Components of Classic Consent in Approved Email

Classic consent in Approved Email ensures that end users are compliant with local regulations requiring certain levels of consent be obtained before emails are sent to an account.

Each account has some control over what emails are sent to them. Veeva CRM's flexible consent model supports a variety of opt types and ensures that opt preferences of an account are respected when sending emails, including designating an account as never being allowed to receive emails.

All emails generated by Approved Email include unsubscribe links that allow recipients to opt-out of future emails.

Pre-existing content preferences can be loaded from external systems into Multichannel_Consent_vod.

To use classic consent in Approved Email, the APPROVED_EMAIL_CONSENT_MODE_vod Approved Email setting must be set to 0.

Classic consent in Approved Email consists of three primary components:

  • Consent Type
  • Consent Records
  • Consent Validation

Consent Types

There are three types of consent in Approved Email:

  • Opt-in Required – An opt-in record is required to send email
  • Opt-in Not Required – An opt-in record is not required to send email
  • Never Email – Emails cannot be sent to the account and opt-in cannot be recorded (this option is only available when set on an existing account)

Every account can have a unique consent type, allowing a single org to apply different consent types to different accounts.

Defining an Account's Consent Type

Consent types can be defined at two levels to grant varying levels of control over an individual account's consent type:

  • The Approved Email Opt-in Required Approved Email setting – This check box setting enables admins to set a default consent type value for all accounts.

    • When this check box is selected, the consent type is Opt-in Required
    • When this check box is not selected, the consent type is Opt-in Not Required

    This value can be overridden on an individual account using the Approved_Email_Opt_Type_vod picklist on the Account object.

  • The Approved_Email_Opt_Type_vod field on the Account object – When this picklist is NULL, the account inherits the consent type from the MULTICHANNEL_EXPLICIT_OPT_IN Approved Email setting. When populated with one of the following values, this picklist overrides the setting, enabling more granular control over an account's consent type:
  • Explicit_Opt_in_vod – Sets the Consent Type to Opt-in Required
  • Implicit_Opt_In_vod – Sets the Consent Type to Opt-in Not Required
  • Never_vod – Sets the Consent Type to Never Email

For example, the MULTICHANNEL_EXPLICIT_OPT_IN_vod Approved Email setting is selected. Dr. Clinton Ackerman's account has Approved_Email_Opt_Type_vod=NULL, so his inherited consent type is Opt-in Required. Dr. Bob Adams' account has Approved_Email_Opt_Type=Implicit_Opt_In_vod. This picklist overrides the setting, so his consent type is Opt-in Not Required.

Consent Records

Consent records are stored as Approved_Email_vod record type Multichannel_Consent_vod records and represent a specific opt choice made by an account. Consent records are used during the validation phase to check if the proper consent exists. Consent records contain the following information:

  • Account_vod – References the account associated with this consent record
  • Capture_Datetime_vod – The capture datetime
  • Channel_Value_vod – in Approved_Email_vod type records, this field references the associated email address
  • Opt_Type_vod – Represents the captured opt preference and can be one of the following values:

  • Opt_In_vod – Emails for all products can be sent to this account and email address pair. Created opt-in records never expire and immediately expire all opt-out Multichannel_Consent_vod records referencing the same account and email address.

    If an account has more than one email address, one opt-in record per email address is required prior to sending email for each address.

  • Opt_Out_vod – Opt-out type consent records also reference a specific product. Emails cannot be sent to this account, email address, and product triplet.
  • Product_vod – Only populates when Opt_Type_vod=Opt_Out_vod. References the product associated with the opt-out consent record.
  • Detail_Group_vod – Only populates when Opt_Type_vod=Opt_Out_vod and when using Detail Groups with Products
  • Optout_Event_Type_vod – This picklist only populates if Opt_Type_vod=Out_Out_vod and indicates the opt-out event that caused the consent record to be created:
  • Unsubscribed_vod – The recipient selected an Unsubscribe link within the email
  • Consent_Capture_vod – The recipient opted out of emails via Consent Capture

Data Loading Consent Records

The Multichannel_Consent_vod object can be populated using a data loader or other integrations. Each Multichannel_Consent_vod record requires the following values:

  • RecordType – Must be Approved_Email_vod
  • Account_vod
  • Capture_Datetime_vod
  • Channel_Value_vod – in Approved_Email_vod type records, this field references the associated email address
  • Opt_Type_vod – Can be either Opt_In_vod or Opt_Out_vod
  • Optout_Event_Type_vod – Only required when Opt_Type_vod is Opt_Out_vod

Examples of Consent Records

For example, Dr. Clinton Ackerman opts in to receiving emails sent to drclint@gmail.com. A Multichannel_Consent_vod record with a record type of Approved_Email_vod is created with the following fields:

  • Account_vod – References Dr. Ackerman's account
  • Capture_Datetime_vod – The datetime when Dr. Ackerman consented to receive emails
  • Channel_Value_vod – drclint@gmail.com
  • Opt_Type_vod – Opt_In_vod
  • Optout_Event_Type_vod – Dr. Ackerman did not opt out of emails, so this picklist is blank

Emails for all products can now be sent to Dr. Ackerman at drclint@gmail.com.

In another example, Dr. Clinton Ackerman selects the Unsubscribe link in an email associated with Cholecap sent to his email address drclint@gmail.com. A Multichannel_Consent_vod record with a record type of Approved_Email_vod is created with the following fields:

  • Account_vod – References Dr. Ackerman's account
  • Capture_Datetime_vod – The datetime when Dr. Ackerman submitted the unsubscribe request
  • Channel_Value_vod – drclint@gmail.com
  • Opt_Type_vod – Opt_Out_vod
  • Optout_Event_Type_vod – Unsubscribed_vod
  • Product_vod – Cholecap

Validation prevents all Cholecap emails sent to Dr. Clinton Ackerman using drclint@gmail.com from sending until an end user captures opt-in consent from Dr. Ackerman. Emails about other products can still be sent to drclint@gmail.com.

Consent Validation

Consent is validated whenever an end user tries to send an Approved Email. Validation looks at both the consent type of the recipients as well as any consent records associated with the account. Validation occurs in the following steps:

  1. Check the consent type of the account. This is determined by the Approved_Email_Opt_Type_vod picklist on the account. If the picklist is NULL, the consent type is determined by the MULTICHANNEL_EXPLICIT_OPT_IN_vod Approved Email setting:

    • Consent type is Opt-in Required – Validation looks for any active opt-in Multichannel_Consent_vod record associated with both the account and the email address.
    • If no opt-in record exists, end users are prevented from sending the email and are prompted to capture opt-in consent.
    • If a valid opt-in record exists, validation proceeds to Step 2
    • Consent type is Opt-in Not Required – Validation proceeds to Step 2
    • Consent type is Never Email – End users are prevented from sending the email

  2. Check for any active opt-out Multichannel_Consent_vod records associated with the account, email address, and product.

    • If an active opt-out record exists, end users are prevented from sending the email and are prompted to capture opt-in consent.

If these two steps are completed without error, the end user is able to send the email.