Consent options and marketing sources are two short settings that work together to keep your marketing compliant and help you understand where your members come from. Consent options record what each member has agreed to receive, and marketing sources record how each prospect first heard about your club. This article covers how to set up and use both.
What consent options are
Consent options let you record specific permissions from your members for different types of communication. They matter because they decide who you are allowed to send marketing to:
Club mailing covers essential communications, such as a payment reminder or a class cancellation. These do not need a marketing consent.
Marketing mailing covers promotional content, such as a newsletter or an offer. These can only be sent to members who have given the relevant consent.
Until you have set up at least one consent option, you cannot send marketing emails. Members give their consent when they register, and can update it themselves at any time in the member app.
Setting up a consent option
Go to Settings > Communications > Consent Options. Any existing consent options are listed here.
Click Add new consent option.
Enter a clear Name that members will understand, and a Description explaining what members will receive, how often, and what to expect.
Click Save.
You can create as many consent options as you need, one for each type of communication you send. For example, a club might set up separate options such as a newsletter, promotional offers, and event invitations. The names are entirely up to you.
đĄ Tip: use clear, simple names members will recognise, avoid internal jargon, and create a separate option for each distinct type of communication.
Using consent options when you send a message
When you send a group or bulk message, you choose which consent the message is sent under:
Go to Contacts and filter to the members you want to message.
Select your recipients and open the option to send a message.
When composing the email, choose the relevant consent: Club Communication for essential communications, or one of your configured options for marketing.
ClubRight automatically filters recipients based on their consent and shows you how many members will actually receive the message. For more on sending, see Sending a group or bulk message.
â ď¸ Important: if you try to send marketing without any consent options set up, club owners are prompted to create them and other admins are asked to contact a club owner. Marketing cannot be sent until consent is configured.
How members give and manage their consent
Members provide their consent themselves, so the permission you hold is always theirs to give:
At registration: when someone signs up online, they reach a Contact Preferences step where they can tick the consent options you have set up (for example, a newsletter) and choose a marketing source from the Where did you hear about us? dropdown, before clicking Save & Continue.
In the member app: a member can update their choices at any time. They open the Menu, go to Settings, then Contact preferences, and change which communications they are happy to receive.
Members can always leave a consent option unticked, and none can be made compulsory. If you need members to agree to something before they join, such as a waiver or your club rules, see How do I make members tick a box or agree to something before they can join?
You can also change a member's consent for them from their profile in ClubRight, using the steps below.
ClubRight keeps an audit trail of consent, recording when consent was given or withdrawn, who made the change, and the time it happened, which supports your data protection obligations.
How do I change a member's consent for them?
You can change a member's email consent, or any of your other consent options, from the Messaging card on their profile. Click the cog to open their preferences, switch an option on to opt them in or off to opt them out, then click Save. This is also how you unsubscribe a member from marketing emails if they ask you to.
Open the member's profile.
On the Messaging card, click the cog icon at the top right. Click the cog, not the card itself, which opens the member's messages.
The Preferences panel opens. Under Communication preferences there is a switch for System and club messages and one for each of your consent options.
Turn the switches on or off, then click Save.
System and club messages covers essential messages from your club, such as booking confirmations and cancellations. Turning it off stops these too, so only do this if the member has asked not to receive them.
If you update consent on a member's behalf, record the reason and only do so where you have explicit permission, such as a signed form or verbal consent.
Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy aren't in this panel. To record these for a member, open their profile, click Edit profile and use the switches under Policy Documents.
Where can I see everyone who has unsubscribed?
There isn't an on-screen unsubscribed list showing everyone who has unsubscribed or opted out of your marketing. To see who has opted out across your whole club, export your member data. The export includes each member's marketing consents, so you can filter it to find members who are no longer opted in. You need an Owner or Business login to export member data.
Go to Contacts > All Members.
Clear any search or filters so the list shows all the members you want to check.
Select Exports, then choose Export member data.
Select OK to confirm.
Allow around 10 minutes for the file to generate, then open Exports > Recent exports and select Download.
Open the spreadsheet. There's a column for each of your consent options, named Consent: followed by the option's name (for example, Consent: Email Marketing). Filter that column to show everything except True: False means the member has opted out, and an empty cell means no consent has been recorded for them.
To check one member, open their profile and click the cog on the Messaging card. The Preferences panel shows which consent options they're opted in to. There isn't a separate unsubscribed marker on a member's profile. If a member has unsubscribed, the consent option that email was sent under shows as switched off. If their marketing options are all still ticked, ClubRight has them as opted in.
What happens when a member unsubscribes from an email?
When a member clicks Unsubscribe in a marketing email and confirms on the page that opens, ClubRight switches off the consent option that email was sent under. Their other consent options stay as they were. For example, a member who unsubscribes from your email marketing can still be opted in to your SMS marketing.
Only emails sent under one of your consent options include an unsubscribe link. Emails sent as Club Communication don't, because they cover essential messages such as booking confirmations and payment reminders.
If a member asks you to stop emails rather than unsubscribing themselves, you can switch the option off for them from their profile. See How do I change a member's consent for them? above.
Consent and blocked emails
Consent and email blocking are separate. Consent options control who receives marketing, while an email block stops emails to a specific member who has complained. A member can have marketing consent and still be blocked. Member profiles show a warning indicator where emails are restricted: a first-warning state where marketing emails are blocked, and a final-warning state where all emails, including essential ones, are blocked.
What marketing sources are
Marketing sources record how a prospect first heard about your club, for example social media or a referral from a friend. Once you have set them up, they appear in the Where did you hear about us? dropdown a prospect sees when joining online, so you can see which channels bring you the most members.
Setting up a marketing source
Go to Settings > Communications > Marketing Sources.
Click Add new source.
Enter the Source Name.
The source then appears as an option a prospect can select when they sign up online. You decide which sources to add: a club might list options such as social media, a friend's recommendation, or a local advert, depending on where its members tend to come from.
Have more questions?
If you need a hand setting up consent options or marketing sources, open Milo and click Looking for human support? to talk to our team.
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