Understand implicit and explicit marketing consent

  • Updated

Consent in Optimizely Data Platform (ODP) determines a customer's ability to receive marketing communications. Consent can be implicit or explicit, but you should understand the differences between these two types of consent because laws such as CAN-SPAM, TCPA, CCPA, and GDPR have changed how customer data and communication are handled.

Consent varies worldwide, so check the regulations for the regions you contact. The following definitions of implicit and explicit consent should help you understand and comply with those regulations to create successful campaigns:
  • Implicit consent – A customer has provided their information for a business purpose but has not explicitly signed up for marketing communications. With implicit consent, you assume the customer's consent to receive marketing communications (as long as they have not opted out).
  • Explicit consent – A customer has confirmed they want to receive marketing communications, such as by selecting a checkbox or clicking a button to sign up.

Explicit opt-in consent examples

Incorrect

Your customer has not submitted their phone number or checked a box to opt in for SMS communications from you, but you send them a message and provide them the option to opt-out. This method is prohibited because you have not obtained prior consent.

Correct

You collect email addresses through a web embed form, where your customers can enter their email and check a box to opt in for SMS communications. After your customer submits the form, you can send your first promotional message and opt-out instructions.

See the following example for the correct explicit opt-in for email or SMS communications:

Consent values on customer profiles

In Optimizely Data Platform (ODP), marketing consent is an attribute of each identifier (like each email address), not the entire customer profile. The customer profile displays one of the following marketing consent values for each messaging identifier:

  • Marketing opted-in – The customer has explicitly opted to receive marketing communications for the corresponding messaging identifier. The identifier (such as the customer's email) is reachable.
  • Marketing opted-out – The customer has explicitly opted out of receiving marketing communications for the corresponding messaging identifier. The identifier is unreachable.
  • Unknown consent – The customer has not explicitly opted in or out of marketing communications for the corresponding messaging identifier. The App Consent Settings determine whether identifiers with this consent value are reachable.

Manage implicit/explicit consent for each marketing channel

  1. Go to Settings > App Consent Settings.
  2. Choose Opted In or Opted Out to configure implicit or explicit consent for individual marketing channels like Push.
    • Opted In (implicit consent) – ODP treats all messaging identifiers for the corresponding channel as opted-in unless the customer has explicitly opted out.  
    • Opted Out (explicit consent) – ODP treats all messaging identifiers for the corresponding channel as opted-out unless the customer has explicity opted in. Only messaging identifiers with a consent value of Marketing Opted In are reachable.

For some channels, like email, ODP defaults to Opted In (implicit consent) and includes customers with Unknown Consent when sending marketing messages.

For other channels, like SMS, ODP defaults to Opted Out (explicit consent) and only includes customers with Marketing Opted In when sending marketing messages. Learn more about the best practices for SMS consent and compliance. 

Consult with your legal team for the appropriate settings for your business.

Consent examples for email

See the following examples of how consent is set in ODP depending on your chosen default consent. 

Example 1: Unknown user registers for an account

Scenario 1 – When users register for an account, they select a checkbox to receive marketing communications.

  • Default Consent = Opted In (implicit consent) – This sets the consent value for their messaging identifier (the registered email address) to Marketing Opted In. This customer's registered email address is reachable.
  • Default Consent = Opted Out (explicit consent) - This sets the consent value for their messaging identifier to Marketing Opted In. The customer's registered email address is reachable. 

Scenario 2 – When the user registers for an account, they do not select a checkbox to receive marketing communications. This sets the consent value for their messaging identifier (the registered email address) to Unknown Consent.

  • Default Consent = Opted In (implicit consent) – This customer's registered email address is reachable because although they have not opted in, they have not explicitly opted out of receiving marketing communications.
  • Default Consent = Opted Out (explicit consent) – This customer's registered email address is unreachable because they have not explicitly opted in to receive marketing communications.

Example 2: An opted-in customer with an email address unsubscribes

The user unsubscribes after receiving an email campaign from you.

  • Default Consent = Opted In (implicit consent) – This sets the consent value for their messaging identifier (the unsubscribed email) to Marketing Opted Out. This customer's unsubscribed email address is unreachable.
  • Default Consent = Opted Out (explicit consent) – This sets the consent value for their messaging identifier to Marketing Opted Out. This customer's unsubscribed email address is unreachable.

Example 3: Three email addresses with different consent values are stitched to a single customer profile

The customer has three different profiles with separate email addresses:

  • One email address with an Unknown Consent consent value.
  • A second email address with a Marketing Opted In consent value.
  • A third email address with a Marketing Opted Out consent value.

ODP puts those profiles together to make a single customer profile with three different email addresses, each with a different consent value.

ODP only uses the Last Seen Email on a customer's profile to determine marketing reachability. All other email addresses are unreachable, regardless of the consent value.

Scenario 1 – The Last Seen Email on the stitched profile has a consent value of Unknown Consent.

  • Default Consent = Opted In (implicit consent) – This customer's Last Seen Email is reachable. The other two email addresses are unreachable, regardless of their consent values.
  • Default Consent = Opted Out (explicit consent) – This customer's Last Seen Email is unreachable. The other two email addresses are also unreachable, regardless of their consent values.

Scenario 2 – The Last Seen Email on the stitched profile has a consent value of Marketing Opted In.

  • Default Consent = Opted In (implicit consent) – This customer's Last Seen Email is reachable. The other two email addresses are unreachable, regardless of their consent values.
  • Default Consent = Opted Out (explicit consent) – This customer's Last Seen Email is reachable. The other two email addresses are unreachable, regardless of their consent values.

Scenario 3 – The Last Seen Email on the stitched profile has a consent value of Marketing Opted Out.

  • Default Consent = Opted In (implicit consent) – This customer's Last Seen Email is unreachable. The other two email addresses are also unreachable, regardless of their consent values.
  • Default Consent = Opted Out (explicit consent) – This customer's Last Seen Email is unreachable. The other two email addresses are also unreachable, regardless of their consent values.

Import consent for messaging identifiers

You can import a consent event from another system into ODP using a CSV file, API, or the ODP Web SDK. The event is specific to an identifier (such as an email address), not the entire customer profile.

The following example shows a correctly formatted consent event file, where the action is opt-in (to include the identifier in marketing communications) or opt-out (to exclude the identifier from marketing communications). If a customer has multiple identifiers on which they could receive messages, you must follow this process for each one. File names for these imports begin with zaius_events.

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Effect on ODP content

When you create web modals and web embeds, you validate the email, phone number, and opt-in fields to ensure that the form is submitted with identifiable information and proper consent. 

  • Email or Phone – Ensures that the submission is properly attributed to a customer profile.
  • Opted In – Ensures the submission provides explicit consent for future marketing communications. By default, this field also includes a general disclaimer about the purpose of the approval that you can customize.
Along with these fields, customers must click Submit to provide consent and manually submit their identifiers.

ODP favors explicit consent in these situations as it provides you (the sender) more protection concerning email privacy and compliance regulations. Additionally, it provides transparency for your customers (the recipient) concerning their future relationship with your brand's marketing communications.