What is Consent Management? (+ Why It's Important)

Businesses rely on data to personalize user experiences, for targeted advertising, and to understand their audience better. But data must be handled responsibly and in accordance with privacy laws — that's where consent management steps in, an essential requirement to comply with GDPR, CCPA, and other regulations.

What is Consent Management?

Consent management is the process of obtaining, recording, and managing user consent for the collection and use of their personal data. This includes informing users about what data is being collected, how it will be used, and their rights regarding that data.

The term encompasses the entire consent lifecycle, from storage and capture to data access requests and deletion. 

Consent management was first introduced by the GDPR in 2018 when businesses were required to ask for permission before capturing personal information. Since then, it has become an integral part of data privacy compliance, with laws like the CCPA, Quebec Law 25, and PIPEDA all integrating consent management in some capacity.

What is the Purpose of Consent Management?

The main purpose of consent management is to enable a business to manage users' consent requests in a centralized software application. 

The software makes it a uniform and standardized process where it is much easier to operate updates, messages, action user requests, and prove compliance during audits. 

For users, the purpose of consent management is to enable them to have the right to choose what information a business obtains, stores, and processes about them. 

From a business point of view, consent management is a legal requirement and is necessary as a tool for business as usual to help manage a large and complex set of data, archive consent and ensure compliance is recorded for future audits to avoid the huge fines levied under GDPR, CCPA, and other data privacy legislation. 

Examples of Consent Management

Cookie Consent Banners

When you visit a website, you often encounter pop-ups requesting your consent for cookies. These banners typically explain the types of cookies stored on the website, and sorts them into categories — e.g. strictly necessary, marketing, or analytics.

Embedded within a cookie consent banner is the user preferences toggle, which makes up the front-end version of the consent manager. That’s where visitors can approve or revoke permissions. 

Mobile App Permissions

Tracking cookies aren’t exclusive to web browsers on desktop computers or laptops. User consent preferences are also embedded into mobile applications, as these apps often collect immense amounts of personal data. Mobile app permissions are an essential part of consent management. 

Consent Preference Center

The back-end consent preference center is a crucial and often overlooked part of consent management. The cookie banner popup is what your users see and where they indicate their tracking preferences, but what happens in the back end is equally important.

The screenshot above is from Enzuzo's consent manager — highlighting consent logs of visitors in the last 30 days. This is another example of consent management, displaying visitor behaviour and opt-in analytics for audit trails and marketing data.  

Why is Consent Management Important?

Consent management serves as the foundation for respecting individuals' privacy rights and maintaining trust between organizations and their customers. By obtaining explicit consent before collecting, processing, or sharing personal data, organizations demonstrate their commitment to transparency and accountability. 

This not only ensures compliance with privacy regulations but also empowers individuals to make informed decisions about how their data is used. Effective consent management mitigates the risks associated with data breaches and unauthorized data processing but also fosters positive relationships with customers, leading to enhanced loyalty and a competitive edge in the marketplace. 

Here are some key benefits that consent management offers:

Legal Compliance

Consent management ensures that organizations comply with privacy regulations such as the GDPR, CCPA, and others. These regulations require organizations to obtain explicit consent from individuals before collecting, processing, or sharing their personal data. Failure to comply with these regulations can result in significant fines and legal penalties.

Respect for Privacy Rights

Consent management demonstrates respect for individuals' privacy rights by giving them control over their personal data. By obtaining explicit consent, organizations acknowledge individuals' autonomy and empower them to make informed decisions about how their data is used.

Building Trust

Transparent and ethical handling of personal data through consent management builds trust with customers and stakeholders. When individuals feel confident that their privacy is respected, they are more likely to engage with an organization's products and services and share their data willingly.

To manage consent effectively can be challenging, especially for organizations with complex data collection practices or a large user base. This is where consent management platforms come into play.

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What is a Consent Management Platform?

A consent management platform (CMP) is an enterprise consent collection solution designed to streamline and automate the consent management process. It is a central hub for collecting, storing, and managing user consent across different channels, such as websites and mobile apps.

The best CMPs help with a multitude of things. They're able to provide analytics on opt-in rates, set up periodic website scans, categorize cookies, track consent across multiple domains, and build dashboards for executives to study. 

CMPs regulate third-party tools like tracking pixels and analytics services — if a user opts out, these services are similarly blocked from identifying users. This helps websites from accidentally breaking privacy rules and non-compliance.

Consent management platforms like Enzuzo offer mechanisms for securely storing and managing consent records, allowing organizations to maintain detailed logs of user consent activities. Additionally, CMPs often integrate with other systems and tools within an organization's digital ecosystem, such as content management systems or CRM platforms, to ensure seamless implementation and enforcement of consent preferences across all touchpoints.

Do I Need a Consent Management Platform?

If you run a website, business, or service that sells to customers in Europe and North America, you are required by law to set up consent management for all website traffic. 

But consent management platforms aren't just an afterthought. They bring several benefits to the table, such as:

• Handling data subject access requests: The ability to access, change, and delete personal data is enshrined in major data privacy laws. The GDPR refers to this as the 'Right to be Forgotten', while CCPA calls it 'Do Not Sell My Information'. 
• Security in your compliance goals: Rather than having to do it all in-house, CMPs help automate the consent management process. This assists companies with staying compliant and providing clear audit trails.
• Building trust with your audience: Providing users with the ability to opt-out of tracking helps garner trust, as it shows your audience that you care about their personal data preferences. This in turn will create positive brand signals.

Consent Management Strategy

A consent management strategy outlines an organization's approach to obtaining, managing, and respecting individuals' consent regarding the collection, processing, and sharing of their personal data. 

A successful consent management strategy encompasses several key elements to ensure transparency, user-friendliness, compliance, and continuous improvement. Firstly, defining data collection practices involves identifying the types of personal information collected, understanding purposes for data usage, and determining the legal basis for collection and processing. This legal basis could be consent, contract, or legitimate interest, depending on the context.

Leveraging technology, particularly CMPs, can automate and streamline consent collection, storage, and management processes. Integration with other relevant tools like marketing automation platforms or CRM systems ensures seamless data management. Transparency is also paramount, which involves providing comprehensive privacy notices, outlining user rights, and making privacy policies readily accessible.

Additionally, maintaining records and audit trails of consent activities is essential for demonstrating compliance. Regular reviews, updates, audit, and continuous improvement of the consent management strategy ensure ongoing alignment with evolving data privacy regulations and user expectations, thus fostering trust and accountability.

Designing user-friendly consent mechanisms is crucial for obtaining informed consent from individuals. This involves developing clear and concise consent forms, offering granular control over consent options, providing easy opt-in and opt-out choices, and ensuring consistency across various data collection channels such as websites, mobile apps, and marketing campaigns. 

The Different Types of Consent

Opt-out and opt-in consent are two types of consent that govern how organizations obtain permission from individuals to use their personal data. 

Opt-out consent assumes that individuals have already given their consent unless they take specific action to indicate otherwise. In this approach, individuals are automatically enrolled or included in data collection activities unless they actively choose to opt out or withdraw their consent. 

This may involve allowing individuals to decline participation through mechanisms such as unsubscribe links or privacy settings. Opt-out consent burdens individuals to take action if they do not want their data to be used, which can sometimes lead to less transparent or ethical data practices.

Opt-in consent, on the other hand, requires individuals to actively indicate their agreement or choice before their personal data can be collected, processed, or shared. This means that individuals must explicitly give their consent, often by ticking a box or clicking a button to signify their agreement. Opt-in consent places the burden on organizations to obtain affirmative consent from individuals, ensuring that data is only used when individuals have knowingly and willingly provided their permission.

Consent Management Laws

Consent management laws refer to regulations and statutes governing how organizations collect, process, and manage individuals' consent regarding using their personal data. These laws typically aim to protect individuals' privacy rights, ensure transparency, and promote accountability in the handling of personal information. 

Some of the key consent management laws include the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (LGPD), EU ePrivacy Directive, US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), GDPR, Quebec Law 25, and CCPA. These are just a few examples of consent management laws that organizations must comply with when collecting and processing personal data. 

Let's take a closer look at how consent management works within some of these laws.

GDPR Consent Management 

Consent management plays a crucial role under the GDPR, as it is one of the lawful bases for processing personal data.

The conditions for consent under GDPR require that data subjects (i.e. users / website visitors) must grant explicit consent before a tracking cookie is enabled.

Additionally, individuals have the right to withdraw their consent at any time, or request a copy of their data if consent was previously granted. Any decision to revoke or withdraw consent must not lead to a deterioration of the service.

Here's a breakdown of key  requirements for consent to be valid under GDPR:  

• Freely given: Consent must be given voluntarily, without pressure, coercion, or undue influence. Hence, a product or service cannot be withheld simply on the basis of consent. 
• Specific: Consent must be specific to the purpose for which the data is being collected.
• Informed: Individuals must be informed about the types of data collected, how it will be used, and their rights under the GDPR.
• Unambiguous: Consent must be clear and unambiguous, with a clear indication of the individual's willingness to have their data processed.

Under the GDPR, all cookie consent is set to 'Do Not Track' by default. Users have to opt-in — this is an important distinction from the CCPA, as we will discuss below. 

Quebec Law 25 Consent Management

Quebec Law 25, also known as Bill 64, is a data privacy law within the province of Quebec, Canada. Similar to the GDPR, consent management plays a critical role under this regulation, but with some key distinctions.

Key Points of Consent Management under Quebec Law 25:

• Stricter Consent Requirements: Consent must be informed, specific, and freely given, mirroring the GDPR. However, Law 25 adds another layer – consent must be obtained in a clear and simple manner and presented independently from any other information. This means avoiding pre-checked boxes or burying consent requests in lengthy terms and conditions.
• Focus on Transparency: Similar to the GDPR, Law 25 emphasizes transparency in data collection practices. Organizations must clearly explain the types of personal information collected, how it will be used, and the legal basis for processing it.
• Express Consent for Sensitive Data: Law 25 requires express consent for processing sensitive personal information, which includes information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, health information, and sexual orientation.

CCPA Consent Management

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) empowers California residents in the United States with significant control over their personal information.

The CCPA employs an opt-out approach, allowing businesses to collect and utilize personal data for certain purposes without explicit consent from California residents. 

However, businesses must adhere to key requirements, including providing a prominent "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" link, promptly honoring opt-out requests, and ensuring transparency in data collection and use. Additionally, the CCPA grants California residents the right to opt out of the sale of their personal data, imposes enhanced rights for minors, and emphasizes the importance of meaningful consent practices, such as avoiding deceptive communication and facilitating user rights under the CCPA.

Key Points of Consent Management under CCPA:

• Opt-Out vs. Opt-In: Unlike the GDPR, the CCPA employs an opt-out approach for consent management. This means businesses can collect and use personal information for certain purposes without explicit consent, but they must provide a clear and conspicuous "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" link on their website or mobile app.
• Specific Right to Opt-Out of Sale: California residents have the right to opt-out of the sale of their personal information to third parties. This right applies to a broad definition of "sale," including sharing data with advertisers or other entities that use the information for their own commercial purposes.
• Transparency and Notice: Similar to other regulations, the CCPA emphasizes transparency in data collection and use. Businesses must provide a clear and comprehensive privacy notice outlining the categories of personal information collected, the purposes for which it is used, and the rights of California residents.

Google Consent Mode

Google consent mode is a new requirement for advertisers and publishers in Europe looking to use Google Ads or earn advertising revenue via Adsense. This mandates effective consent management principles — users must integrate with a Google-certified CMP to continue using the products.

 You might argue that this isn't really 'legislation', but Google has implemented these guidelines after a careful analysis of EU consent law. All Google CMPs are certified by IAB Europe's Consent & Trust Framework. There are expectations that SEO performance will also be impacted if consent is not tracked and managed effectively.

Building Trust Through Consent Management: Enzuzo Can Help

Consent management isn't an easy topic to master, and the different consent requirements for jurisdictions around the world can feel like an uphill battle. 

A consent management platform like Enzuzo gives both customers and businesses peace of mind with the assurance that they're compliant with global laws and best practices.

Enzuzo is trusted by thousands of businesses around the world to power data privacy management, and offers best-in-class features like geo-specific consent notices, automatic cookie detection and blocking, consent trails, and much more.

Book a complimentary, 1-1 strategy call to learn more about how Enzuzo can help your consent management requirements 👇