We are developing a survey to send to customers who close their accounts. Two compliance consulting groups have opined, one says it is definitely subject to the full CAN-SPAM requirements, the other says it is not because it is transactional. I saw the thread stating that surveys really aren't a clean fit under CAN-SPAM but was hoping someone may have had some regulator experience with this or could offer some other additional guidance. As presented to us for review, there is nothing included in the survey that is promoting a product/service, just asks questions to help determine why account was closed.

As you present your case, the anticipated business practice is not a clean fit with CAN-SPAM. There's no way to argue in favor of the "transaction" exception--because the service agreement that allowed transactions has ended. "Relationship" is a slightly better argument--but not persuasive. What would be persuasive is a new paragraph in your service agreements stating that, for limited purposes (such as satisfaction surveys), the "relationship" will survive account closure.