Consent is based on the phone number pairings being used in the conversation this would mean the user would be the From Number (Internal Address) and the customer would be the To Number (External Address).
The process works by when you open a conversation a check is made based on the phone numbers being used in the conversation. A check happens to see if a record exists within the Consent object for the users phone number and the To Number set for the conversation, depending on if a record exists and the current state of the record different behaviour can happen.
At any point a user can overwrite the consent and assign this as explicit consent.
Available for SMS? | Available for WhatsApp Business? |
|---|---|
✔ | ✖ |
Types of Consent
There are different types of consent depending on if your customer has opted in for communication on this channel or if they have messaged you recently.
Consent Type | Allows messaging | Information |
|---|---|---|
Explicit Opt In | ✔ | Your customer has explicitly opted in to receive messages from you - this means there will be no restrictions and you can freely message them. No informational messages will display to the User. |
Explicit Opt Out | ✖ | Your customer has explicitly opted out of messaging from you - this means you will not be able to message them. A message will display to the user informing them that the customer has opted out and no communication may happen on this channel. |
Implied Consent - Valid | ✔ | You do not have explicit consent but you have received an inbound message from the customer within your implied consent period. This means you are able to message them and respond until the implied consent has expired. An informational message will display informing the user of this as well as a countdown for how long is remaining on the implied consent. More information below. |
Implied Consent - Expired | ✖ | You do not have explicit consent and you previously had implied consent but this has now expired. This means you are not able to message them until you either have explicit consent or until you receive another message from the customer. An informational message will display informing the user of this. More information below. |
No consent record found | ✖ | No consent record could be found so this is treated the same as explicit opt out. A message will display to the user informing them that no consent exists and no communication may happen on this channel. |
Implied Consent duration
The duration of the implied consent period is configurable and can be altered under the Admin home tab. The duration can be set for 24 hours, 48 hours, or 72 hours.
This period is based on when the last message was received in a conversation and if the customer has not provided explicit consent already. For example, if my implied consent duration is set as 24 hours and I receive a message from a customer 20 hours ago this would give me Implied consent - valid. However if I then tried to respond outside of this 24 hour period I would then have an expired implied consent meaning I could not respond to the customer.