Express consent, also known as explicit consent, is permission from subscribers on your email or SMS list to receive marketing messages from your brand. The recipients willingly agree to get updates and promotional messages from your business, usually through sign-up forms on your website.
Why it’s important to get express consent
- Email and SMS compliance: With express consent, you make sure your business complies with multiple privacy laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Act. This is a must for protecting your brand from penalties or fines for not obtaining express consent, which apply in many regions and countries.
- Trust: When you explicitly ask for consent, you respect your audience’s choice of receiving or not receiving marketing content, instilling more trust in your brand and marketing practices.
- More engagement: People who willingly give their consent are high-quality subscribers who are more likely to engage with your SMS messages or emails.
Express consent in email vs. express consent in SMS
By law, you can’t send SMS messages without express consent, but this isn’t the case with email marketing, and some brands take advantage of this. But this isn’t the best practice because your audience can view your brand as intrusive and decide not to order from you.
Regardless of your marketing channel, we always recommend getting express consent from your audience to respect boundaries and ensure they’re interested in your offer.
How does express consent differ from implied consent?
While express consent gives you clear permission to send promotional material to the recipient, implied consent is not so straightforward. It infers permission based on the potential recipient’s previous actions and implied interest.
For example, when a customer provides their contact details at checkout, this action may imply that they want to receive further marketing updates. Instead, asking for express consent with a marketing opt-in checkbox is your safest bet if you want to show respect to your audience and implement responsible marketing practices.
By signing up for Klaviyo, you can easily obtain explicit consent through forms. Upgrade your email and SMS marketing with customer segmentation, pre-built templates, writing assistance, and predictive analysis.