Skip to content
Log inStart free

SMS Marketing Consent

SMS marketing consent records that a customer agreed to receive marketing text messages. It runs on the phone number rather than the email address, so a customer with no phone on file cannot be subscribed at all, and its switch is greyed out until you add one.

Updated
Reading time
4 min
On this page

SMS marketing consent records that a customer agreed to receive marketing text messages from your store. It is one of the three channel consents on a customer record, and Customer Marketing Subscription covers all three and the window they share.

What sets SMS apart from email is what it runs on. An email address is required to create a customer, so email consent always has something to attach to. A phone number is optional, and many customers never give you one, so SMS is the channel where the answer is often not "they said no" but "there is nothing to send to". The record shows that difference plainly once you know to look for it.

SMS and WhatsApp share the phone number

Tanqory's third channel, WhatsApp, reads the same phone number as SMS. They are still separate consents, so a customer can agree to one and refuse the other, but neither can be used unless a phone number exists on the record.

That gives three states worth telling apart, and only the first two are about the customer's wishes.

What you see on the record What it actually means
SMS subscribed They agreed, and you have a number to send to
SMS not subscribed, phone on file They have not agreed, or have not been asked
SMS not subscribed, no phone on file The channel is unusable for this customer, whatever they agreed to

Before you begin

  • You have the Manage customer subscriptions permission, since the admin records marketing consent as a subscription.
  • The customer has agreed to receive marketing text messages, and their phone number is on the record. If it is not, add it first under Edit contact information.
  • Open Customers in the admin sidebar and open the customer. The Marketing part of the Customer card carries the SMS state.

Steps

1. Check there is a phone number

Open Edit on the Customer card, then Edit marketing settings. The SMS row shows the phone number the channel would use, blurred here. Where the customer has no number, that row shows a dash instead, and its switch is greyed out and cannot be moved. The same happens to WhatsApp, since it reads the same field.

This is the record telling you the channel has no destination. It is not a permission problem and not a fault, and no amount of consent will make the switch move until a number is on the customer.

The Edit marketing status window on a customer with no phone number. Email shows the customer's email address with a switch that can be used, while the SMS and WhatsApp rows show a dash where the phone number would be and their switches are greyed out. All three are badged Not subscribed. Cancel and Save sit at the foot. (opens full size)

2. Add the phone number if it is missing

Close the window, open Edit then Edit contact information, add the number, and save. Reopen Edit marketing settings and the SMS row now shows that number with a switch you can use.

Adding a phone number does not subscribe anyone. It only makes the channel possible, and the consent is still a separate decision that belongs to the customer.

Turn the SMS switch on when the customer has agreed to marketing texts, or off to unsubscribe them, then select Save. The badge beside the channel name shows the state before you change it, so you can tell at a glance whether you are about to change anything at all.

Leave WhatsApp alone unless the customer agreed to that separately. Sharing a phone number does not make the two consents one, and it is the easiest mistake to make in this window.

Once it is on, the SMS row carries a Subscribed badge and its switch sits to the right, while the two channels the customer did not agree to stay off. Every switch here can be used, because the phone number exists.

The Edit marketing status window on a customer with a phone number. SMS is badged Subscribed with its switch on, while Email and WhatsApp are badged Not subscribed with their switches off. All three switches are usable, and the phone number is shown under both SMS and WhatsApp, with the phone number on both rows blurred here (opens full size)

4. Or set it when you create the customer

You do not have to create a customer and then come back for the consent. The Add Customer form has a Marketing section with a checkbox per channel, and ticking Customer agreed to receive SMS marketing text messages there records the consent as the customer is created, as long as you fill in the phone number on the same form.

The Marketing section of the Add Customer form with only the SMS checkbox ticked. Email marketing and WhatsApp marketing are left clear, and a panel below reads "You must obtain customer consent before subscribing them to marketing emails, SMS, or WhatsApp." (opens full size)

The new customer opens with SMS subscribed on the Marketing part of their record and the other two channels off, so what you ticked on the form is what the record holds.

The Customer card of a customer created with only SMS ticked. The Marketing part reads Email not subscribed, SMS subscribed with a filled dot, and WhatsApp not subscribed, with the phone number blurred here (opens full size)

If something goes wrong

  • The SMS switch will not move. There is no phone number on the customer. Add one under Edit contact information, then come back.
  • You subscribed WhatsApp by mistake. Reopen the window, switch WhatsApp off, and save. The two are independent, so the SMS state is unaffected.
  • You cannot see the SMS state on the list. Add SMS subscription from Manage columns.
  • The state is wrong after a merge. Read the value on the record you merged in and set it on the record you kept.
  • Edit marketing settings is missing from the Edit menu. Your role may not include Manage customer subscriptions. Ask an owner or admin.

Next steps

Still stuck?

More in Customers

  • Customer Segments

    A segment is a saved question about your customers rather than a saved list, so its members change as they do. Tanqory gives you two ways to write that question, a query builder and a form of Field, Operator and Value filters, and this article covers both, plus the panel that starts closed, the AI Refine field and what to do when it answers with nothing, the forty-nine fields you can filter on, and everything the row menu lets you do to a segment afterwards.

  • Adding a Customer

    Creating a customer record by hand, from the Add Customer button to the saved record. Three fields are required and everything else can wait, the three marketing consents start unticked and are a record of what the customer agreed to rather than a way to opt them in, and the Save bar is on the form from the moment it opens.

  • Search the Customer List

    Finding one customer and finding a group are different jobs with different tools. The search box matches name, email and phone and nothing else, it searches inside the tab you are standing on rather than the whole store, and the thing people most often type into it, a tag, comes back as No customers found rather than as an error.

  • Customer Tags

    A tag gives a group of customers a name so it is already assembled when you need it. This article covers where tags are set, one record at a time or in bulk from the list, what a tag is actually good for once it exists, and the one thing it will not do, which is answer the search box.

All 49 articles in Customers

We use cookies

Necessary cookies keep the site working. With your permission we also use analytics and marketing cookies. Change your choice any time in Cookie settings.