Grow & email your list · Generators · Free tool

What should my email signup consent checkbox say?

Last updated

Who is asking, and for what

The name shoppers know you by, and the channel you want permission for.

What you will send

Pick the one you can keep to.

Add the details

Both optional. A blank link shows a visible placeholder instead.

A full https address, or a store path such as /policies/privacy-policy.

Your signup wording

Enter your store name and choose what you will send, then press Write the wording.

This is a starting template, not legal advice. Check the rules where you and your customers are before you publish it, and change it to match what you actually send.

What an opt-in line has to cover

Consent text is the wording next to a signup form that tells a shopper who will contact them, by which channel, how often and how to stop, so a store sending a weekly email writes that it will email news and offers about once a week and that every email carries an unsubscribe link.

This is a starting template, not legal advice. Check the rules where you and your customers are before you publish it, and change it to match what you actually send.

Clear signup wording answers the same handful of questions whatever the channel. Each block the builder writes covers them in the order a shopper reads them.

Who is sending
Your store name, spelled the way it appears on the site. A shopper should never have to guess which business they agreed to hear from.
The channel
Email and text messages are asked for separately, each with its own checkbox. Agreeing to one is not agreeing to the other, and the wording keeps them apart for that reason.
How often
A frequency the shopper can hold you to: about once a week, up to three texts a month. For texts the line also says the messages are recurring and automated, which is the standard way text-message programmes describe themselves.
The incentive
Optional, up to 60 characters, such as 10% off your first order. It is named in the checkbox or the small print so the shopper knows what the signup is for, and repeated in the confirmation so they know it is coming.
How to stop
The unsubscribe route, stated before they sign up: a link in every email, or STOP by reply to a text. Saying it up front is part of what makes the ask feel safe.
The privacy link
Where the details live. Paste your policy address or a store path such as /policies/privacy-policy; leave it blank and the wording shows [link to your privacy policy] so the gap cannot go live unnoticed.
Double opt-in
A second step after the form: a confirmation email with one button, or a text asking for a Y reply. Only addresses and numbers that confirm join the list, which keeps typos and fake signups out.

Nudgesmart is available on the Shopify App Store. Browse the template library or see what it costs.

Four stores, four sets of signup wording

Invented stores. Each row runs through the same function as the builder above, so the blocks and lengths here are exactly what it produces for those inputs. The last row shows a policy link the builder refuses rather than printing.

Worked examples: store settings in, the signup wording blocks out
StoreChannel and frequencyBlocks writtenCheckbox wordingCharacters
Weekly email with a first-order discountHarbour GoodsEmail only, about once a week3Yes, email me news and offers from Harbour Goods, starting with 10% off your first order. I can unsubscribe at any time using the link in every email. See our privacy policy: /policies/privacy-policy199
Texts only, no incentive, no link yetTrailhead Pet CoText messages only, a few times a month3Yes, send me recurring automated marketing text messages from Trailhead Pet Co at the number provided. Consent is not a condition of purchase. Up to 3 messages a month. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. See our privacy policy: [link to your privacy policy]296
Email and texts, frequency variesNightfall SkinEmail and text messages, it varies5Yes, email me news and offers from Nightfall Skin, starting with free shipping on your first order. I can unsubscribe at any time using the link in every email. See our privacy policy: https://example.com/policies/privacy-policy228
A link that is not a web addressDock SupplyEmail only, a few times a week—That privacy policy link is not a web address. Use one starting https:// or a path starting with /.—
The text-message rows run longest because they carry the frequency, the rates line and the STOP and HELP keywords in the checkbox itself. The second row has no link yet, so its wording shows the placeholder rather than inventing an address.

Before you publish the wording

Not legal advice, and not a review

This is a starting template, not legal advice. Check the rules where you and your customers are before you publish it, and change it to match what you actually send.

The wording has to match what you do

If the line says about once a week and you email daily through a sale, the wording is now wrong. Update it when your sending changes, and make sure the unsubscribe and STOP routes actually work.

Consent covers what was asked, nothing more

A shopper who agreed to marketing emails has not agreed to texts, and one who signed up for a discount did not sign up for a partner newsletter. Keep a record of what each person agreed to and when.

Your email or text platform may add its own rules

Most sending services have their own requirements for how consent is collected and recorded, and some supply wording of their own. Where theirs is stricter, follow theirs.

Opt-in wording questions

Is this wording enough to meet the law where I sell?

This page cannot tell you that. The rules on marketing consent differ between countries and between email and text messages, and they change. Use the wording as a starting template and have it checked against the rules where you and your customers are.

Should the consent checkbox be ticked by default?

Leave it unticked so the shopper makes the choice themselves. A box that arrives already ticked records a default, not a decision, and in many places it is not treated as consent at all.

Do I need separate checkboxes for email and text messages?

Give each channel its own box and its own sentence. A shopper happy to get a weekly email may not want their phone buzzing, and one box for both hides that choice from them.

What is double opt-in and should I use it?

It means the signup only counts after the shopper confirms, by clicking a button in an email or replying to a text. It costs a little list growth and removes typos, bots and people signed up by someone else, which protects how your emails land.

Why does the text-message wording mention message and data rates?

Because a shopper may be charged by their own mobile provider to receive texts, and saying so is the conventional disclosure on text-message signups. The builder keeps that line, the frequency, and the STOP and HELP keywords together for the same reason.

Does anything I type get stored?

No. The wording is assembled in the page, in your browser. Nothing you enter, including your store name and policy link, is sent anywhere.

Get started

Opt-in wording only works under a form someone actually sees.

In Nudgesmart the signup form is a capture popup, built from one of 13 campaign types and a ready-made template.