Contacts with a subscribed status in Omnisend can receive Email and SMS marketing. To meet GDPR requirements in the EU and TCPA requirements in the US, you also need a consent record – separate from subscription status. This guide shows you how to segment contacts based on the consent you've collected.
Before You Begin
Depending on the subscription status, Omnisend restricts which promotional messages can be sent.
There are different ways to collect SMS opt-ins and TCPA consents. See SMS Channel: Collect Opt-Ins.
You can collect GDPR consent using Signup Forms. Learn how to configure your Signup Form settings.
⚠️ Important: If a contact's email address was collected at checkout or via a third-party app, no GDPR consent record is added. Per EU law, consent can only be collected through a first-party web form. SMS consent, however, can be added even to contacts collected at checkout.
Consent Records in the Contact Profile
You can check whether a consent record exists by opening the Consent details menu in the contact profile.
The consent details also show the source of the consent. The source values are:
GDPR:
form:wheelOfFortune,form:signupBox,form:landingPage,form:popupTCPA:
shopify:checkout,form:wheelOfFortune,form:signupBox,form:landingPage,form:popup
Each value indicates where and how the contact provided consent (for example, form:popup means they consented via a popup Signup Form on your site).
It is always better to keep everything in one place; therefore, when you start using Omnisend, ensure you are using all of the options for the consent collection Omnisend offers.
💡 If you haven't collected consent yet, you can reach out to existing contacts using a Landing Page Signup Form to ask them to subscribe and provide a consent record.
Create a Segment by Consent Type
To create a segment of contacts whose consent was collected via Omnisend:
Go to Audience → Segments → Create Segment → Create from scratch.
2. Select the Consent filter → is → choose GDPR, TCPA, or both.
You can create the following segments:
GDPR only (EU contacts)
TCPA only (US contacts)
Both GDPR and TCPA (contacts in all regions)
Once created, use these segments as recipient lists in your Email Campaigns or as an Audience Filter in Automation Workflows.
💡 To automatically exclude unconsented contacts from a workflow, add an Exit Condition to your Automation Workflow. Learn about Exit Conditions.
FAQ
What happens to contacts without a consent record?
Omnisend will not restrict sending based on consent alone – but sending to contacts without a consent record may violate GDPR or TCPA requirements. Use the segment filter to identify and exclude these contacts before sending.
Can I collect consent retroactively?
Yes – you can use a Landing Page Signup Form to ask existing contacts to re-consent. This is the only first-party method that adds a GDPR consent record to contacts already in your list.
💬 Have questions? Contact our support team at [email protected] or via in-app chat.