What’s changing
The privacy of our communications online is protected by the UK's Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). These laws help safeguard our personal information when we use email, text, phone calls, and online services . Until now, PECR regulations required explicit consent to send email marketing to individual supporters. From mid-2025, under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, that’s changing.
Charities will be able to rely on a soft opt-in, meaning you can send marketing emails or SMS without consent if:
- someone has previously engaged (for example, donated, joined an event, signed a petition, used a service)
- the message furthers your charitable purpose
- you offered an opt-out at data collection, and include it in every message.
This isn’t just about permissions. It’s a chance to reimagine how we nurture the connections already in place between your cause and the people who care about it.
Responsibilities first
With expanded permission comes increased responsibility. The ICO has warned that misuse, particularly with vulnerable audiences, could lead to significant penalties.
But the deeper risk is reputational. Supporter tolerance for irrelevant, impersonal communication is low. We’re not trying to be a Tinder date from 2020 suddenly popping up with a “hey, stranger” message. The solution? Get engagement right.
Right means relevant.
Relevant means personalised.
Personalisation means knowing your audience.
Reconnection starts with empathy
Think of your database as filled with seeds planted long ago – donors, volunteers, campaigners, or service users who haven’t heard from you in a while.
Many of these relationships went quiet, not from lack of interest, but because you lacked the regulatory permission to follow up.
The soft opt-in gives you the tools to nurture these connections again. But success depends on understanding:
- What does this person need to hear from us right now?
- Are they emotionally ready to re-engage?
- What was their last interaction?
- How do we show them they’re seen, valued, and remembered?
Empathy leads, tech follows
Marketers use, on average, just 42% of their martech capabilities (Gartner). The problem isn’t (usually) the technology, it’s the lack of strategy in what we’re trying to design.
Modern platforms like Dotdigital, Salesforce or Adobe Campaign offer powerful tools to orchestrate personal journeys, not just send emails.
Examples:
- A supporter gave £20? Reference the donation directly, thank them specifically, and show them how they were part of something bigger. For example:
“Thanks to your £20 donation last year, with your help, we achieved impact. You’re part of that story.” - A user gave to an emergency appeal two years ago? Tailor your message to the impact made since.
- Someone shows strong interest in volunteering? Serve them new ways to get involved.
Think of this as composing a relationship symphony, not hitting the same note to everyone at once.
How to get started
The practical stuff
- Create a cross-functional ‘task force’ for soft-opt in. You could include legal, data, digital, content, insight, fundraising, supporter care - whoever across the organisation this could affect.
- Take a look into your database: who, and what volumes are qualifying for soft opt-in? What action did they last take with you? Volunteers, cash donors, campaigners?
- Update consent records: flag ‘soft opt-in’ vs ‘consent’ as lawful basis in your CRM
- Check behaviour clusters: what cause did they last engage with? What tone is appropriate
- Review your opt-out process: preference centres and data capture forms need updating
The strategic stuff
- Creating your journeys should be a collaborative exercise. Why not do this as a workshop between different teams? What do we know about this audience, what are we assuming and can we validate with testing? Our team helps charities build audience-led, personalised, technology enabled supporter experiences. We would love to help you with this
- Avoid batch and blast - design journeys based on emotional and engagement readiness
- Use behavioural triggers - if someone doesn’t open a piece of communication, follow up differently
- Personalise with relevance:
“Thanks for your £10. Since then, we’ve achieved…” is more powerful than a generic “Give again”
A real example: Reframing with RNIB
We recently worked with RNIB to re-engage thousands of former service users, some of whom hadn’t heard from RNIB in over three years.
Originally, the goal was to invite the service users to donate. But we reframed the challenge: What do these individuals need right now?
We conducted research and learned:
- Some were carers under pressure
- Some were newly diagnosed and overwhelmed
- Some simply didn’t know what RNIB did anymore
We didn’t start with asks. We started with empathy.
We segmented based on need and readiness, used personalised storytelling and ran A/B testing within Dotdigital. The result?
An 84% increase in engagement compared to RNIB's benchmark.
Feedback like “The email shows you care, thank you.”
The lesson? When you lead with the audience for re-engaging with an audience, you need to lead with empathy.
The bigger picture: Culture change
This isn’t just about better emails. It’s a catalyst for better collaboration between teams, a stronger understanding of your audience, a better way to make decisions based on that understanding, and a more confident use of your existing tools.
If embraced well, soft opt-in can help you:
- Break silos across teams
- Align on shared engagement metrics (not just open rates)
- Invest in customer experience design as a core capability
- And… expand your pool of contactable people for your cause!
Final thought
The soft opt-in change doesn’t give you permission to send more. It gives you the chance to reconnect with purpose.
- Be curious.
- Lead with empathy.
- Design for relevancy.
- Let the tech enable.
- And nurture the relationships.
Need support designing journeys?
Our team helps charities build audience-led, personalised, martech-powered supporter experiences. Let’s talk.