Implementing an Opt Out Consent Model

[rmoravick1]

Hey everyone,

I had a client express interest in implementing an opt out consent policy in their Marketo instance, allowing the user to select what preferences they DONT want to subscribe to rather than the default Marketo (click on the preference you want to subscribe to). Has anyone successfully implemented a policy like this? Is this best practice in Marketo? 

[rmoravick1]

Doing some preliminary testing with automated campaigns im not sure if this solution is viable, but would love for additional opinions. Thanks!

[Michael_Florin · Accepted solution]

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Is this best practice in Marketo? 

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No, it's not. Usually you subscribe to stuff rather than to unsubscribe from stuff.

But I don't see why you couldn't do something like that. It doesn't really matter if your subscription/segmentation logic reacts to "is opted in" or to "is opted out".

But what you're probably referring to is the specific behavior of Boolean fields, where empty and false are the same. So you probably should go with string fields for your checkboxes and assign "yes" and "no" to them. Then you have a clear situation where "Subscribed to Newsletter A = no" means you have to remove people from that subscription, whereas "Subscribed to Newsletter A = empty" doesn't mean anything.

[rmoravick1]

That's perfect Michael, thanks so much for your expertise!

[SanfordWhiteman]

Like Michael says, checked (Boolean true) doesn't have a specific default meaning in Marketo.

You can use it any way you want, though of course business logic, ethics, and compliance usually convene to decide that Boolean true means “subscribed” (or even better, that a DateTime value means “subscribed-at”).