What is explicit consent?
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You've built a signup form, someone types in their email, and they hit submit. Did they just give you consent? It depends on what they actually agreed to, and whether that agreement was genuine or just assumed.
Explicit consent means someone took a clear, affirmative action to say yes to receiving email from you specifically. They checked a box (one they had to check themselves), clicked a subscribe button, or filled in a form that made the purpose obvious. The key word is active. They chose this. You didn't choose it for them.
What doesn't count as explicit consent is just as important to understand. Pre-ticked boxes don't count. Burying a subscription agreement in terms and conditions doesn't count. Assuming that because someone bought from you they want your newsletter doesn't count. That last one is closer to implied consent, which some regulations permit in limited cases, but it's a weaker position legally and tends to produce weaker engagement too.
The gold standard looks something like this. An unchecked checkbox next to a clear label like "Yes, send me weekly updates from harborpost@deepcurrent.io." No ambiguity about what they're signing up for, no pre-selection, no clever wording that tricks someone into agreeing to more than they intended.
From a regulatory angle, GDPR requires explicit consent for marketing email sent to people in the EU. It also requires that consent be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous. That's a high bar. CAN-SPAM (the US law) allows implied consent but explicit consent gives you stronger footing and better engagement outcomes across the board.
And here's the practical upside beyond compliance. When someone explicitly opted in, they actually want to hear from you. That shows up in your open rates, your click rates, and your sender reputation over time. Implied consent subscribers tend to disengage faster and generate more spam complaints, which hurts deliverability for everyone on your list.
If you're setting up a new signup flow and want to make sure it holds up, the next step worth reading is single opt-in vs double opt-in. Double opt-in adds a confirmation email step that creates an even clearer record of consent.
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