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Message Categories

Owned by Peter Hickson, created
Last updated: May 24, 2024 by Joanne Shovelton
3 min read

Message Categories allow registered users to decide which kinds of messages they wish to receive. This means that they get the information that they want and no more. Categories can also be set up to not require consent for important messages, these should be used sparingly, but are very useful.

A Message Category is required every time you send an email, this guide will help you: How to Send an Email

Adding a New Category

  1. Navigate to Email > Message Categories.

  2. Click the green “Add Category” button.

  3. Complete the Wizard:

    1. Name: The name of the Message Category.

    2. Description: A description of the types of messages that will be sent using this Category.

    3. Has Legitimate Basis: If checked, users won’t need to consent to this Message Category, but this should not be used for all emails, only necessary ones.

    4. Obsolete: Check when this Message Category no longer applies.

    5. OK: Once happy with the details, click “OK” to save the Message Category.

  4. The consent can now be used when you send emails.

Users will need to consent to the Message Category if it is not a Legitimate Basis Category. This guide will explain more about users consenting to Message Categories: Consents & Agreements

How the System Copes with Consents for New Message Categories

In terms of the general behaviour here, there are some subtleties which are not obvious. The clear case is where a user has explicitly given a yes or no answer to the Consent. In this case, obviously, the system does as instructed. The more tricky case is where they have not yet given any kind of answer to the Consent. The rules are then as follows:

  • If they have not given any answer to any Messaging Consent, then the system will assume ok until otherwise notified. This only generally happens if the member has never logged in to the system - i.e. they were imported at the start.

  • If, where they have given an answer to a Message Consent, they have always said “no”, then the system will assume that is the case for all other Message Categories where they haven’t given an answer.

  • If they have answered “yes” for any other Message Consent, then the system will assume ok for those with no answer.

These rules are in there purely for practicality. If they weren’t there, then you could never add new Message Categories as, by default, a new Message Category would have no given Consent for any member and, therefore, you couldn’t use it until everybody had logged in to the system and set their Consent.

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