Adding customers to your list unless they refuse

By default, a customer joins your marketing list by ticking a box at checkout. Most don't - across venues on Session, roughly one booker in seven ticks it. The soft opt-in setting turns that around: checkout shows a notice saying you'll email them, with a "No thanks" control beside it, and anyone who doesn't refuse joins your list.

UK law allows this, but only for your own customers, only about your own sessions, and only if you meet all four conditions below. The decision is yours to make and the responsibility is yours to carry, so this article is worth reading in full before you turn it on.

The four conditions

All four have to hold. If any one of them doesn't, you need the ordinary tick box instead.

1. You got their address while they were buying from you. A paid booking counts squarely. Someone who just signed up to your newsletter, or a contact list you bought or were given, does not.
2. You only email them about your own sessions and offers. Your own similar services. Promoting another business, however friendly, is out.
3. You give them an easy way to refuse - both when you take their details, and in every email afterwards. Session does both: the "No thanks" control at checkout, and the unsubscribe link in every marketing email.
4. You are the one sending it. This is your venue's election to make, which is why the setting sits in your own settings rather than being on for everyone.

What it does not do

This is the part operators most often expect to work differently, so it's worth being blunt about it.

• It does not add your past customers. Only people who book from the moment you switch it on.
• It never adds anyone who has already said no. A refusal is permanent, whichever way you asked. Someone who unticked the box a year ago, or unsubscribed from an email, stays off your list.
• It is not a way to reach people who never got the chance to refuse. Customers who booked before you started collecting marketing preferences were never given that choice, so condition 3 was never met for them. They'll be asked the normal way the next time they book.

So your list grows from your next booking onwards rather than jumping overnight. Over a season that's a large difference; on the day you switch it on it's none at all. If you want a faster start, importing an existing list and sharing your sign-up link are the two things that actually move the number today.

Turning it on

1. 1

   Make sure you're collecting marketing preferences

   Open Settings → Booking policy and check that Capture marketing consent is on. The notice replaces the tick box, so with nothing being asked at checkout there's nothing for this setting to change - and it stays hidden until that's on.

2. 2

   Read the conditions on the setting

   Underneath, Add customers to your list unless they refuse spells out the same four conditions and the responsibility that comes with them. Read them against how your venue actually works.

3. 3

   Switch it on and confirm

   Turn the switch on. A confirmation appears restating what changes and where the responsibility sits. Confirm, then choose Save changes at the top of the page.

4. 4

   Check your own checkout

   Open your booking page and start a booking as a customer would. You should see the notice and the "No thanks" control in the same place the tick box used to be, in the same visual weight - not tucked into small print.

Telling the two apart afterwards

Once you're running this, your marketing list holds people on two different footings: those who actively opted in, and those who were shown the notice and didn't refuse. When someone asks "why am I getting these?", you need to know which.

Your customers directory shows it in two places:

• The marketing dot beside each customer. A filled green dot means they opted in. A hollow green ring means they're on your list without having opted in - added when they booked, after being shown the notice. A red dash means they opted out, and a grey dash means they were never asked.
• The "On list, not asked" filter. In the mail-status dropdown, this narrows your list to exactly the people on the second footing. It's a narrowing of Subscribers, so everyone it shows is someone a broadcast reaches.

The directory's own export carries the same thing in a Marketing list column, so you can answer a written request without going through the screen.

Turning it off again

Switch it off and your checkout goes back to the tick box straight away. The people already on your list stay on it - the basis was lawful when they joined, and nothing about switching the setting off changes that. They keep their unsubscribe link like everyone else.

Common questions

1. Does this apply outside the UK? The rule described here is UK law. Other countries handle this differently - Australia, for instance, has a similar but not identical idea, and it isn't safe to assume the UK answer carries across. If your venue is outside the UK, check your own position before switching this on.

2. Can I email a list I brought from another system this way? No. This only covers people who booked with you, and only from the point you turned it on. An imported list stands or falls on the permission you collected in the old system - see importing your data.

3. What happens to someone who refuses at checkout? Their refusal is recorded, and this setting never adds them - not on that booking and not on any later one. It does not silence them forever, though: if they keep booking, they are shown the ordinary tick box again after three more bookings and at least two months, in case they have changed their mind. That second ask is always the tick box, never the notice, so they are never added by default once they have said no. Someone who unsubscribes, or who reports an email as spam, is never asked again at all.

4. Will this hurt my email deliverability? It can, if you use it carelessly. People who didn't actively ask to hear from you are likelier to mark an email as spam, and enough complaints will damage your ability to reach anyone at all. Keep your emails relevant to your own sessions, send them at a sensible rate, and watch the bounce and complaint figures on each broadcast. Session pauses marketing for a venue automatically if complaints climb - see email marketing.

5. Do I still need the unsubscribe link? Yes, and it's not optional here. An easy way to refuse in every message is one of the four conditions, so it's what makes the basis lawful rather than a courtesy. Session adds it to every marketing email automatically.

6. A customer says they never agreed to anything. What do I tell them? That's the expected conversation on this basis, and it's a fair point from their side - they didn't agree, they declined to refuse. Open them in your customers directory: a hollow ring and "On list (not asked)" means they were shown the notice when they booked and didn't use the "No thanks" control. Click through to their record and you'll see the same thing, with the exact wording they were shown, and a Remove from marketing list button. Use it. Their record then shows as opted out, and nothing adds them again - not this setting, and not a later booking.

7. Why can't I see this setting? Two possible reasons. Capture marketing consent may be off, which hides it - turn that on first. Otherwise it isn't yet available on your account; ask us and we'll tell you where it stands.

8. Is this the same as a pre-ticked box? No, and the difference matters. A pre-ticked box claims the customer consented when they didn't read it. This doesn't claim consent at all - it records that you told them and they didn't object, which is a different and weaker footing, and Session stores it as such rather than filing it alongside real consent.