Glossary
Soft opt-in
Also called existing customer exemption.
Last reviewed 18 September 2026
What is the soft opt-in?
The soft opt-in is the narrow exception in European electronic marketing rules that lets a seller market its own similar products to somebody whose details were obtained in the course of a sale, provided that person was given a clear chance to object when the details were collected and in every message since.
It lives in the ePrivacy Directive as implemented in national law, and in the United Kingdom in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, rather than in the GDPR. That is why it differs between member states, and why it is the one place where being in one country rather than another genuinely changes the answer.
Each condition is read narrowly: your own products, similar ones, a real sale or negotiations for one, and an opt-out offered at collection. A list of people who bought something from you is not automatically a list you may send a course to.
See also
- Consent record
A consent record is the evidence that a particular person agreed to receive a particular kind of mail, kept because Article 7(1) of the GDPR puts the burden of demonstrating consent on whoever relies on it.
- Confirmed opt-in
Confirmed opt-in, usually called double opt-in, is the practice of sending one message to a newly submitted address and adding it to a list only after somebody clicks the link in that message.
- Unsubscribe
An unsubscribe is a reader withdrawing permission to be mailed, and since February 2024 Google and Yahoo have required one to be honoured within two days, a much shorter clock than the 10 business days the United States CAN-SPAM Act allows.
Read next
This term is covered properly in GDPR and email courses: consent, records, and erasure, which is a longer piece on the subject.
Every other term is on the glossary index , the longer writing is in the guides, and what this site itself does is on the home page.
Thinking of writing one of these?
5dayemail hosts a five-to-ten day email course: you write it once, and everyone who joins your list gets one email a day, in order, starting from the day they confirm.
Accounts are opened a few at a time rather than by signing up. Leave your address and you will be written to when the next ones open.
One message, when there is room. No course emails, no newsletter, and the address is not passed on. Ask and it is deleted; what is kept, and for how long, is in the privacy policy.