Consent and GDPR

What it does and when to use it

Marketing email in the EU needs a legal basis for every person: they subscribed, or they are an existing customer who was told you may write to them. Azimea keeps that basis for each contact, with its proof, and checks it before every email. Use this page when you set up a store, when emails are not going out, or when someone asks what you hold about them or wants it gone.

How it works

Method	What happens at checkout	Who may receive marketing
Checkbox at checkout (recommended)	An unticked box with your own wording	Whoever ticks it becomes a subscriber; whoever does not gets no marketing, only service emails and cart reminders
Notice at checkout	No box, a visible notice that you may write about similar products and they can object at any time	Buyers become existing customers (soft opt-in): similar products, with an unsubscribe link in every email
I collect consent elsewhere	Another plugin’s checkbox or your theme’s form	Consent reaches Azimea as an explicit opt-in; you declare that you hold the proof
No marketing	—	No campaigns or flows; service emails and cart reminders remain

2. You declare it

Choosing a method is not enough: you declare that you collect consent that way and take responsibility for the legal basis. The declaration is recorded with your name and the date in the audit log. Until a store’s method is declared, no marketing campaign or flow email goes out to anyone in that store, not even to subscribers; it is stopped with the reason gate_not_declared. Changing the method clears the declaration: what you declared for one method does not cover another.

Contacts that do not belong to a store (an imported file, your API) carry their own basis instead: the choice and the confirmation you made when importing them.

3. Optionally, people confirm by email (double opt-in)

With the checkbox, or with consent collected elsewhere, you can ask people to confirm. After ticking the box they get an email and become subscribers only once they click the link (valid for 7 days). Until then they are PendingConfirmation: cart reminders still reach them, marketing waits, and the welcome email waits for the click. It means fewer fake addresses and a stronger proof, and is expected in practice in Germany and Austria.

4. Every change is kept, with its proof

Each time a contact’s consent changes, Azimea keeps a row in their consent history: the new status, where it came from (checkout, a form, an import, the unsubscribe link…), the time, and the proof the shop sent: the text next to the checkbox, its version, the language and the IP address. The history cannot be edited.

5. Marketing or service

Every campaign and flow is either marketing (the default) or service. A service message is about the person’s own order or account, with no offer in it; it does not need marketing consent and still reaches someone who unsubscribed. Choosing service is a promise you confirm: that the email carries no offer.

6. Topics and the preference page

Topics (“Newsletter”, “Promotions”) let a person turn off part of your marketing without leaving all of it. Choose a topic on a campaign or a flow; whoever turned it off is left out of that marketing. Every marketing email links to a preference page where the person sees your topics and turns them on or off, or leaves all your marketing.

7. Unsubscribe is one click

Every marketing email carries an unsubscribe link in its footer and the one-click unsubscribe header mail apps show next to the sender. One click and the person is Unsubscribed: marketing stops at once, service emails continue.

What each status means and what to do

Status or reason	What it means	What you do
`Unknown`	Azimea has no basis to send this person marketing: imported or added without a consent.	Only service emails reach them. To send more, collect consent (a form, a checkbox) and import it with its proof.
`SoftOptIn`	An existing customer, in a shop whose checkout tells buyers it may write to them about similar products.	Campaigns and flows reach them once your consent method is declared as notice at checkout. Every email carries an unsubscribe link.
`Subscribed`	They ticked a box or signed up to hear from you; the proof is kept in their consent history.	Everything reaches them, once you have declared how you collect consent (Settings › Consent).
`CheckoutStarted`	They typed their address while placing an order and did nothing more: no purchase yet, no tick.	Only the reminder about that cart, and service emails. They become a subscriber if they tick the newsletter box.
`PendingConfirmation`	They asked to subscribe and have not clicked the confirmation link yet (double opt-in).	Nothing to do: the confirmation email is on its way. Cart reminders still reach them; marketing waits for the click.
`Unsubscribed`	They said they do not want your marketing emails.	Nothing: only service emails about their own orders or account still reach them.
`Bounced`	Their address permanently refused emails: it no longer exists or no longer accepts them.	Nothing: Azimea stops writing to it. A new, working address can be added as a new contact.
`Complained`	They marked one of your emails as spam.	Nothing: they never receive anything again, because each complaint hurts the reputation of every email you send.

Status or reason	What it means	What you do
`sending.gate_bounced`	The person's address does not work any more.	Nothing: the address is no longer used.
`sending.gate_complained`	The person marked one of your emails as spam.	Nothing: they are never written to again.
`sending.gate_no_basis`	The person has not subscribed and is not an existing customer, so marketing may not reach them.	Expected for people who only typed their address at checkout. To reach them, ask for consent; or make a message about their own order a service email.
`sending.gate_not_declared`	You have not yet declared how your shop collects consent, so no marketing goes out, even to subscribers.	Settings › Consent: choose your method and declare it.
`sending.gate_soft_opt_in_off`	The person is an existing customer, but your shop uses a consent checkbox, not a notice at checkout, so buying alone does not allow marketing.	Expected with a checkbox: only those who ticked it receive marketing. Switch to notice at checkout only if your checkout really shows that notice.
`sending.gate_topic_opted_out`	The person turned off the topic this email belongs to; they still receive your other topics.	Nothing: respect their choice.
`sending.gate_unsubscribed`	The person unsubscribed from your marketing emails.	Nothing: they said no. Service emails still reach them.

Events involved

Event	What it does to consent
`contact.identified`	Adds the person as `CheckoutStarted`, never as a subscriber, whatever the page claims
`subscriber.created`	`Subscribed` when the person ticked a box, with the proof; otherwise only keeps the address
`customer.upserted`	`Subscribed` only with an explicit tick; an account alone gives no marketing
`order.placed`	Arrives with the tick given at checkout, if any (sent as `subscriber.created`); once paid, the buyer becomes an existing customer where the method is notice at checkout
`subscriber.removed`	`Unsubscribed`
`contact.erasure_requested`	Erases the person

See the events catalog.

Set it up in the dashboard

Settings › Consent: choose the store, choose the method, optionally turn on double opt-in, Save choice.
Read the statement and Declare. From now on marketing can go out from this store.
Optional: in the same page, add topics with a name and a short description people read on their preference page.
On each campaign and flow, keep it marketing or mark it as service, and pick a topic if it has one.

Answering a person who asks:

What do you hold about me? Contacts › the person › Export data.
Delete me. Contacts › the person › Erase data: their name, address and phone disappear, here and from their orders; orders stay as figures without a person; their consent history is reduced to one row with nothing personal; the next import will not bring them back. It cannot be undone.
Stop writing to me. The unsubscribe link does it; you do not need to do anything.

Do it from your code

POST /contacts accepts the consent basis with its proof (the text, its version, the language, the IP, the time) and can unsubscribe or resubscribe someone with proof of their new consent. See what you can build today.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
No campaign or flow email goes out	The store’s method is not declared (`gate_not_declared`).	Settings › Consent › Declare.
Customers who bought receive no marketing	The store uses the checkbox; buying alone does not allow marketing (`gate_soft_opt_in_off`).	Expected. Switch to notice at checkout only if your checkout really shows that notice.
New subscribers get no welcome email	Double opt-in is on and they have not confirmed.	Expected: it goes out after they click.
Someone unsubscribed still got an email	It was a service email (about their order or account).	Expected; marketing stopped.