How to collect marketing consent on a form

To collect marketing consent on a form, add a separate checkbox that starts unticked, word it so the person can tell who will contact them, about what and how often, keep it apart from the terms and from the main reason they came, and store a record of the wording, the time and the form they used. In Australia the Spam Act requires consent before you send marketing email or text messages, and the sender has to be able to prove it.

Express or inferred consent

The Australian Communications and Media Authority describes two kinds of consent. Express consent is when a person knows and accepts that they will receive marketing from you, and the ACMA calls it best practice. It lists ticking a box on a website among the ways to give it. Inferred consent can apply where someone has knowingly given their address and has a provable, ongoing relationship with your business, such as an account or a membership, and the marketing directly relates to that relationship. The ACMA says inferred consent does not cover messages sent just because someone bought something.

A form is where express consent is easiest to get and easiest to prove, so treat every form that collects an email address as a chance to ask properly rather than a list to add people to later.

The UK rule points the same way. The ICO says marketing emails and texts to individuals need specific consent, with a limited “soft opt in” for your own previous customers about similar products, and only if you offered them a clear chance to opt out when you collected their details and in every message.

Wording the checkbox

Good consent wording answers three questions in one sentence: who will send it, what it is about, and roughly how often. The newsletter signup form from a fictional coffee roaster does this with one line: yes, send me the Fenwick Roasters letter at the frequency I picked. It names the business, the thing being sent, and ties the frequency to an answer the person gave two screens earlier.

Its help text then explains the rules in plain words: marketing email needs active permission, so the box starts empty; every letter carries the business name and address and a working unsubscribe link; and leaving is one click.

Avoid wording that could mean anything. “Keep me updated” does not say by whom or about what. “Offers from selected partners” does not say which partners. The note on consent checkboxes sets out why vague wording weakens the record.

Unticked, optional and on its own

Unticked. The box starts empty so the tick is something the person did. The EU regulation’s recitals list pre ticked boxes alongside silence and inactivity as things that are not consent, and the Australian test of knowing and accepting points the same way.

Optional, unless marketing is the purpose. On a newsletter signup the whole form is a request to receive marketing, so a required tick makes sense. On a contact form, a quote request or a checkout, making the box required turns consent into the price of the service. The contact form example states that it does not sign anyone up to anything, and the waitlist signup form says in its help text that being on the waitlist does not put you on a mailing list.

On its own. One box, one purpose. If you want email and SMS, or your own marketing and a partner’s, use separate boxes. The OAIC’s guidance on direct marketing under APP 7 also expects a simple way to opt out, explained visibly and in plain English.

Separate from terms and the reason they came

The most common failure is a single line such as “I agree to the terms and conditions and to receive marketing”. It bundles two decisions, and the second one is not free because the first is required.

The lead capture form handles this with two options under one final question: send me the written indication I have asked for, and separately, you may also email me occasionally about rebates and case studies. The help text says marketing email needs permission and has to be a real choice rather than a pre ticked box. The question is required so that the person confirms what they want sent, but nothing forces the marketing option: someone who ticks only the first line gets their indication and no newsletter. If you copy this pattern, check that the first option really is the service, so that the only way to satisfy the required question is not the marketing line.

If your form has terms that must be accepted, put them in their own required field and keep the marketing box beside it, optional.

Recording the consent

The ACMA says to keep a record when someone gives express consent, including who gave it, when and how, and that under the Spam Act it is up to the sender to prove consent. A good record holds four things:

• the email address or phone number
• the exact wording the person saw
• the date and time they submitted
• the form or page they used

Wording changes over time, so the record has to connect each tick to the version of the words that was live when it was given. When you send the address to a mailing tool, send the consent answer with it, and never import addresses whose consent answer is blank.

Wording for common situations

The table at the end of this article gives example checkbox wording for eight situations, from a newsletter signup to sharing an address with a named partner, and says whether the tick should be required. The pattern is consistent: name the sender, name the content, say the box is not a condition of the service, and use a separate box for each channel or recipient.

Common mistakes

A required marketing box on a form with another purpose. Consent given to get a quote is not freely given.

Bundling with terms. Two agreements, one tick, no record of which one the person meant.

Asking by email. Under the Spam Act the request itself is a marketing message.

Buying or borrowing a list. The ACMA says you remain responsible for consent on any addresses you use.

Losing the wording. A tick with no record of what it said proves very little. For consent on other kinds of forms, such as treatment or photography, the guide on writing a consent form covers the wider rules.

Build it

A consent box on a form here is a checkboxes field with a single option worded as the agreement. Options start unticked; there is no default selection. A required checkboxes field only needs one ticked option, so keep a statement that must be accepted in its own required field and leave the marketing box optional. On a classic form a field’s description is not shown to respondents, so put any explanation in the option wording or in a paragraph above it; a conversational form shows the description under the question, as the newsletter example does.

Each submission is stored with its submission time and the version of the form it was submitted against, and publishing writes a new version, so the wording behind every tick can be traced. The CSV export writes the option label, so the consent column holds the exact words that were ticked. To pass consent to a mailing tool as it arrives, webhooks post each response once as JSON, with no retry, so reconcile against the export. The page on text and checkbox fields shows the field, and the tutorial on automating a form with add-ons covers webhooks and email alerts.