What is consent-based marketing? Benefits and tips for marketers

Since Google’s new consent requirements (as of March 2024) digital marketing practices need to shift. To operate within the requirements of data protection regulations (like the GDPR in Europe), marketers need explicit user consent — effectively making consent-based marketing the industry standard.

Most marketers have strongly relied on Google services as sources for lead generation, retargeting, and customer acquisition. These new requirements have signaled a paradigm shift in digital marketing, in favor of explicit user consent — a shift that has directly affected many digital marketing KPIs, including conversion rates and lead volumes. In this new paradigm, content-based marketing is the way forward.

In this article, we explain what consent-based marketing is, how to easily obtain user consent in a compliant way, and how to leverage consented data to support your digital marketing activities.

Consent-based marketing involves only serving ad content to users who have given prior consent — like saying “yes” to tracking tags on websites.

Data privacy laws create demand for compliance solutions like the Usercentrics Consent Management Platform (CMP). But the bigger user-centric paradigm shift means that user consent is no longer merely a legal requirement — it should be factored into the core of marketing strategies and KPIs as we move forward.

Consent-based marketing involves clearly asking users for permission to show ads that have been individually targeted for them based on their personal data.

To do this, companies rely on technologies that can automate the user consent transaction and integrate it across marketing tools and platforms to run a smooth, compliant, and qualified process. This results in highly engaging, personalized marketing content for the user — who has given their express consent to receiving this targeted material.

On the surface, digital marketing is at a challenging crossroads between one trend (users want more personalized interactions with companies) and another (users increasingly worry about how companies handle their personal data), but both trends actually point to the same thing: consent.

Consent-based marketing has a privacy-by-design approach that helps ensure compliance with all major data privacy laws around the world, from the GDPR, to the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the CCPA and CPRA.

Plus, securing consent creates opportunities to serve highly personalized ad content to users who explicitly agree to it, as well as to deliver targeted strategies like account-based marketing (ABM).

For those who practice account-based marketing, GDPR has always been the data privacy elephant in the room. But when consent is baked into all marketing communication, you can rest assured your ABM tactics are compliant by default.

The consent-based future is hurtling towards us faster than most marketers are prepared for. Many marketers are still very dependent on dominant technology platforms like Google and Meta for activities like lead generation and customer acquisition — even though EU rulings and the end of third-party cookies are clear signs that things are changing.

Marketers need to stop thinking about user consent strictly in terms of legal compliance and start thinking about it as a foundational element for every important marketing activity.

While similar, there are a few key differences between consent-based marketing and permission marketing.

Popularized by Seth Godin’s 1999 book Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends, And Friends Into Customers, permission marketing predates the modern world’s data privacy regulations by nearly two decades.

It’s straightforward and involves asking users for their permission to include them in a specific marketing activity, like a newsletter or rewards program. Simply asking for a prospect’s email address counts as permission-based marketing, although there are no clear obligations for the company around how that email will be stored.

Consent-based marketing, on the other hand, is borne from today’s data privacy-conscious environment. As such, ethical and transparent use of customer data is the starting point from which more enjoyable and personalized marketing activities can follow.

Consent-based marketing also includes more kinds of activities: tailored website experiences, targeted advertising, and more relevant content — the sky’s the limit.

In short, permission marketing is a specific tactic, whereas consent-based marketing is a foundational strategy that informs all digital marketing activities.

Now that you’re up to speed with what consent-based marketing is and how it’s distinct, let’s explore some of its top benefits.

• Enhances personalization: By obtaining explicit consent to collect and use data, you can tailor personalized marketing communications across brand touchpoints. This approach leads to higher engagement rates, as content and offers are more relevant to each individual’s interests and needs.
• Improves data quality: When consumers actively choose to share their information, the data collected is often more accurate and valuable. This leads to better insights and strategies, as the information is based on genuine interests and behaviors.
• Stronger brand reputation: Adopting a consent-based approach demonstrates your brand’s commitment to ethical data practices. This reflects well on your brand — especially during a time when consumers are increasingly discerning about how their data is used — and builds loyalty and trust among current and potential customers.
• Ensures regulatory compliance: With the increasing complexity of data protection laws worldwide, consent-based marketing helps ensure that your marketing practices comply with CCPA and GDPR marketing consent requirements. This avoids potential fines and reassures customers that their data is being handled responsibly.
• Better engagement and conversion rates: Consumers are more likely to engage with marketing messages when they have agreed to receive them. This explicit consent implies an interest in your brand, can enhance lead data and results in better conversion rates.
• Reduces marketing costs: By targeting only those who have expressed interest in your products or services, you can allocate your marketing budget more efficiently. This targeted approach can increase the ROI of your marketing campaigns.

While users want more personalization, they will generally only give their data to companies they trust to protect it. Companies need marketing consent from users, not only to operate within the law but also to personalize their marketing activities to the user.

As the industry changes from reliance on third-party to first-party data, marketers are looking for ways to minimize their dependence on mass data collection and discover new ways to engage customers in a personalized and trustworthy way.

Trends show that data privacy awareness is increasingly driving consumer decisions. As a result, the benefits of consent-based marketing go beyond regulatory compliance, and extend to cost-effectiveness and building trust with your customers. According to a 2021 study by Cisco:

• 79% of consumers say that data privacy is a buying factor for them
• 47% of consumers say they have switched companies over a company’s data policies or data-sharing practices
• 19% of consumers say they have terminated a relationship with a retailer, ecommerce website, or online business over their data policies or data-sharing practices

Plus, explicit marketing consent makes lead data more valuable and usable for retargeting and user acquisition, so you can serve more personalized and engaging content to your audience.

In January 2023, Meta was fined € 390 million by EU authorities for including the user consent transaction in their terms of service agreements. This sends a clear message to marketers that relying on big tech as a main source for lead generation is becoming a risky, short-term strategy.

In short, marketers need new marketing strategies to match the changing legal and technological landscape, like consent-based marketing that complies with data privacy laws like the GDPR.

But what does it actually mean to be privacy-compliant? How do you secure consent from users in the right way?

Navigating data privacy regulations while simultaneously optimizing marketing activity can seem daunting. But it’s pretty simple with the right tools and knowledge. Here are four steps to achieve compliant marketing.

A CMP offers easy automation of the entire process of obtaining, documenting and securely storing user consent. That’s why CMPs are a preferred solution for most website administrators and executives — as opposed to building one themselves.

Next, keep a record of when and how users consent to marketing and their information being used, along with the specific circumstances and use cases where their consent applies.

This is crucial, as various data privacy regulations — including the GDPR — require businesses to show evidence of consent in the event of an audit or customer dispute. Just make sure this proof of consent is stored safely and securely.

To do consent-based marketing well, you’ll need a strong tech stack. This should always start with a robust CMP that makes the consent transaction effortless for both users and the company — while ensuring legal compliance under relevant data privacy laws. Your CMP should also be resource-efficient and easy for your team to implement and maintain.

Here’s a checklist for GDPR compliance:

• Consent must be obtained from users before any activation of cookies or other trackers (apart from whitelisted, necessary trackers).
• Granular consent must enable users to activate some cookie categories and not others.
• Consent must be freely given, without nudging or coercing the user in any way.
• Users must be able to withdraw or change consent as easily as they gave it.
• Evidence of consent must be securely stored as legal documentation.
• Consent must be renewed at least once per year, though some national data protection guidelines recommend more frequent renewal — such as every six months — so check your local data protection guidelines for compliance requirements.

Any worthwhile consent management platform should be able to handle all of the above with full automation, so you can focus on wider consent-based marketing strategies.

Other tools for your consent-based marketing tech stack include:

• Google Consent Mode can help you streamline user consent across many services (like Google Ads and Google Tag Manager), providing valuable measurements and data even if users don’t give explicit consent.
  • Other tools Google recommends:
    • Customer Match enables you to deliver more targeted ads, using online and offline data.
    • Enhanced Conversions improves your conversion measurement using hashed first-party conversion data, so you can bid more effectively.
    • Use GA4 in Consent Mode to manage cookies for analytics, and measure campaign performance across your websites and apps.
• The Usercentrics Preference Manager lets you collect in-depth permissions, store them securely in a centralized location, and sync user preferences and personalizations across your favorite marketing tools.
• Server-side tagging tools — available as a Usercentrics CMP product extension — can help you move to a more secure alternative to third-party cookies.
• Marketing automation tools like Dashly or Drift can help with conversational marketing activities, e.g. personalization of communications.
• CMSs like HubSpot can help you craft more personalized and flexible marketing content for users.
• Tools for video marketing like TubeRanker can help you optimize video content and gain higher ranking on Google and YouTube.

Read next: Google Consent Mode checklist to meet Google’s EU privacy requirements

The data privacy landscape is building a digital economy that’s structured around the transaction of consent. New innovations are meeting the challenges of the transition from the third-party cookie era to the era of first-party consent.

For marketers, this change means moving away from big tech dependence towards collecting zero- and first-party data for more personalized targeting.

One of the biggest challenges facing marketers is how to leverage user consent to qualify and optimize your company’s marketing strategy, rather than simply losing data from users who don’t provide consent.

While consent-based marketing can seem like a limited approach, this is only because we’re used to mass data collection by third-party tech, where user consent was considered a headache that could often be disregarded.

Marketers must explore new marketing strategies that include user consent to a much higher degree than before, and build more trustworthy and personalized experiences.

Usercentrics CMPs for web and mobile deliver industry-leading consent and privacy compliance solutions that can help automate most legal complexities for your business.

Our products delivers easy automation and granular customization to fit your brand while handling legal complexity. This customizability offers ways to optimize consent rates with increased user trust, and better balance data privacy and the growth of data-driven businesses.

Usercentrics delivers full control of your website’s data processing through unrivaled scanning technology that protects personal data based on the consent choice.

If the user says yes, our CMP documents and maintains consent through regular renewal (as the GDPR requires). Usercentrics also enables compliance with California’s CCPA, South Africa’s POPIA, Brazil’s LGPD, and more.

Our consent management platform integrates seamlessly as a certified partner of Google Consent Mode, enabling consent to work for both the user and the company. Plus, integrations with WordPress, HubSpot, Google Tag Manager and many more help make GDPR compliance an easy and integrated part of your consent-based marketing strategies.

Still have questions about consent-based marketing and how to achieve and maintain data privacy compliance? We’re here to help.