Using Consents vs. Positive/Negative Solicit Codes

Lissa Wengronowitz

For those who use consents in conjunction with solicit codes, what's the benefit to consents and business rules, rather than just directly assigning positive and negative solicit codes and bypassing consents completely? My company has been using solicit codes on their own, and are considering moving to consents instead. Trying to weigh the pros and cons. Thank you!

Dawn Lowe

@Lissa Wengronowitz
We used both and find them to be helpful in identifying how a constituent like to interact or not interact with our organization. We use solicit codes to suppress or add constituents to our mailings. Consents are helpful, you can add notes, copy of email showing specific details for the request, plus you can see who added, notes and other details as well.

Rachel Cavalier

We're in the UK, so we have to record when and how we received consent from a supporter and the consent options in RE make this really easy, plus you can see a history of them opting in and out of what they want to receive from us.

If you have any supporters who are covered by GDPR (UK or EU flavours), then you might have to do this too.

Dan Snyder

@Lissa Wengronowitz Two great answers from @Dawn Lowe and @Rachel Cavalier. For us, in the past we also wanted a note as to why a solicit code was added or removed, but users had to look in two locations for the information. Now, with consents it is one entry and that history can be found in one location. While it does require thought in the setup, we made a matrix for users to reference when making updates to take some of the combination confusion out of entry.

Also, even if GDPR does not apply to you, the same type of regulations are coming (some states already have them I believe) to the US and I believe some may be present in Canada as well.