The Season Announcement Email
Builds guide sites for a livingPublished July 23, 2026Last updated July 26, 202632 min read
- 15 U.S.C. 7704(a)(5)(A) requires a commercial message to identify itself as an advertisement, give clear and conspicuous notice of how to decline, and carry a valid physical postal address of the sender.
- Subparagraph (B) removes only the advertisement identification where the recipient gave prior affirmative consent; the notice and the address are unconditional.
- The opt-out mechanism must be clearly and conspicuously displayed and remain capable of receiving requests for no less than thirty days after the message.
- A menu of message types is permitted only if it includes an option to decline all commercial messages from the sender.
- An opt-out must be honoured within ten business days, and the obligation attaches to the sender rather than to the tool.
- Send in January with a real priority window for returning clients, then the wider announcement a week later and a resend to non-openers in early spring.
A season announcement to your own past clients is a commercial email, and a commercial email has to carry a valid physical postal address of the sender. Almost no guide's newsletter does.
That is one of three requirements the statute attaches to any commercial message: an identification that the message is an advertisement or solicitation, clear and conspicuous notice of how to decline further messages, and the postal address. The first of those falls away where the recipient has given prior affirmative consent; the other two do not. There is also an opt-out mechanism that has to keep working for a stated period and a window inside which a request has to be honoured. Below those provisions are taken from the statute, then the announcement itself. Requirements change, so check the current position with the Commission before sending at volume. Nothing here is legal advice. Companion templates sit at the running the business hub.
| Requirement | Waived by prior affirmative consent? | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Identification as an advertisement or solicitation | Yes | 15 U.S.C. 7704(a)(5)(A)(i) and (B) |
| Clear and conspicuous notice of how to decline | No | 15 U.S.C. 7704(a)(5)(A)(ii) |
| A valid physical postal address of the sender | No | 15 U.S.C. 7704(a)(5)(A)(iii) |
| A working opt-out mechanism, for at least 30 days | No | 15 U.S.C. 7704(a)(3)(A) |
What must a commercial message contain?
Three things, and one of them is a postal address.
Section 7704(a)(5)(A) of Title 15 makes it unlawful to initiate the transmission of any commercial electronic mail message to a protected computer unless the message provides clear and conspicuous identification that it is an advertisement or solicitation, clear and conspicuous notice of the opportunity to decline further commercial messages from the sender, and a valid physical postal address of the sender.
Subparagraph (B) removes only the first of those where the recipient has given prior affirmative consent to receipt of the message.
Which means the notice and the postal address are unconditional, and the advertisement label is the only element that consent affects.
For a one-person operation working from home, the postal address requirement is the awkward one, and a post office box is the ordinary answer.
Section 7704 is published by the Law Revision Counsel, with a parallel text on govinfo.
Why a reminder is a different kind of message is covered in the trip reminder piece.
What does the opt-out mechanism require?
A working route, displayed clearly, alive for at least thirty days.
Section 7704(a)(3)(A) makes it unlawful to initiate the transmission of a commercial electronic mail message that does not contain a functioning return electronic mail address or other Internet-based mechanism, clearly and conspicuously displayed, which a recipient may use to submit a request not to receive future commercial messages from that sender at the address where the message was received.
It adds that the mechanism must remain capable of receiving such requests for no less than thirty days after the transmission of the original message.
Which catches the operation that sends a campaign from an address it then stops monitoring, or through a tool it cancels the following month.
Subparagraph (B) permits a list or menu from which the recipient may choose which types of message they want, provided the list includes an option to decline all commercial messages from the sender.
So preference options are allowed and an unsubscribe-from-everything option is not optional.
Why the sending tool choice matters is covered in the email automation piece.
The announcement is the highest-return email of the year. A list of 140 past clients, of whom 18 per cent book after an announcement, is 25 trips. At $650 that is $16,250 from one message. Against a paid channel at, say, $120 a booked trip, the same 25 trips would cost $3,000. So the announcement is worth roughly $3,000 of equivalent acquisition spend and costs an afternoon. It also fills the dates first, which means the paid spend afterwards is filling harder dates at the same price rather than easy ones.
How long is there to honour an opt-out?
Ten business days.
Section 7704(a)(4)(A)(i) makes it unlawful for the sender to initiate the transmission to a recipient, more than ten business days after receipt of an opt-out request, of a commercial message falling within the scope of that request.
Clause (ii) applies the same position to any person acting on behalf of the sender who has actual knowledge, or knowledge fairly implied on the basis of objective circumstances, that the message falls within the scope of the request.
Clause (iii) reaches a person who assists in initiating the transmission through the provision or selection of addresses, on the same knowledge standard.
For a guide using a mailing tool, the practical consequence is that unsubscribes have to be processed rather than noted, and any second list you keep by hand has to be reconciled with the first.
The most common failure in this trade is a client who unsubscribed from the newsletter and remains on a spreadsheet.
How the client list should be maintained is covered in the tooling piece.
This is not a compliance opinion. Whether a particular message is commercial, and whether a particular recipient has given prior affirmative consent, depends on facts about the message and the relationship. The statute imposes further requirements not set out here. Check the current position with the Commission and take advice before sending at volume. Not legal advice.
Which of my clients gave consent?
Fewer than you assume, and the distinction is worth drawing.
Prior affirmative consent removes only the requirement to identify the message as an advertisement, so the practical stakes are lower than the phrase suggests.
But it is worth knowing who is in which group, because somebody who ticked a box asking for your newsletter is in a different position from somebody who merely booked a trip four years ago.
Which argues for a single ask, at booking, recorded: may I email you about next season.
That one field converts an assumption into a record, and it costs a line on the intake form.
It also improves the list, because people who said yes open more.
What the intake form should capture is covered in the intake form piece.
When should the announcement go?
Earlier than feels right, and twice.
Clients decide about a summer season in the winter, which means an announcement sent in April reaches people who already made plans.
January is the sensible first send, with a second in late February or early March to the people who did not open the first.
Two sends of the same message to different halves of a list is not a duplicate, it is how a list actually gets read.
What does not work is one send in the week the season opens, which is a notification rather than an invitation.
And an announcement that arrives after your best dates are gone produces disappointment rather than bookings.
Why the winter is the selling season is covered in the offseason piece.
What should the announcement say?
Dates, rate, one thing that is new, and how to book.
Subject: Dates for next season are open.
Body, first line: The calendar is open from 1 May through to the end of October, and the rate for a full day is $695. Then: I have kept the last week of June and the first week of July back for people who fished with me last year, so if you want those, reply this week. Then one paragraph on what is different, whether that is a new stretch of water, a second boat or a change to the day. Then: To book, reply to this or use the link, and I will hold a date on a $200 deposit. Then the required notice and postal address.
Note what is absent: a long recap of last season, any language about limited availability that is not literally true, and any attempt at urgency.
Everything the client needs is in the first three lines, which is where they stop reading.
Why a stated rate belongs in it is covered in the pricing display piece.
Should the rate rise be in the same message?
Yes, stated as a figure, without justification.
A rate rise announced inside the season announcement is information a client absorbs alongside the dates, and a rate rise discovered at booking is a negotiation.
One line does it: the rate for a full day is $695, up from $650, and anything already booked stays at the rate you booked.
Explaining at length invites the client to weigh your reasons, which is not a conversation you want to have by email.
And putting it in the same message as the dates means the client's attention is on which day they want rather than on the number.
Which is the practical argument for one message rather than two.
How the increase should be framed generally is covered in the price increase piece.
What makes the first three lines work?
They answer the only two questions the reader has.
A past client opening a season announcement wants to know when you are fishing and what it costs, and everything else is optional.
Which means the dates and the rate belong in the first two sentences, before any warmth and before any news.
The instinct is to open with a recap of last season, which is pleasant and which pushes the useful content below the point where most people stop.
A reader who has the dates and the rate will read the rest; a reader who has neither will not.
The same logic applies to the subject line, which should say the calendar is open rather than gesture at it.
How subject lines behave generally is covered in the subject lines piece.
Should the message be personalised?
Lightly, and never automatically.
A list of a hundred and forty past clients is small enough that the top ten or twenty deserve a personal note rather than the announcement.
Which is not a merge field. It is a separate short message referring to the actual day you had together, sent before the general announcement.
The general announcement then goes to everybody else, without a first name inserted at the top, because an obviously merged greeting reads worse than none.
Twenty personal notes take an hour and convert at a multiple of the general send, which makes them the highest-return hour of the winter.
And the people who get one notice, which is the point.
Why individual notes beat volume is covered in the referral ceiling piece.
Should past clients get priority?
Yes, and it should be real.
Holding named weeks for returning clients for a stated period is the strongest non-price benefit available to a guiding operation, and it costs nothing when they take the dates.
What matters is that the window is real and that it closes on the date you said, since a priority period that never ends is not a priority.
It also has to be honoured: a returning client who replies inside the window and finds the date gone will not reply next year.
Which means the announcement to the wider list should go after the window closes rather than at the same time.
Two sends, a week apart, is the whole mechanic.
Why priority beats a discount is covered in the discount scripts piece.
What about people who never booked?
A different message, and a different consent question.
An enquiry that never converted is a different relationship from a client, and sending them the returning-client message reads as a mistake.
The workable version acknowledges it: we spoke last spring and it did not work out, the calendar is open again and here are the dates.
Whether they are on your list at all is the prior question, and an enquiry is not consent to be marketed to indefinitely.
Which argues for asking at the enquiry stage rather than assuming, and for removing anybody who has not engaged across two seasons.
A smaller list that opens is worth more than a larger one that does not.
How the enquiry response should handle it is covered in the response time piece.
Does the list need cleaning first?
Yes, and it is the least appealing hour of the process.
Addresses collected across five seasons include people who changed jobs, people who no longer fish and people who unsubscribed from something else you sent.
Sending to all of them produces bounces and complaints that damage delivery for the people who do want to hear from you.
Which argues for removing anybody who has not opened anything across two seasons, and for reconciling every list you keep against every opt-out you have received.
That second step is the one with a legal edge to it, since the ten business day obligation attaches to the sender rather than to the tool.
A list of eighty engaged addresses outperforms two hundred stale ones and costs less to send to.
How the records should be organised is covered in the numbers piece.
What should follow the announcement?
Nothing, for at least a week.
The instinct after sending is to follow up quickly, and the effect is to teach a small list that your messages arrive in clusters.
A single resend to non-openers six or eight weeks later is the whole follow-up, and it should be the same message rather than a chased-up version of it.
What does belong immediately is a personal reply to everybody who responds, on the day, because a client asking about a date is a booking waiting to be confirmed.
Which is where most of the value of the announcement is realised, and where operations lose it by taking three days to answer.
Speed on the replies matters more than anything about the original message.
How much faster is worth quantifying, and that is the response time piece.
What goes wrong with the announcement?
Five things, and two of them are legal.
Omitting the physical postal address, which the statute requires unconditionally and which almost no small operation includes.
Sending from an address nobody monitors, when the opt-out mechanism has to remain capable of receiving requests for at least thirty days.
Sending in April, by which point the clients who plan ahead have made other plans.
Burying the dates and the rate below a recap of last season, so the reader stops before the useful part.
And claiming limited availability that is not literally true, which is a claim about scarcity you cannot support.
How the client FAQ should carry the standing answers is covered in the client FAQ piece.
What the rebooking sequence adds is covered in the rebooking pack piece.
What should the footer look like?
Three elements, plainly, and not in grey four-point type.
The notice of how to decline has to be clear and conspicuous, which is a standard about noticeability rather than presence, so a legible line beats a legally-worded one set in pale small text.
The postal address has to be valid, which means an address that receives post rather than one that exists on a map.
Where the operation runs from home, a post office box is the ordinary answer and it costs a small annual fee.
Adding your telephone number is not required and is worth doing, because a client who wants to book will use it.
Once written, the footer is the same on every send, which makes it a one-time job rather than a per-message decision.
What the site should carry alongside it is covered in the site anatomy piece.
What is the working send?
Two messages, January and March, with the required footer.
Send the returning-client message in early January with a named priority window that closes on a stated date.
Send the wider announcement the following week, with the dates, the rate as a figure, one paragraph on what is new and a plain instruction to book.
Resend the same wider message in late February or early March to the people who did not open it.
Include, in every one, clear and conspicuous notice of how to decline further messages, a mechanism that will still work in thirty days, and a valid physical postal address.
And process every opt-out inside ten business days, across every list you keep rather than only the one the tool manages.
The rule implementing the Act is 16 CFR part 316, which states its own scope as implementing the statute cited above and is carried on the eCFR.
How the season should be launched operationally is covered in the spring launch piece.
How this was checked. The requirement that a commercial electronic mail message provide clear and conspicuous identification that it is an advertisement or solicitation, clear and conspicuous notice of the opportunity to decline to receive further commercial electronic mail messages from the sender, and a valid physical postal address of the sender, together with the provision removing only the advertisement identification requirement where the recipient has given prior affirmative consent, comes from 15 U.S.C. 7704(a)(5). The requirement that such a message contain a functioning return electronic mail address or other Internet-based mechanism, clearly and conspicuously displayed, which a recipient may use to request not to receive future commercial messages from that sender at the address where the message was received, and which remains capable of receiving such requests for no less than thirty days after transmission of the original message, together with the permission to provide a list or menu of message types provided it includes an option to decline all commercial messages from the sender, comes from paragraph (a)(3). The prohibition on the sender initiating transmission to a recipient more than ten business days after receipt of an opt-out request of a commercial message falling within its scope, and the parallel prohibitions on persons acting on the sender's behalf and on persons assisting through the provision or selection of addresses, each on an actual knowledge or fairly implied knowledge standard, come from paragraph (a)(4). Section 7704 was read at the Office of the Law Revision Counsel on 26 July 2026 and cross-checked against the copy of Title 15 published on govinfo. 16 CFR part 316 is cited for its own statement that it implements the statute referred to above. The further requirements the statute imposes, including those concerning header information and subject headings, were not set out here and are outside the scope of this page. All message drafts are illustrative rather than legal wording, and all arithmetic uses stated illustrative figures.
If your booking calendar has more open weeks than you’d like, I’ll build you a free preview of your booking site before you pay a cent.
Get a free website previewWhat a commercial message must carry, how long an opt-out mechanism must live, and when to send
What must a season announcement contain?
15 U.S.C. 7704(a)(5)(A) makes it unlawful to initiate a commercial electronic mail message unless it provides clear and conspicuous identification that it is an advertisement or solicitation, clear and conspicuous notice of the opportunity to decline further commercial messages from the sender, and a valid physical postal address of the sender. Subparagraph (B) removes only the first of those where the recipient has given prior affirmative consent.
Do I really need a postal address?
The requirement is unconditional on the face of the provision, and prior affirmative consent does not remove it. For an operation running from home a post office box is the ordinary answer, and valid means an address that receives post rather than one that merely exists.
What does the opt-out mechanism have to do?
15 U.S.C. 7704(a)(3)(A) requires a functioning return address or other Internet-based mechanism, clearly and conspicuously displayed, that a recipient may use to request not to receive future commercial messages at the address where the message was received, and which remains capable of receiving such requests for no less than thirty days after the original message was transmitted. Subparagraph (B) permits a menu of message types provided it includes an option to decline all commercial messages from the sender.
How quickly must an opt-out be honoured?
Within ten business days. 15 U.S.C. 7704(a)(4)(A)(i) makes it unlawful for the sender to initiate transmission to a recipient more than ten business days after receipt of a request, of a commercial message falling within its scope, with parallel prohibitions on persons acting on the sender's behalf and on those assisting through the provision or selection of addresses.
When should the announcement go out?
January, with a resend in late February or early March to people who did not open the first. Clients decide about a summer season in the winter, so an announcement sent in April reaches people who already made plans. One send in the week the season opens is a notification rather than an invitation.
What should it actually say?
The dates and the rate in the first two sentences, then a real priority window for returning clients with a closing date, then one paragraph on what is different, then a plain instruction to book with the deposit figure. Then the required decline notice and postal address. What to leave out is a recap of last season and any scarcity claim that is not literally true.
Should the rate rise be in the same message?
Yes, as a figure, without justification. One line does it: the full day rate, what it was, and that anything already booked stays at the rate booked. Announced alongside the dates it is information the client absorbs while choosing a day; discovered at booking it is a negotiation. Explaining at length invites the client to weigh your reasons.
Sources & methods
- 15 U.S.C. 7704 at the Office of the Law Revision Counsel, read for the requirement in subsection (a)(5) that a commercial electronic mail message provide clear and conspicuous identification that it is an advertisement or solicitation, clear and conspicuous notice of the opportunity to decline further commercial messages from the sender, and a valid physical postal address of the sender, together with the removal of only the identification requirement where the recipient has given prior affirmative consent; for the requirement in subsection (a)(3) of a functioning return address or other Internet-based mechanism, clearly and conspicuously displayed, usable to request no further commercial messages at the receiving address and remaining capable of receiving such requests for no less than thirty days, together with the permitted list or menu of message types conditional on including an option to decline all commercial messages; and for the prohibitions in subsection (a)(4) on transmitting a commercial message within the scope of an opt-out request more than ten business days after its receipt, extending to persons acting on the sender's behalf and to those assisting through the provision or selection of addresses on an actual or fairly implied knowledge standard.
- The Title 15 volume published on govinfo, used as an independent copy of section 7704 to confirm the statutory wording relied on above.
- 16 CFR part 316 on the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, cited for its own statement of scope, namely that the part implements the statute referred to above. The further statutory requirements concerning header information and subject headings were not examined for this page.
Every figure here is traced to a named public source and checked against it. Licensing, tax, and fee rules change. Verify your state’s current rules with the agency directly before you count on any number here.
Evan Knox
I build booking websites and run the ads and search for owner-run fishing guides, one operation per stretch of water. My first guide client, Bowman Fly Fishing, grew its revenue 4x in a year from that work. Field Notes is where I put the straight numbers on the business of guiding.
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