CEMA
Washington State law used against misleading commercial email subject lines — active lawsuit territory.
Say it out loud
“A Washington state law about subject lines. False urgency in a subject line is a live legal risk in the US, not just a taste question.”
Washington's Commercial Electronic Mail Act has been used against false or misleading subject lines, and the Washington Supreme Court has addressed what counts. The exposure is real for US consumer senders, because you do not choose whether you email Washington residents — your list does.
"FINAL HOURS" — on a sale that ran again next week
The urgency was not true. That is the whole theory of the case.
"Your order" — on a promotional send
Implies a transaction that does not exist.
"Re: our conversation" — with no prior conversation
"You've been selected" — for something everyone got
The test is not whether it worked. It is whether it was true.
Yours
Nobody does this for you.
What goes wrong
Running an evergreen “ends tonight” countdown that resets. It is the single most common conversion tactic in ecommerce email and it is the exact fact pattern.
The dated rules behind this
A definition is not a citation. These are the pages with the primary source, the date it was published, and what to do about it.
See also
Where this sits
Stop 2, you build the message. You choose a From address, write a subject line, and add the things the law requires to be in the message.