HourSaved

Write a short monthly email to your customers, with a CAN-SPAM footer check

Turn this month's news, one tip and one offer into a short customer email with honest subject lines, a required footer and a checklist to run before you hit send.

Setup
10 min
Saves
About 45 min a use (our estimate)
Level
Easy
Last checked
Works with
Any AI chat, Mailchimp, Any email marketing tool
Step in a real app
Described from the official help page, not run on a real account

Run once on made-up data on with Claude. One run, not proof.

Version 1 · Draft: not yet approved by the owner · How we test

What this does

Give the AI this month's real news, a tip and an offer with exact dates. It drafts three honest subject lines, a short email, a footer with your postal address and unsubscribe line, and a CAN-SPAM checklist. You check every fact and send it yourself.

This is not legal advice. CAN-SPAM is a U.S. law; if you email people in other countries, check their rules too.

Before you start

  • Any AI chat, and your usual email tool.
  • Your news, one tip, your offer (dates, price, limits) and your business postal address.
  • Setup: about 10 minutes, plus time in your email tool (our estimate).
  • Privacy: don't paste your customer list.
  • Consent: send only to people who agreed to get your emails, such as at checkout or on your website.

Steps

  1. Collect the facts: news, tip, offer dates and limits, and your postal address.
  2. Paste the prompt into your AI chat and fill in the brackets.
  3. Fix every UNCLEAR, and check facts and prices against your price list and calendar.
  4. Paste the email into your email tool. In Mailchimp, the default footer block fills in your postal address and unsubscribe link from your audience settings; you can reword it, but both must stay.
  5. Test it: send yourself a copy and click unsubscribe to make sure it works, then send.

The prompt

Prompt · fill the [brackets]
Help me write this month's short email to my customers. Use only what I give you. Don't send anything.

Business: [name, type, town]
Who gets it: [for example customers who signed up for our emails at checkout]
News: [one or two pieces of real news]
Tip: [one useful tip, or "suggest one" and I'll check it]
Offer: [exact dates, price or percent, and any limits]
Postal address for the footer: [address]
My tone: [for example friendly and short]

Write:
1. Three subject line options that honestly match the email.
2. The email, under 200 words: news, then tip, then offer, then a short sign-off.
3. A footer with my postal address and a line telling readers how to unsubscribe.
4. A CAN-SPAM CHECKLIST: subject matches content; sender name is my real business; postal address included; unsubscribe works; the email is clearly an offer if it's selling.

Rules: Use only my facts, dates and prices. If an offer has no end date or limits, or the address is missing, write UNCLEAR. Mark any tip you suggested as "suggested, please check." Don't invent testimonials, numbers or urgency (like "only 3 left").

Before and after: the made-up input, then the real output the AI gave us.

Try it with made-up data

Business: Fernbrook Garden Supply, Alder Bend. Who gets it: customers who signed up at checkout. News: starting November 4, 2030, winter hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Mondays; bare-root fruit trees arrive late November. Tip: suggest one. Offer: 15% off all spring bulbs, November 1 to 15, 2030, in store. "Also free delivery on everything." Postal address: (left blank). Tone: friendly and short.

What the AI gave us

Subject options: (1) Winter hours, a frost tip, and 15% off spring bulbs (2) 15% off spring bulbs through November 15 (3) November at Fernbrook: new hours and bare-root trees

(Greeting and news paragraph trimmed here.)

Tip of the month (suggested, please check): before a frost, cover tender plants overnight with a sheet or frost cloth, and uncover them in the morning.

Offer: from November 1 to 15, 2030, take 15% off all spring bulbs in store.

Free delivery: UNCLEAR. "Free delivery on everything" needs limits. Is there a delivery area, a minimum order or an end date? Left out until you decide.

Thanks for shopping local. The Fernbrook Garden Supply team

Footer: Fernbrook Garden Supply · [postal address: UNCLEAR, you didn't give one, and it's required] · You're getting this because you signed up at checkout. To stop these emails, click Unsubscribe.

It caught the open-ended delivery promise and the missing address. The owner still had to add the postal address, decide the delivery limits, and confirm the frost tip.

Check before you send

  • The subject matches the content, and the "From" name is your real business.
  • Your valid postal address is in the footer.
  • The unsubscribe link works, and opt-outs are removed right away.
  • Every price, percent and date matches your offer, including end date and limits.
  • No made-up urgency, reviews or promises you can't keep.

Don't paste

  • Your customer list or anyone's email address.
  • Email tool logins.
  • Sales records, card numbers or payment details.

When not to use this

  • Receipts, order confirmations or account notices. Those follow different rules.
  • People who never signed up, such as a bought list.
  • Health, financial or legal offers that need extra review.

Questions owners ask

What does CAN-SPAM require in a marketing email?

Honest sender and subject lines, a clear sign it's an ad if it's selling, your valid postal address, and a working way to unsubscribe. Opt-outs must be honored within 10 business days, and the FTC says this applies to business-to-business email too.

Can I use a PO box as my address in emails?

Yes, if it's registered with USPS, or it's a private mailbox registered with a commercial mail receiving agency, per the FTC.

Sources

Related guides

Marketing basicsPlan a week of social posts from one thing that happened in your businessCustomers and salesWrite a win-back email to past customers, with a CAN-SPAM checkMarketing basicsWrite a Google Business Profile post or seasonal offer, and check claims and prices

All 4 marketing basics guidesAll 45 guides

The newsletter

One new guide a week, free.

Start with the free starter: three short emails over your first week. First the 15-minute Start here guide, then the three jobs we'd hand to AI first, then one question about what eats your week. The first two come with a practice task and the check you do before anything goes out. After that, one new guide every Tuesday: one task, the prompt to paste and the check to do. At most one ad, always labeled.

  1. Day 1Your first 15 minutes with a free AI assistant
  2. Day 3Summarize a long email thread into decisions, open questions and next steps
    Draft routine email replies in your own voice, without promises you didn't approve
    Write payment reminder emails in three tones (friendly, firm, final)
  3. Day 6What eats your week? Reply in one line, plus how the weekly guide works