common questions
- Does CAN-SPAM apply to cold B2B email?
- Yes. The FTC says the law makes no exception for business-to-business email: a commercial message to a work address has to meet the same requirements.
- Can I use a P.O. box as my address?
- Yes, if it's registered with the US Postal Service, or a private mailbox registered with a commercial mail receiving agency under Postal Service rules, per the FTC guide.
- Does it detect my sending tool's address merge tag?
- Unsubscribe merge tags such as {{unsubscribe_url}}, *|UNSUB|* and [unsubscribe] are recognised. Address tags such as {{company_address}} aren't, so paste a test send's text if your footer is filled on send.
- Is this legal advice?
- No. It checks for the visible parts of the rules and links to the source for each. Ask a lawyer about your own situation.
Sources
A tidy list can still be full of dead addresses.
Extracting, deduplicating and syntax checks all work on the text of an address. None of them can tell whether the mailbox exists. Only the server that hosts it can answer that, through an SMTP check, and that is what the paid product does.
- Upload the cleaned file as it is: CSVs up to 100,000 rows
- A real SMTP mailbox check on every row, with catch-all detection
- Small list? Starter at $9/mo covers 2,500 emails a month, cancel anytime
Plans from $9 a month, cancel anytime, no contract. Sign in with Google and your first 100 email checks are free, no card. The free tools stay free either way.