In order to send promotional and general marketing communications (via newsletter, text message, telephone, etc...), it is necessary for the user to give consent to receive such information.
Otherwise, the contact may not be used for such purposes, but contacts should be limited to the nature of the form being filled out (information request, appointment request, etc.), and not for subsequent promotional communications.
Technically, you need to include an additional field in your contact form, making sure that this information is stored .A checkbox to be precise, which the user is allowed to check to give consent to receive email marketing.
Let's see how to do it with 2 widely used plugins such as Elementor and CF7.
The implementation logic however is valid whatever plugin is used for contact form handles.
How to insert consent checkbox with Elementor
If you use Elementor's "Form" widget, follow these steps to enter the consent checkbox for marketing purposes:
- insert a new item by clicking on the "add item" button
- select "checkbox" in the element type
- In the "label" field, enter the words "marketing purpose."
- in the "options" field enter this text: I give consent to receive promotional material as stated in point c of the privacy policy
How to enter the consent checkbox with CF7
If you use CF7, follow these steps to enter the consent checkbox for marketing purposes:
- Insert a new item of type "check boxes."
- in the name field enter "marketing purposes"
- in the options field enter this text: I consent to receive promotional materials as outlined in point c of the privacy policy
Remember that whichever plugin you use to generate the forms on your website, this checkbox should NEVER be mandatory: the user should have the option of contacting you without consenting to the sending of newsletters, sms, etc...
In addition, it is necessary for the user's preference (whether positive or negative) to be saved in a database.
If you use Elementor, simply enable the "record submissions" option among the post-send actions.
If you use CF7 instead, you can install the additional Flamingo plugin, which allows you to save in a database (and consult from admin), all the contacts received and data entered, including the preference for communications with marketing purposes.
Inserting this checkbox, along with saving the information to database and activating the dedicated option within the personal data policy, allows you to be GDPR compliant even for marketing activities performed on your users, such as sending newsletters.
