Receiving email & SMS marketing opt-in with Shopify
To build a successful customer list that you can send campaigns to, it's mandatory to get the customer's permission before they can receive marketing emails and/or SMS from your store. Permission is required by International Law (including GDPR, TCPA, TCIA & CCPA) and our Terms of Use.
As mentioned in the SMS Marketing Compliance Introduction and GDPR Introduction, to collect SMS and Email Marketing opt-in from your customers, there may be some changes that you need to make to your Shopify store.
In this article
Before you get started
Here are some things to know:
- For Marsello to collect mobile numbers as subscribers for SMS messages, you will need to make changes to your Shopify settings including; your store account creation form and your online checkout settings and language (step-by-step instructions on how to do this below).
- Shopify’s “Email marketing” consent at the checkout will impact both email and SMS subscription. This means that if the customer selects the consent checkbox then they are agreeing to receive promotional email and SMS messages from your store.
- TCIA prohibits any illegal or improper promotion to persons under 18 years of age. Based on the practices and standards of your industry and community, you may need to discourage visitors under a certain age from browsing your Shopify store. One way you can help prevent these visitors is by adding an age selection form to your storefront. Here's more information on how to add an age gate to your Shopify store.
- In addition, we advise you to always include the ability for customers to opt-out from receiving marketing. By default, Marsello automatically includes an 'unsubscribe' link on all email templates and 'Reply STOP to unsubscribe' on all SMS templates.
We also still encourage you to consult a legal advisor familiar with GDPR, TCPA and TCIA before gathering contacts or sending promotional emails or text messages.
How customers opt-in to marketing via Marsello's sign-up forms
Marsello has two different types of sign-up forms: pop-up forms & landing page forms. Both of these form templates comes with a text disclaimer that lets the customer know that by submitting the form, they are opting-in to receive both transactional and promotional email and SMS messages from your store.
*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.
📖 Learn More: How to create a Pop up sign-up form in Marsello.
How to create a Landing page sign-up form in Marsello.
⚠️ Important: If you are using another app for sign-up forms, it is very important to update your forms to also include a disclaimer that lets the customer know that by submitting the form, they are opting-in to receive both email and SMS marketing from your store.
How customers opt-in to marketing in-store via Shopify POS
When a new customer makes a purchase in-store, the staff member will ask if they would like to create a store account. It is very important that during this process the staff member asks the customer if they want to receive marketing sent via email and SMS.
If the customer accepts marketing via email and SMS:
The staff member will enter their name, email address, mobile number and then update their Accepts marketing preference to ON.
The customer will then be automatically added to your Shopify and Marsello database, and they will be eligible to receive email and SMS marketing from your store.
If the customer doesn't accept marketing:
The staff member will enter their name, email address, mobile number and make sure their Accepts marketing preferences remains OFF.
The customer will be automatically added to your Shopify and Marsello database, but will not be eligible to receive email and SMS marketing from your store.
How customers opt-in to marketing online via Shopify eCommerce
As mentioned in the Marketing Compliance Introduction, consumers have to provide “express written consent” before they can receive marketing via email or SMS.
There may be several updates that you need to make to your Shopify eCommerce store in order to receive full consent from the customer. The settings that you need to update are addressed in the following sections:
- At checkout: Allow your customers to enter their mobile number
- At checkout: Allow your customers to give consent to receive marketing
- At checkout: Update your privacy policy
- At checkout: Update your checkout footer
- At account creation: Allow your customers to give consent to receive marketing
⚠️ Important: The below changes are vital steps towards compliance. Please follow and complete each section.
✔️ At checkout: Allow your customers to enter their mobile number
1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Checkout and accounts
2. Scroll down to the Marketing Consent > SMS marketing and select show an option to subscribe at checkout to add a sign-up checkbox to your checkout
3. Scroll to the Customer contact section, then select Customers can check out using either their phone number or email
4. Scroll to the Form options section, under Shipping address phone number, select Optional
5. Click Save
📝 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.
6. Scroll to the Checkout language section, then click Manage checkout language
7. Under Language, enter Phone into the filter text bar
8. Under both Phone label and Optional phone label enter the below text:
Mobile phone number for news and exclusive offers
9. Click Save
Your customer will then have the option to check out with their email address or mobile number. 
✔️ 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 Consent > Email marketing and select show an option to subscribe at checkout to add a sign-up checkbox to your checkout
💡Pro tip: Leave the Preselect the sign-up option 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 Language, enter Marketing into the filter text bar
6. Under Accept Marketing checkout label enter the text:
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 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 Online Store > Themes
2. Next to your Current Theme, click Actions > Edit language
3. Under Language, enter Checkout shop policies into the filter text bar
4. Under both Privacy Policy enter the text and edit to include your store's name:
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
✔️ At account creation: Allow your customers to give consent to receive marketing
When the customer clicks through your loyalty widget or clicks the account icon on your online store to creates a store account, it opens a sign-up form for the customer to enter their first name, last name, email address and create a password.
In order for customers to be able to opt-in to receive your email and SMS marketing, you will need to edit your Shopify account creation sign-up form to add a checkbox to that lets customers indicate whether they want to receive marketing from your store.
1. In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes
2. Next to your Current Theme, click Actions > Edit code
3. In the Templates directory, search for customers/register.liquid and then 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.
Confirm Changes in Marsello
When you have made all of the above updates, in order to get the customer's permission so they can receive marketing emails and SMS from your store, you then need to confirm that you've made the changes in Marsello.
1. In your Marsello Admin, under Campaigns > SMS Campaign
⚠️ Important: Please make sure you're also familiar with SMS Marketing Compliance Introduction and Marsello's Terms of Use before confirming the above.
2. Click Create Campaign
🎉 Congratulations you can now start collecting customers' consent to receive email and SMS marketing via Marsello and Shopify POS & eCommerce
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 eCommerce merchants – to seek legal advice for counsel on how they specifically should prepare for GDPR, TCPA and TCIA.
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