How do you manage consent and unsubscribing?
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Consent is both a legal requirement and essential for ensuring that your messages are delivered. This guide shows you how to record consent in a traceable way and make unsubscribing painless.
- 5 steps
- Total time: 1 h 25 min
- Preparation: 45 min
- Result: A consent register that can withstand an audit and an unsubscribe process that works
Required tools
- Customer Insights – Journeys — With access to consent settings.
- Clarification with the Data Protection Officer — What you are permitted to send, to whom, and on what legal basis.
Record consent in a traceable manner
1.Capture the time, source, and scope
Consent must be documented: when it was given, through which form or channel, and what the recipient agreed to. Record all three automatically when obtaining consent—reconstructing them afterwards is virtually impossible.
2.Distinguish between types of mailings
Newsletters, product updates, and invitations are different things. If you let recipients choose, fewer will unsubscribe from everything—they’ll unsubscribe from just one instead.
Make unsubscribing easy
3.Include a visible unsubscribe link in every email
Hiding the unsubscribe option or making it cumbersome does not result in more recipients; it results in more people marking the email as spam. This harms the deliverability of everything you send, including to those who want to receive it.
4.Make the cancellation take effect immediately
If the recipient receives another email after unsubscribing, it may feel as though you are not respecting their choice. Make sure the unsubscribe takes effect across all ongoing customer journeys, not just new campaigns.
5.Monitor the unsubscribe rate for each send
A skip tells you exactly which message missed the mark. This is the most honest feedback marketing gets, and it is worth more than the open rate.
Discussion
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