If you have been paying attention lately to the CAN-SPAM Act requires, among other things, that commercial emails contain a working unsubscribe function (reply to or link) and a postal mailing address. As a result, companies that previously did not have a centralized admin area, are now consolidating this and other information in a single location.

What Should Be Included in an Admin Center? What you should include in your admin center can depend on the email technology you are using, what information you have collected on recipients, your permission practices and the type of email messages you are sending. Below are examples of what you might consider including (view an example of one at the end of this newsletter):

The Minimum – Required by the CAN-SPAM Act

• Unsubscribe language – either reply to address or clickable link that takes subscriber to a Web page with an unsubscribe form.
• Postal mailing address

Recommended or Desirable - Permission Best Practices

• Update Profile or Preferences link (links to profile page on your Web site)
  Change email address
  Change format preference – HTML or Text
• Link to Privacy and/or Email Policy
  Additionally consider one sentence description of email policy within the email.
• Email address of recipient – "You subscribed to this newsletter using the following email address This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "
• Join date – Display the date when a recipient joined the mailing list.
• Explanation of why recipient is receiving email – "You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive our newsletter when registering for our ecommerce white paper."
• Feedback and contact information – phone number and email address. Company name

Marketing and Viewing Functions/Information

• Whitelist/Buddy list information – "This email was sent using the domain 'company.com.' Please use this domain name when configuring email or spam filters."
• View as a Web page – link to a Web version of the email (for recipients that may have HTML compatibility problems or who receive text versions)
• Send to a Friend – Embedded form or link to Web site form that enables recipient to send the email message to others.
• Subscribe link – Enables those who receive the email from someone else to easily subscribe themselves.
• Benefits statement/Purpose of email – Explanation of the purpose/objective of the email message. This helps manage recipient expectations and reinforces your value proposition.
• Frequency/Delivery dates – "The Name of Newsletter is published twice weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

Miscellaneous/Information Specific to Message Types

• Copyright information
• Link to User Agreement
• Newsletter publisher specific: ISSN number Advertising information Reprint information/permission Subscribe to other newsletters
• Retailer Specific: Exchanges/Returns Shipping Information 
  

Whether you deploy a few or many of the above items in your admin center, it is important that you at least begin the process. Customers and subscribers are taking greater control over their information relationships – and expect email marketers to live up to their end of the relationship. As the adoption of the email admin concept increases, those companies that ignore this trend risk seeing a decline in subscribers and customers, trust in their brand and revenue.