With the rise of mobile marketing and customer communication, businesses must follow regulatory frameworks to ensure customers(receiver) respect user privacy. The marketing messages they receive must be of their choice rather than receiving unwanted SMSs.
According to TCCCPR 2018 (TRAI Regulation for Unsolicited Commercial Communications), businesses can only send promotional or service-related messages to users who have given explicit digital consent.
This guide explains what digital consent is, how it is acquired, the role of consent templates and why scrubbing is critical for compliance and customer trust.
Read More: What are the latest TRAI guidelines for sending Bulk SMS in India?
What is Digital Consent?
A Digital Consent is the voluntary permission given by a user (subscriber) to a business (Principal Entity) to receive commercial communication messages related to specific products or services.
In simple terms, digital consent is just permission that a marketer takes from a customer before sending them promotional messages. The customer has the choice to say “Yes” digitally, confirming that they’re okay with receiving messages from a specific sender ID. This way, only people who are genuinely interested get the updates, while unwanted spam is avoided.
The Digital Consent Acquisition (DCA) process ensures that user permissions are collected in a transparent and secure manner. Every consent captured is immutable, meaning it cannot be altered; non-repudiable, so it cannot be denied later; and fully traceable through the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform. This framework guarantees that businesses follow a robust, compliant and trustworthy process while engaging with their customers.
Key Points
- Transparent: User permissions are collected in a transparent and secure manner.
- Immutable: Every consent captured is immutable, meaning it cannot be altered
- Non-repudiable: it cannot be denied later.
- Traceable on the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform
This guarantees that every business follows a secure and compliant process.
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What is a Consent Template?
A Consent Template is a predefined content format that businesses use to request permission from customers before sending them promotional or service-related messages.
This acts as a clear and standardized way of communicating why the message is being sent and who is sending it.
By using a consent template, businesses remove ambiguity and ensure customers are making their choice to receive the content. This transparency reduces spam complaints and keeps the process compliant with regulatory requirements like TRAI’s TCCCPR-2018.
A consent template is the bridge between a business and its customers that ensures compliance and trust in every communication.
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Modes of Acquiring Digital Consent
Businesses (Principal Entities or PEs) have several convenient ways to collect digital consent from their customers. Each method ensures security, transparency and compliance with TRAI’s regulations.
QR Code
Principal Entities (PEs) can generate a unique QR code directly from the DLT platform. This QR code can be placed at physical stores, displayed on websites, or included in marketing materials. When a customer scans the code, they are redirected to a secure consent page where they can review the details and provide their approval. This method is simple, user-friendly and ensures that the consent is captured digitally in a compliant and traceable manner.
Web Portal (DLT Platform)
Principal Entities (PEs) can log in to the official DLT portal to initiate and submit a consent request. Once the request is made, the customer receives a One-Time Password (OTP) on their registered mobile number or email. The customer must verify this OTP to confirm their consent. After successful verification, the consent is securely recorded on the DLT ledger, ensuring it is immutable, transparent and fully traceable in compliance with TRAI regulations.
API Integration
Businesses can integrate Consent APIs into their websites, mobile apps, or even Point of Sale (POS) systems to simplify the consent collection process. Through this method, customers receive a digital consent request directly within the platform they are interacting with. To complete the process, the customer verifies their approval using a One-Time Password (OTP). Once authenticated, the consent is securely recorded on the DLT ledger, making it tamper-proof, transparent and fully compliant with regulatory standards.
This multi-channel approach makes it easy for businesses to capture consent in both online and offline scenarios, while giving customers a simple, secure and transparent experience.
Acquisition of Digital Consent:
After login on DLT portal PE will get option of Manage Digital consent in Menu, by clicking on digital consent all registered consent templates will reflect and option to download & Email for QR code will be available.
How to create a consent template?
One can create the consent template by visiting our DLT portal https://www.dlt.airtel.in or https://www.airtel.in/business/commercial-communication/home
On the website, enter the username, password and the OTPs sent on registered mobile number and email ID.
Under Manage Consent Templates – PE can create a Consent template by clicking “Click here to register consent Template.”
The below window will open where PE can create a consent template by entering brand name, consent text & Template name.
PE can check approved consent templates on DLT under the managed digital consent option. Please see below.
After approval of consent template PE needs to be linked their registered Promotional & service explicit category templates with approved consent template id by clicking add button as shown below.
Post clicking on the add button need to click on select option as marked below in black to get choose consent box for consent id linking with content template.
Post selecting the consent ID need to click on OK button then click on re-submit button for final submission.
Credit Management for Principal Entities (PEs)
Credit management for Principal Entities (PEs) is carried out through the DLT portal, where every digital consent acquired consumes credits. PEs must purchase credits online, with a minimum recharge of ₹100. For each consent acquisition, 3 credits are deducted from the available balance. The DLT dashboard ensures full transparency by providing detailed transaction logs, including credits purchased, debits, remaining balance and complete usage history. This allows PEs to efficiently track, manage and optimize their consent acquisition activities without any ambiguity.
End User Consent Management
End users are always in control of the permissions they provide to businesses. The system is designed to ensure transparency, flexibility and easy management of consents.
Here’s how users can manage their digital consents:
Revoke or Manage via Airtel Thanks App
Users can easily manage their consents through the Airtel Thanks App. By logging in and navigating to the Manage Services section, they can view all active consents linked to their number. From this interface, users have the option to revoke specific consents or re-enable previously blocked ones. This app-based approach offers a simple and convenient way for customers to maintain complete control over the communications they wish to receive.
Revoke via SMS (1909)
Users can also manage their consents directly from their mobile phones without needing an app or internet access. By sending an SMS with the keyword “Consent” to 1909, customers can revoke previously granted consents, block specific consents, or even restart consents that were earlier deactivated. This simple SMS-based method ensures that every user, regardless of device or connectivity, has complete control over their communication preferences.
Granular Service Control
Users have the flexibility to decide exactly which types of communication they want to receive. For example, a customer may choose to allow critical transactional updates such as OTPs or booking confirmations, while blocking promotional or marketing campaigns. This selective control empowers users to reduce unwanted spam while still ensuring that important and relevant messages reach them without interruption.
Benefits of Digital Consent Acquisition
Regulatory Compliance
Digital consent acquisition ensures strict adherence to TRAI’s TCCCPR-2018 regulations. By following these compliance protocols, businesses protect themselves from penalties, maintain operational integrity and strengthen their credibility with both regulators and customers.
Customer Trust
Digital consent puts users in control by allowing them to voluntarily grant permission for communication. This process builds transparency and reassures customers that their preferences are respected, ultimately strengthening trust while reducing unsolicited and unwanted messages.
Better Engagement
With digital consent, only customers who are genuinely interested in your products or services receive your updates. This targeted communication results in higher engagement levels, leading to improved open rates, better click-through rates and ultimately stronger conversions.
Reduced Complaints
By ensuring that only consented users receive communication, businesses minimize the chances of customers reporting messages as unwanted or spam. This not only improves overall customer satisfaction but also helps maintain a positive brand reputation.
Organized Business Channel
Digital consent acquisition helps businesses maintain clean, verified and consented user lists. With a well-organized database, campaign targeting becomes more precise and overall operational efficiency improves, ensuring better results from every communication effort.
Conclusion
Digital Consent Acquisition is more than just a regulatory mandate—it’s a vital business practice in today’s customer-first communication environment. By adopting proper consent acquisition and scrubbing processes through the DLT platform, businesses not only ensure compliance with TRAI’s TCCCPR-2018 regulations but also foster greater customer trust. Ultimately, this approach enhances engagement, reduces spam-related complaints and significantly improves the overall effectiveness of messaging campaigns.
Stay secure and compliant with TRAI guidelines. Connect with Authkey to manage your digital consents seamlessly.
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