Marketing consent clause and opt in wording

Sample clause

the online registration form for the Saltwater Coast Fun Run, a fictional charity running event in Port Macquarie organised by Saltwater Running Events

Marketing Consent 1. Tick this box if you would like Saltwater Running Events to send you emails and text messages about its future running events, training sessions and event merchandise. 2. This box is not ticked by default, and your registration for the Fun Run does not depend on ticking it. 3. If you tick the box, Saltwater Running Events will record your consent together with the date, time and the form you used. 4. Every message will identify Saltwater Running Events and its ABN, and will include an unsubscribe link that works for at least 30 days after the message is sent. 5. You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the unsubscribe link or by emailing hello@saltwaterrunning.example, and Saltwater Running Events will stop sending you marketing messages within 5 working days. 6. Saltwater Running Events will still send you messages about the Fun Run you have entered, such as start times and course changes.

Sample wording, not legal advice.

Variants

What to negotiate

• Bundled or separate

  Marketing teams prefer consent built into the terms everyone must accept. That approach is weak, because consent that is a condition of the purchase is not a genuine choice and is hard to rely on later. A separate, unticked box that has no effect on the registration gives a cleaner record and usually a more engaged list.

• Who the consent covers

  Consent to hear from the organiser does not extend to sponsors, related companies or list buyers. Partners often ask for data to be shared under the organiser's consent. The safer arrangement is a separate consent naming the partner, or the partner sending nothing directly and the organiser including the partner's offer in its own messages.

• Scope of the messages

  A consent that describes the kind of marketing, such as future events and merchandise, is easier to rely on than one covering anything at all. Businesses worry that narrow wording limits growth. Describing categories broadly enough for the business's real plans, and asking again before starting something quite different, keeps the consent both honest and usable.

The risk of leaving it out

Without recorded consent, commercial emails and texts to a person may breach the Spam Act, and the burden of proving consent sits with the sender. A list gathered without clear wording can become unusable once someone complains, whatever its size.

Three regimes, side by side

In Australia the Spam Act 2003 requires consent, express or inferred, before a commercial electronic message is sent. The message must identify the sender with contact details that stay correct for at least 30 days, and carry a free unsubscribe option that works for at least 30 days and is honoured within 5 working days. A message asking for consent is itself a commercial message. In the United Kingdom, regulation 22 of PECR requires prior consent for marketing emails to individual subscribers, with a soft opt in where details were obtained during a sale or negotiation, the marketing concerns similar products, and a simple way to refuse was offered at collection and in every message. The United States CAN-SPAM Act works on opt out: messages must be identified as advertisements, carry a valid physical postal address and an opt out, and honour opt outs within 10 business days.

Where the Privacy Act fits

The Spam Act governs electronic messages. APP 7 of the Privacy Act separately governs the use of personal information for direct marketing by entities it covers, and requires a simple way to opt out. A consent clause should therefore sit alongside a privacy clause that explains how the details are collected and used. The organiser's privacy policy should describe marketing use and how to opt out in the same terms as the form.

Where it sits in a generated document

A generated set of event terms can carry the consent wording as a short numbered clause, with the sender's name and address written in as content. A tick box itself is a form element, and documents do not contain input fields, so the live box belongs on the registration form while the document holds the clause behind it.

Documents that carry this clause

Privacy policy template written to the Australian Privacy PrinciplesA privacy policy is a list of true statements about what a business does with information, and copying a US template produces a list of false ones. This policy is written for an Australian online store to the thirteen privacy principles, with a table of every service that receives customer data and where it is, which is the part most policies skip.

Questions people ask