Idea / Description

The Customer Insights – Journeys Preference Center currently processes the full set of displayed topics whenever a user submits their preferences. As a result, all unchecked topics are written as Opted Out, including topics for which the customer previously had no consent record / Not Set and which they did not interact with.

This makes it impossible to distinguish between:

• A customer who actively unsubscribed from a topic.
• A customer who never subscribed or expressed a preference for that topic.

We propose that the Preference Center processes actual changes in consent state, rather than interpreting every unchecked topic as a new Opt-Out.

Proposed behavior

• Previously Opted In → user unchecks topic → Opted Out
• Previously Not Set / no CPC record → remains unchecked → No change
• Previously Not Set / no CPC record → user checks topic → Opted In
• Previously Opted Out → user checks topic → Opted In
• Existing state remains unchanged → No update to CPC

Business Case

This distinction is particularly important when using the Restrictive enforcement model, where both Not Set and Opted Out already prevent communication. There is therefore no need to convert the absence of consent into an explicit Opt-Out.

The issue is also inconsistent with the Ignore opt-outs functionality available for Marketing Forms. This feature correctly allows an unchecked topic to remain untouched instead of creating an unintended Opt-Out. However, as soon as the same customer later submits the Preference Center, all previously untouched topics are converted into Opt-Out CPC records.

Consequently, the Preference Center can turn absence of consent into an apparent explicit customer decision, even though the customer never changed or interacted with that topic.

This impacts:

• Consent accuracy: CPC records should represent the customer's actual actions and choices.
• Auditability: Explicit unsubscribes cannot reliably be distinguished from system-generated Opt-Outs.
• Reporting: Counting Opted-Out CPC records produces misleading unsubscribe figures. Even reporting transitions from Opted In → Opted Out requires historical/audit data that is not readily available in the standard CPC dataset.
• Consistency: Marketing Forms can preserve untouched consent through Ignore opt-outs, while the Preference Center subsequently removes this distinction.

A delta-based Preference Center would preserve the difference between no consent and an explicit unsubscribe, while continuing to fully support customers subscribing to and unsubscribing from individual topics.