Consent Requirements Worksheet

Consent designs go wrong when the technical build starts before anyone has written down the requirements. This worksheet collects those requirements in one place so your legal or privacy adviser, marketing team and Salesforce architect are working from the same facts. Complete it before you design objects, fields, sync rules or preference pages.

Part 1: Regimes and markets

List every country or region where you market to people, and the rules your adviser says apply. Common examples include the EU and UK GDPR with their electronic marketing rules, India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, CAN-SPAM in the United States and CASL in Canada. For each, note whether marketing generally needs prior opt-in or can rely on another basis, and any channel-specific rules for SMS, calls or messaging apps.

Part 2: Purposes and channels

Consent is rarely one checkbox. Record each purpose separately and the channels it covers. Purposes your team cannot explain to a customer in one sentence are usually too broad.

Part 5: System of record and sync

Name one system of record for each purpose. Everything else is a copy. Then map how consent moves:

• Salesforce CRM: the consent data model includes objects such as Individual, Contact Point Type Consent and Data Use Purpose, or you may use simpler custom fields. Record which approach you will use and why.
• Marketing Cloud Engagement: All Subscribers status, publication lists and your own consent data extensions all play a part. Decide which one each send checks.
• Account Engagement: opt-out and email preference settings on prospects, and how they sync with CRM.
• Data Cloud: which consent data is ingested and how segments and activations filter on it.

Note conflicts explicitly. If a person unsubscribes in Marketing Cloud but the CRM still shows opted in, which wins, and how does the other system learn about it?

Part 6: Sign-off

Record who reviewed the worksheet (privacy, marketing, platform owner), the date, and the trigger for the next review, such as a new market, a new channel or a new capture point.

For design patterns, see consent synchronisation across CRM and marketing, the self-service preference center blueprint, designing consent in Marketing Cloud Next and contact deletion and data retention.