For Shopify POS, eCommerce and Plus merchants
Capture your customers' marketing opt-in preferences
When a new customer makes an in-store purchase, it’s important that staff ask whether they’d like to join your database and receive marketing via email and SMS. Permission is required by International Law (including GDPR, TCPA, TCIA & CCPA) and our Terms of Use.
Capturing marketing consent (opt-in) means:
If you already use Marketing or SMS add-ons → you can immediately send campaigns and automations to those opted-in customers.
If you don’t yet use Marketing or SMS add-ons → you’ll be building your list now, so when you decide to upgrade, you’ll have a database ready to go from day one.
⚠️ Important: Opt-in is required
By default, customers are not subscribed to marketing. They must provide explicit consent (opt-in) before they can receive campaigns and automations through Marsello. Capturing their preferences early means you won’t miss out on future opportunities to engage them when you’re ready to start marketing.
Before you get started
Here are some key details to know about customer opt-in for marketing messages:
Shopify Settings for SMS Opt-In
To collect mobile numbers for SMS marketing in Marsello, you’ll need to adjust your Shopify settings:
Update your store account creation form.
Adjust your online checkout settings and language.
👉 Step-by-step instructions are provided below.
Where You Can Capture Opt-Ins
Shopify POS: The “Accepts marketing” consent at checkout only applies to email subscriptions.
Shopify Online Store: Shopify provides two separate marketing opt-in checkboxes — one for SMS and one for email.
These are automatically mapped to the correct SMS and email fields in Marsello.
Compliance and Age Restrictions
TCIA compliance: Promotions cannot be sent to persons under 18.
Depending on your industry, you may need to discourage under-18 visitors from browsing your store.
A common solution is adding an age gate
Unsubscribes (Opting Out)
Customers must always have a clear way to opt out of marketing:
Marsello automatically adds an unsubscribe link to all email templates.
SMS messages include “Reply STOP to unsubscribe.”
Legal Reminder
We recommend consulting with a legal advisor who is familiar with GDPR, TCPA, and TCIA before collecting contacts or sending promotional emails or SMS.
⚠️ Important: These settings apply to all Shopify products, no matter how you you are using Shopify POS, eCommerce or Plus experiences.
How do customers opt in to marketing through Marsello sign-up forms?
Marsello has two different types of sign-up forms: pop-up and landing page. These form templates include a text disclaimer that informs the customer that by submitting the form, they are opting in to receive both transactional and promotional emails and SMS messages from your store.
Default text disclaimer:
*I agree to receive transactional and promotional emails and text messages (to the email address and phone number provided). Consent is not a condition to purchase. You can opt out or change your email and SMS preferences anytime.
⚠️ Important: If you are using another app for sign-up forms, you need to update your forms to also include such a disclaimer that informs the customer that by submitting the form, they are opting-in to receive both email and SMS marketing from your store.
📝 Note: Customers are always in control of their marketing preferences and can opt-out at any time. All promotional messages sent through Marsello include an unsubscribe link, allowing customers to opt out whenever they choose. Alternatively, customers can request to opt out in-store at checkout or manage their preferences online through the Marsello Customer Portal.
How do I capture customer marketing opt-in preferences in Shopify POS?
⚠️ Important:
To use Marsello on your Shopify POS, please enable the required sites under the Integrations page.
By default, customers do not accept marketing, and they must opt-in to receive marketing through Marsello.
As outlined in the Marketing Compliance Introduction, customers must give express written consent before receiving marketing emails or SMS.
When processing an in-store purchase, staff should ask if the customer wants to join the store’s database and receive marketing messages. Staff can record the customer’s marketing preferences by following these steps:
Add the customer to the sale
Search for the customer by name, email address, or mobile number.
Update marketing preferences
Under the Go to Cart button, you will see the options for the customer to accept marketing.
Check the box for Email and/or SMS if the customer agrees.
✅ Once selected, the customer will start receiving store emails and SMS marketing through Marsello.
If the customer does not accept marketing via email and/or SMS:
Make sure the Accepts marketing button is left unchecked.
The customer will not receive store emails or SMS marketing from Marsello.
3. Tap Save – this will add the customer to the sale.
4. Complete the sale – the customer will be automatically added to your Marsello database, including their details, marketing preferences, and sales history.
How do I capture customer marketing opt-in preferences in Shopify eCommerce?
⚠️ Important:
To use Marsello on your Shopify online store, please enable the required site under the Integrations page.
By default, customers do not accept marketing, and they must opt-in to receive marketing through Marsello.
The below changes are vital steps towards compliance. Please follow and complete each section.
As outlined in the Marketing Compliance Introduction, customers must give express written consent before receiving marketing emails or SMS.
To collect full marketing consent from customers in Shopify eCommerce, you may need to update a few settings in your store. These updates ensure you are compliant with international laws and that your customers clearly agree to receive marketing. The key settings to review are:
✔️ At checkout: Allow your customers to enter their mobile number
✔️ At checkout: Allow your customers to give consent to receive marketing
What Shopify eCommerce settings should I update to collect marketing consent?
✔️ At checkout: Allow your customers to enter their mobile number
1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Checkout
2. Scroll to the Customer contact method section, then select Customers can check out using either their phone number or email
3. Scroll to the Customer Information section, under Shipping address phone number, select Optional
📝 Note: If your payment provider or shipping carrier requires that the customer provides a phone number to complete the checkout, then set the phone number to Required.
4. Scroll down to the Marketing Options. Under Email, toggle the on/off button to add a marketing opt-in checkbox to your online checkout.
5. Still under Marketing Options, go to SMS and switch the toggle to On. This adds an SMS marketing checkbox to your online checkout.
6. Click Save.
📝 Note: Customers can update their marketing preferences at any time through Marsello’s Customer Portal.
To update their settings to opt-in to email, SMS or both, toggle the corresponding switch under Promotional Messages to On.
To change their settings to opt-out of email, SMS, or both, toggle the corresponding switch to Off.
✔️ At checkout: Allow your customers to give consent to receive marketing
1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Checkout
2. Scroll down to the Marketing Options select an option(s) to subscribe at checkout to add a sign-up checkbox to your checkout
💡Pro tip: Leave the Preselect the sign-up option under email unselected. This is important to ensure that your customers' opt-in themselves.
3. Click Save
4. Scroll to the Checkout language section, then click Manage checkout language
5. Under Theme Content, enter Marketing into the filter text bar
6. Under Checkout & System > Checkout marketing > Accept Marketing checkout label enter the text:
💬 Text example: "Subscribe to stay up to date on news and exclusive offers via email and text messages"
7. Click Save.
8. Under Contact Information on your store's online checkout, the customer will now be able to opt-in to receive marketing emails and SMS from your store by selecting the checkbox.
This will automatically update the customer's accept marketing preferences in both Shopify and Marsello.
✔️ At checkout: Update your privacy policy
1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Policies > scroll to Privacy Policy
2. Add the following text to your privacy policy:
💬 Text example: Text Marketing and notifications: By subscribing to text notifications you agree to receive recurring automated marketing text messages at the phone number provided. Consent is not a condition of purchase. Msg and data rates may apply.
3. Click Save.
✔️ At checkout: Configure checkout footer
1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Checkout
2. Scroll to Checkout Language, click Manage checkout language
3. Under Theme Content, enter Checkout into the filter text bar
4. Scroll down to Checkout & system > Checkout marketing disclaimer and under Privacy Policy enter the text and edit to include your store's name:
💬 Text example: By checking this box, I consent to receive automated marketing from [YOUR STORE NAME] by email and text message at the email address and mobile number provided. Consent is not a condition to purchase.
5. Click Save and keep editing.
Capture customers' marketing opt-in preferences at Account creation
When customers create a store account through your online store or customer portal, they’re prompted to enter their name, email, and password. To allow customers to opt into email and SMS marketing at this step, you’ll need to edit your Shopify account creation form and add a marketing consent checkbox.
✔️ At account creation: Allow your customers to give consent to receive marketing
1. In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes
2. Next to your Current Theme, click on the three dots to open a drop-down menu. Then click Edit code
3. In the Templates directory, use control+f and search for customers/register.liquid
4. Click into the customers/register.liquid
4. Find the code that contains the password form field. The code will look similar to this:
<label for="CreatePassword" class="label--hidden">##{{ 'customer.register.password' | t }}</label><input type="password" name="customer[password]" id="CreatePassword" class="input-full {% if form.errors contains 'password' %} input--error{% endif %}" placeholder="##{{ 'customer.register.password' | t }}">
5. Below the code that contains the password field, and above the {% endform %} liquid tag, add the following code:
<div><input type="hidden" name="customer[accepts_marketing]" value="" /> <input type="checkbox" name="customer[accepts_marketing]" checked="unchecked" /> Subscribe to stay updated on news and exclusive offers via email and text message</div>
6. Click Save. This will update your customer account creation form to have the checkbox to allow customers to opt-in to receive marketing emails and SMS messages from your store.
The customer will be automatically added to your Marsello customer database, including their details, marketing preference, and sales data.
🎉 Congratulations
You can now start collecting customers' consent to receive email and SMS marketing via Marsello and Shopify POS and/or eCommerce.
What is the customer experience with marketing opt-ins?
In-store at POS
During checkout, staff will verbally confirm with the customer what their marketing preferences are. Staff will then update the customer’s account at checkout by selecting the marketing consent option on the POS screen.
At eCommerce checkout
During checkout, your customers can then choose to opt into or out of email and/or SMS marketing.
In Marsello's Customer portal
After creating a Shopify store account, customers can update their marketing preferences at any time through Marsello’s Customer Portal.
To opt in to email, SMS or both, toggle the corresponding switch under Promotional Messages to On.
To opt out of email, SMS, or both, toggle the corresponding switch to Off.
What's next?
As your subscriber list begins to grow, you can create marketing campaigns to help increase sales and further drive customer loyalty.
Marketing initiatives:
Disclaimer: The information provided here is intended to be educational and should not be construed as legal advice. Marsello encourages all of our users — and all merchants – to seek legal advice for counsel on how they specifically should prepare for GDPR, TCPA and TCIA.
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