Sidekick's What Just Shipped

HubSpot can now require consent before it tracks email opens and clicks, with a consent status on each email address.

Show Notes

HubSpot can now require consent before it tracks email opens and clicks, with a consent status on each email address. We cover the four statuses, which plans and emails it covers, how to set it up and update statuses in bulk or with a workflow, the preferences page checkbox, and how open and click rates are calculated once it's on. First thing to try: before you turn it on, set email tracking consent statuses for your existing recipients from the contacts index page or a segment.

Who it's for: HubSpot admins and marketing ops teams who email recipients in France or Italy, or anyone tightening email privacy (all products and plans, in beta; workflows need Professional or Enterprise).

Our research first covered this on October 15, 2026. Here's where it stands as of our Oct 31, 2026 check. HubSpot's help article (updated Oct 30, 2026) says Super Admin or Partner Admin permissions can turn it on, while our write-up said Super Admin only. The workflow action is called Manage email tracking consent. Our write-up said open rates will drop; HubSpot calculates open and click rates using only emails that were delivered and tracked. Coverage also includes sequences, help desk and inbox emails, and transactional emails, but not transactional email sent through the SMTP API. The setting can't be limited by country, and statuses can't be imported directly or updated through the API. We couldn't confirm the write-up's points about fines or other countries following France and Italy; HubSpot's guidance is not legal advice.

In this episode
  • 00:00:00 Statuses, plans, and covered emails
  • 00:02:21 Coverage, setup, and bulk edits
  • 00:04:58 Preferences, reporting math, and a plan
Sources
More HubSpot updates
Every HubSpot update we cover lives at Sidekick Strategies HubSpot Updates.

AI disclosure: Rob and Dana are AI hosts with AI-generated voices. The narrator and music are AI-generated. The mid-roll from George B. Thomas uses an AI clone of his voice, made with his consent. Reviewed by humans before release.
This episode includes a short message from Sidekick Strategies, the show's presenter and a HubSpot Solutions Partner.

Sidekick's What Just Shipped is independent of HubSpot, Inc., and is not authorized by, endorsed by, sponsored by, affiliated with, or otherwise approved by HubSpot, Inc.

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Sidekick's What Just Shipped is the fast, friendly way to keep up with HubSpot without reading every release note yourself. Each episode, AI hosts Rob and Dana take one feature HubSpot shipped and tell you where it stands right now: what changed, how it got here, who it's for, and what to do on Monday. Rob explains. Dana pushes back. Nobody pretends.

Every episode starts from Sidekick Strategies research on the HubSpot Updates page at sidekickstrategies.com and is checked against official HubSpot sources. If something isn't confirmed, the hosts say so out loud. Episodes run six to eight minutes, and new ones arrive five a week while we catch up on recent releases.

Presented by Sidekick Strategies, a HubSpot solutions partner.

AI disclosure: Rob and Dana are AI hosts with AI-generated voices. The narrator voice and the music are AI-generated. The mid-episode message from Sidekick Strategies founder George B. Thomas uses an AI clone of his own voice, made with his consent. Scripts are researched and written with AI assistance and reviewed by humans before release.

Sidekick's What Just Shipped is independent of HubSpot, Inc., and is not authorized by, endorsed by, sponsored by, affiliated with, or otherwise approved by HubSpot, Inc. HubSpot is a trademark of HubSpot, Inc.

Rob (AI host): Your email open counts are about to change for anyone who never said yes to tracking.
Dana (AI host): HubSpot can now require consent before it tracks opens and clicks, one email address at a time.
Rob (AI host): Hang on for the reporting math, because the rate works differently than most people expect.
Narrator (AI voice): This is Sidekick's What Just Shipped, presented by Sidekick Strategies.
Narrator (AI voice): Your hosts, Rob and Dana, are AI.
Narrator (AI voice): The voices are synthetic, the research is real, and humans check every claim before it reaches you.
Rob (AI host): Rob here, with Dana, and yes, we're both AI hosts.
Rob (AI host): Today: consent-based email tracking, from HubSpot's help article, updated at the end of October.
Dana (AI host): New seat for me: today I'm playing a hypothetical marketing ops manager whose list includes customers in France and Italy.
Rob (AI host): Good seat.
Rob (AI host): Why it matters: regulators in France and Italy now generally expect prior consent before an email tracking pixel fires.
Rob (AI host): HubSpot tracks opens with exactly that kind of pixel, and clicks with rewritten tracking links.
Dana (AI host): So what does the feature do, plainly?
Rob (AI host): When it's on, HubSpot checks each recipient's email tracking consent status before tracking opens and clicks.
Rob (AI host): Consent given means tracked. Declined, or nothing recorded, means not tracked.
Dana (AI host): Which accounts can use it?
Rob (AI host): HubSpot lists all products and plans, with extra subscriptions for certain features.
Rob (AI host): It's a beta, and a Super Admin opts the account in.
Dana (AI host): And who can turn it on?
Rob (AI host): HubSpot requires Super Admin permissions, or one other admin role it lists, to turn it on and to set consent statuses.
Dana (AI host): Is the status stored on the contact?
Rob (AI host): On the email address.
Rob (AI host): If a contact has a second address, HubSpot checks whichever address actually receives the email.
Dana (AI host): Huh. That's a real modeling detail.
Rob (AI host): And each status carries a timestamp, a source, and the method used to collect it.
Dana (AI host): Walk me through the statuses.
Rob (AI host): Not specified is the default, and it isn't tracked. Consent declined, not tracked. Consent given, tracked.
Rob (AI host): Consent not applicable is tracked too, for recipients who don't need prior consent based on location or other circumstances.
Dana (AI host): So a brand new address starts untracked.
Rob (AI host): Yes, which is why HubSpot recommends setting statuses for existing recipients before you switch it on.
Dana (AI host): Which emails does it cover?
Rob (AI host): Marketing emails, including workflow and blog emails. One-to-one emails from the CRM or the sales extension.
Rob (AI host): Sequences, help desk and inbox emails, and transactional emails, including the single-send API.
Dana (AI host): Any exception?
Rob (AI host): Transactional email sent through the SMTP API isn't supported yet.
Dana (AI host): Can I limit it to France and Italy?
Rob (AI host): No.
Rob (AI host): HubSpot says the setting applies to all recipients in your CRM, and it cannot be limited to specific countries or regions.
Dana (AI host): Bigger switch than I pictured.
Rob (AI host): Here's the setup. Settings, then Privacy and Consent.
Rob (AI host): Turn on Require consent to track emails, click I understand, then turn on marketing and one-to-one email tracking.
Dana (AI host): And to see one contact's status?
Rob (AI host): Add the Email tracking consent card to the contact view.
Rob (AI host): That's in Objects, then Contacts, then Record Customization, on the About tab.
Dana (AI host): How do I set statuses in bulk?
Rob (AI host): From the contacts index page or a segment, select contacts, click More, then Edit email tracking consent.
Rob (AI host): You pick the status and which email addresses to update.
Dana (AI host): And with automation?
Rob (AI host): Contact-based workflows have an action called Manage email tracking consent.
Rob (AI host): Workflows need a Professional or Enterprise subscription.
Dana (AI host): Can a form collect it?
Rob (AI host): Not directly.
Rob (AI host): Add a custom property to the form, then use a workflow to update the status when someone submits.
Dana (AI host): And our old platform's consent data?
Rob (AI host): Statuses cannot be imported directly, and they cannot be updated through the API.
Rob (AI host): Import into a custom property, then update in bulk or with a workflow.
Dana (AI host): Can I see who changed a status later?
Rob (AI host): Yes.
Rob (AI host): On the card, click View and manage statuses, then the History tab shows who updated it, the update source, and the date.
Dana (AI host): What if someone withdraws consent after the email goes out?
Rob (AI host): HubSpot uses the current status at the moment of the open or click, so a later open isn't recorded.
George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Hey, it's George B. Thomas from Sidekick Strategies.
George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Full honesty, this is my AI voice clone, made with my permission.
George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): A consent switch reaches into workflows, segments, and reports that somebody built years ago.
George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Sidekick's HubSpot portal audit reviews every workflow, property, automation, pipeline, report, and integration, then ranks what to fix by business impact.
George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Start with what's safe to touch.
George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): You'll find HubSpot Portal Audit on the services page at Sidekick Strategies dot com.
Dana (AI host): Now the contact's side. How does someone opt in or out?
Rob (AI host): A checkbox is added to the subscription preferences page.
Rob (AI host): It reads: Can we track opens and clicks on future emails sent to this email address.
Dana (AI host): Does everyone see it?
Rob (AI host): It's hidden for Consent not applicable.
Rob (AI host): And it isn't part of the default unsubscribe settings for one-to-one emails.
Dana (AI host): What about brands?
Rob (AI host): Consent applies across brands. You can't set a separate status per brand.
Dana (AI host): Okay, the reporting math. Our research says open rates will drop.
Rob (AI host): HubSpot calculates it differently.
Rob (AI host): Marketing email open and click rates use only emails that were both delivered and tracked.
Rob (AI host): Untracked deliveries are left out, and the Recipients tab shows tracked and untracked counts.
Dana (AI host): So fewer opens get counted, but the untracked mail doesn't drag the rate down.
Rob (AI host): That's how we read it. And sequence performance calculations don't change.
Dana (AI host): What about workflows that trigger on opens?
Rob (AI host): For Not specified or declined addresses, HubSpot doesn't collect open or click events, and that can affect graymail suppression, workflows, and segments.
Dana (AI host): Does opting out erase old data?
Rob (AI host): No. Earlier open and click data stays. Only future tracking stops.
Dana (AI host): Could it track anonymously instead?
Rob (AI host): Not in this beta.
Dana (AI host): Skeptic question.
Dana (AI host): Our research named the workflow step the Email Tracking Consent action, and said setup needs a Super Admin.
Rob (AI host): HubSpot's article names it Manage email tracking consent, and it lists more than one admin role for setup.
Dana (AI host): Here's what we couldn't confirm: any fine amounts, or which countries come next.
Dana (AI host): HubSpot says its list of regions isn't exhaustive, and its article isn't legal advice.
Rob (AI host): So check with your legal team before you mark anyone Consent not applicable.
Dana (AI host): Rollout plan, hypothetical marketing ops manager.
Dana (AI host): Step one: list the workflows and segments that use opens or clicks.
Rob (AI host): Step two: set statuses for existing recipients, using Consent not applicable only where your legal team agrees.
Dana (AI host): Step three: add the contact card, then flip the consent setting on in Privacy and Consent.
Rob (AI host): Step four: brief whoever reads the email reports, so a smaller open count doesn't cause panic.
Dana (AI host): Ops manager's verdict: worth piloting this week, once statuses, the contact card, and that report briefing are ready.
Rob (AI host): Consent first, then the tracking.
Dana (AI host): Both HubSpot articles and our research are in the show notes, and there's more at Sidekick Strategies dot com.
Rob (AI host): Thanks for opting in to this one.
Dana (AI host): Set the statuses before the switch.
Narrator (AI voice): Sidekick's What Just Shipped is presented by Sidekick Strategies, with AI hosts Rob and Dana and AI-generated music.
Narrator (AI voice): We're independent, and not affiliated with HubSpot. Find our research at Sidekick Strategies dot com.