Question about email SPAM laws

[markw10]

I am looking at getting a module for my website which would send out emails to customers. It would be in cases such as when an account is created, when they place an order, things like that. The emails would be things like thanking them for their order, giving a coupon off their next order, listing similar items they may like that are similar to the product they ordered, possibly announcing sales, giving a survey asking for their feedback on if they were happy with their order and experience doing business with us, things like that.
I just want to make sure I don't violate any spam laws.
Every email that I send out would have a unsubscribe link at the bottom. I would not email any customers who have not done business with our store. We are getting a lot of new customers and would like to have a way to keep in touch with them. I know with the no calls lists popular for phone numbers now if you do business with a company they are allowed to call you unless you later tell them not to. Is this the same type of law with spam?

[Christopher_Biz]

I'm sure your in the clear legally but you want to provide good customers service.

Thanking for an order is important so they know that you are shipping it. Customers have fuzzy feelings after buying and it's good to capitalize on that. It's a great opportunity to offer links to related products. Get them to sign up for your newsletter or whatever other promos. This is a time when you won't annoy them; they will be happy to receive your email.

The other type of email will be promotional. You should ask permission before sending these ( a check box during registration ). You might want to offer options of weekly, monthly or more period options.

The unsubscribe feature is important.

There is one ecommerce site that sends me deals which I enjoy getting - tigerdirect.ca
Like their site, It's too busy when I look at it but I enjoy seeing the latest deals even if I'm broke. I like the Canadian version more than the American one.

[JEccles]

Once your list grows, you will also want to be careful about how many e-mails you send out per day. Volusion has their e-mail marketing set up so thta you can only send out 250 e-mails the first day; 2000 the second and the balance on the third.

[Collabora]

You should be able to export a customer list for use in an email marketing campaign in a 3rd party application. We offer both the ecommerce and automatic opt-in mailing list that work together.