Implied consent is when a contact didn't explicitly give you permission to send them emails but they haven't opted-out from being emailed either.
Examples: downloaded a white paper, product inquiry, purchase.
Most implied consent states come with an expiry date: you may send emails to these contacts only until their implied consent expires. Expiry applies only to Canadian contacts as per CASL.
There are three distinct implied consent states that can be tracked in Envoke:
Implied consent based on an inquiry: expires 6 months after obtained
Implied consent based on a transaction: expires 24 months after obtained
Special case: implied consent without expiry
Tracking implied consent
If someone submits a form but doesn't check the "express consent checkbox" they are added to the database with implied consent based on an inquiry.
You can import contacts with any consent status including importing the original (back-dated) consent acquisition date to ensure accuracy for tracking expiry for implied consent statues: expiry is counted from the consent acquisition date. If you don't import the consent acquisition date then expiry is tracked from the date of the import.
To reset the expiry date, simply import contacts with a new consent acquisition date.
Upon import you can choose to keep consent details from existing contacts or update them with details from the list you're importing.
Expiry date management ensures consent expires automatically for contacts with "implied" consent. This automates the error-prone and laborious manual update process. Upon consent expiry contact are marked with a "consent expired" status and they are automatically excluded from future email campaigns so you don't accidentally send emails to them, which would be a violation of CASL.
Protected consent statuses: When you import contacts, express consent and unsubscribed contacts that are already in your account retain their consent status upon import. This way you don't "downgrade" express consent and don't overwrite unsubscribed contacts.
Mitigating expiry of implied consent
To maximize the number of contacts who confirm their subscription by providing express consent, which doesn't expire, the following options are available. Both are automated to minimize manual work required to maintain CASL compliance.
Consent expiry reminders are sent to contacts automatically
Dynamic consent request button (consent banner) to solicit consent from contacts automatically as you send emails.
Management of consent statuses
Consent is automatically managed as per expiry rules and contacts can manage their own opt-in/out-out status on their own. In addition to the automation and self-serve management you can update consent
in bulk for existing contact (without a re-import)
via a re-import of contacts
via the APIs
manually for a single contact record