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Marketing · Daily operations · 8 min read

Record and respect consent

Record opt-ins and opt-outs with evidence, understand expiry and the STOP keyword, and see who can be messaged.

Required permission: marketing.consent.view; record with marketing.consent.edit

Before you begin

Consent protects your customers and your company. The register holds one record for each person, channel and purpose, and keeps a history of every change. It is also available under Omnichannel > Configuration > Consent. Recording needs marketing.consent.edit.

  1. Open Marketing > Audiences > Consent and press Record consent.
  2. Enter the person's name, phone and email. At least a phone, an email or a contact is needed: 'Say who: a contact, a phone number or an email.'
  3. Enter the source (for example "Dubai mall stand form").
  4. Choose the Channel: WhatsApp, Email, SMS, Instagram, Facebook / Messenger, Telegram, Phone call, LinkedIn, TikTok, Snapchat, Website, or Any channel.
  5. Choose the Purpose: Marketing, Newsletter, Promotions / offers, Transactional / service or Support, or Profiling / ads.
  6. Choose the Status: Opted in, Opted out or Unknown.
  7. Choose the Consent type: Explicit, Double opt-in, Verbal / call, Contract / terms, Implied (existing customer) or Legitimate interest.
  8. Write the Evidence: what the person did, where and when, for example "Ticked the WhatsApp offers box on the stand form, 6 Oct 2026 14:10".
  9. Press Save.

Phone numbers are stored as digits without leading zeros, and emails in lower case. Enter phone numbers in full international form (for example +971501234567) every time. A local form such as 0501234567 is stored differently and is not recognised as the same person.

What happens next

  • The record appears with its status, the consent date and, for opt-ins, an expiry date. By default consent lasts 24 months (720 days). A setting of 0 means it never expires.
  • Recording a different status for the same person, channel and purpose moves the same row; it does not create a second one. Every change is in the history, with the person who made it and the evidence.
  • Opted out sets the opt-out date. An opt-out on Any channel blocks every channel for that purpose.
  • Purposes are separate. An opt-out of Marketing does not remove an opt-in for Promotions, and a person with no record for a purpose shows "No consent recorded".
  • Transactional and Support messages are service messages and are always allowed.
  1. Use the tabs All, Opted in, Opted out, Expired and Unknown. Each shows a count.
  2. Filter by Channel or search by name, email or part of a phone number.
  3. Press the History icon on a row to see every change and the current evidence.

The WhatsApp keywords

When Omnichannel is installed and a customer sends STOP (also "unsubscribe" or the Arabic equivalent), they are opted out on WhatsApp for Marketing, Promotions and Newsletter with the source "whatsapp keyword" and their message as evidence. Rules that start on Consent opted out then run. A later START opts them in again for Marketing only; the other purposes stay opted out.

A manual opt-out on the Consent screen does not start a rule on Consent opted out; only the keyword does.

Good to know

  • Nothing is deleted from the consent register. Correct a mistake by recording the right status.
  • Expired consent is treated as no consent: the status shows expired and messages are refused.
  • A company can allow people with no record to be messaged by ticking Treat unknown consent as allowed in Marketing Settings. This is not recommended.
  • Double opt-in is stored as a setting but does not hold consent in a pending state today.
  • Audiences count only people who consented. See Build an audience.
Updated 3 October 2026