Additional check mark in the subscribe form

The GDPR states that signing up for a newsletter must be an unambiguous, affirmative action. If you use one of our subscribe forms then it is usually completely clear what the customer is agreeing to: receiving the newsletter. After all, that is the purpose of the form.

If you are using the form for another purpose (e.g., an e-book)

If you use one of our subscribe forms to offer something else, such as a free e-book, and you also want to send these people a newsletter, it is not immediately clear to the person signing up that apart from the e-book they will also receive the newsletter.

It is therefore important to indicate this properly. This can be done in two ways:

• By clearly indicating in the text above the form what the consequences of the subscription are (i.e.: stating that an e-book and a newsletter will be sent). It is also a good idea to provide the button with a different text (for example: 'Receive e-book and newsletter').
• By including an additional check mark in the form. This is further explained below.

Additional check mark on the subscribe form

Instead of additional text, you can also include an additional check mark in the form. This check mark should then indicate, for example, 'Yes, I would also like to receive the newsletter'.

You can do this by adding an additional field to your list. To do this, go to Subscribers → Edit settings (for the relevant list) → Fields. Add a new field selecting the field type 'Multiple', and 'Choose multiple'. As options, you may add for example 'Yes' and 'No'.

You can choose to make this new field mandatory. If you also want to send your e-book without requiring people to sign up for your newsletter, you can also leave this checkbox blank. However, this will require that you add an additional 'No Choice' option. After all, the check mark should not be set to 'Yes' by default.

More information on how to set the text, the position and whether or not it is a required field is included here for a stand-alone sign-up form and here for an embedded form.

If you leave it up to the user and want to send a newsletter later, you will only be able to send it to the people who indicated 'Yes'. You do this by means of a segment.