---
schema_version: "1"
id: 761520e19567bb811604eae072847133c06619729b8c80271e12b896c06698e8
title: Automatically Match Email Consent Between Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/mktg/264-0-0/mcae_match_email_consent_with_marketing_cloud.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mcae_match_email_consent_with_marketing_cloud.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 4ccfd0f817c8a15d5d41b141a63dd52d0db2eace28cbffb3b208679a2af9a400
description: To align email consent automatically between Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next, turn on consent matching in your Account Engagement business unit. You can match consent for specific lists, or for all emails based on each prospect’s Opted Out field.
products:
  - Marketing
  - Marketing Cloud Account Engagement
release: "264"
---
# Automatically Match Email Consent Between Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next

To align email consent automatically between Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next, turn on consent matching in your Account Engagement business unit. You can match consent for specific lists, or for all emails based on each prospect’s Opted Out field.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: <span>Salesforce Enterprise and Unlimited Editions with Account Engagement Growth, Plus, Advanced, and Premium Editions, along with Data 360 or Marketing Cloud Next editions.</span></td></tr></tbody></table>

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small permission">
        <colgroup>
          <col style="width:50%">
          <col style="width:50%">
        </colgroup>
        <thead class="slds-text-title_caps ">
          <tr class="">
            <th scope="colgroup" class="slds-cell-wrap" colspan="2" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:top;" id="d28271e72">User Permissions Needed</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28271e72 ">To turn on consent matching:</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28271e72 ">
              <ul>
                <li><span>Marketing Cloud Account Engagement</span> Administrator role or a custom <span>Account Engagement</span> role with these user permissions: Manage Email Consent
                  Matching &gt; View and Edit</li>

                <li>Modify All Data permission set or </li>

                <li>Marketing Cloud Admin permission set</li>

              </ul>
            </td>

          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>

Before you start, [set up Marketing Cloud Next and Data 360](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mcae_mc_campaigns_dc_prereqs.htm&language=en_US).

- **[Manually Match Consent and Subscriptions Between Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mcae_mc_campaigns_consent.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Marketing Cloud Next consent management is powered by Data 360 so that you can manage multiple marketing channels with subscriptions. By default, consent isn’t shared between Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next. To use your prospect consent preferences in Marketing Cloud Next, export them from Account Engagement or API, and then import them into Marketing Cloud Next, one subscription at a time. The resulting output file includes prospects that need a corresponding subscription in Marketing Cloud Next. We recommend using a small, simple subscription to start.

## How Consent Matching Works

Consent matching keeps email consent aligned between Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next for records that share an email address. Each time a prospect is created, updated with a new email address, added to a list, or restored from the Recycle Bin, Account Engagement resyncs consent status with Marketing Cloud Next. Matching is available from one business unit to another. Multiple business units aren’t supported.

You can match consent based on one of two match types: Public List and Opted Out Field.

A public list is a static list with the Public List option turned on, which means that it’s available in the Email Preference Center. For consent matching, the public list option matches a static public list to a new communication subscription in Marketing Cloud Next, but still takes the Opted Out field into consideration.

If you don’t have any public lists, you can use the Opted Out field option, which controls overall global email consent only.

For both match types, consent updates flow in both directions. However, this works a bit differently for each. Here’s an overview of the match types and how they handle consent updates

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small ">
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              <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d28271e210">Match Type</th>
              <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d28271e213">Description</th>
              <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d28271e216">How It Works</th>
            </tr>
          </thead>
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            <tr class="">
              <td data-label="Match Type" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28271e210 ">Public List</td>

              <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28271e213 ">
                <p>Matches a static public list that you select in <span>Account Engagement</span>
                  to a new, unique communication subscription in <span>Marketing Cloud Next</span>. </p>
                <p style="margin-bottom:0;">This
                  match type is ideal if you use public lists in <span>Account Engagement</span>.
                </p>
              </td>

              <td data-label="How It Works" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28271e216 ">
                <ul>
                  <li><strong>Updates can happen at the list or subscription level.</strong>If a prospect opts in or
                    out of a specific list or email subscription in one platform, their status in the
                    corresponding list or email subscription is also updated. </li>

                  <li><strong>Global email consent in <span>Account Engagement</span> still matters.</strong> If
                    a prospect opts out of all emails in Account Engagement, <span>Marketing Cloud Next</span>
                    treats this as an “Unsubscribe All” action and opts them out of all email subscriptions. </li>

                  <li><strong>Subscription in <span>Marketing Cloud Next</span> affects both list and global consent
                      in <span>.</span></strong> If a prospect previously opted out of
                    all emails in Account Engagement, but then opts in to an email subscription in <span>Marketing Cloud Next</span>, they’re opted back into both the corresponding public list
                    and global emails in <span>Account Engagement</span>. </li>

                </ul>
              </td>

            </tr>
            <tr class="">
              <td data-label="Match Type" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28271e210 ">Opted Out Field</td>

              <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28271e213 ">
                <p>Creates a single, global email subscription in <span>Marketing Cloud Next</span> called
                  B2B Email Consent. </p>
                <p style="margin-bottom:0;">Use this option only if you don’t have public lists in <span>Account Engagement</span>.</p>
              </td>

              <td data-label="How It Works" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28271e216 ">
                <ul>
                  <li><strong>Use one subscription to track consent.</strong> Instead of matching individual lists to
                    unique subscriptions, this option creates a single email subscription that tracks whether
                    a prospect is opted in or out of all emails. Updates to the B2B Email Consent
                    subscription in <span>Marketing Cloud Next</span> affect the Opted Out field in <span>Account Engagement</span>, and vice versa. </li>

                  <li><strong>Opted Out doesn’t mean Unsubscribe All.</strong> Because consent is tracked by a single
                    subscription, if a prospect opts out of all emails in <span>Account Engagement</span>, it isn’t applied as an Unsubscribe All action in <span>Marketing Cloud Next</span>.
                    Instead, the email is opted out of the B2B Email Consent subscription. </li>

                  <li><strong>New prospects are handled differently.</strong> If a prospect is created with the
                    Salesforce Connector, their status is calculated using your account’s standard Sync
                    Behavior rules combined with the most recent consent timestamp between the two systems.
                    If the prospect is created in <span>Account Engagement</span> (for example via a
                    form, and import, the API, or manually), the Account Engagement status overrides any
                    existing consent history for the email address in either system.</li>

                </ul>
              </td>

            </tr>
          </tbody>
        </table>

## Other Considerations for Consent Matching

When preparing to turn on consent matching between Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next, keep these considerations in mind.

- The default Do Not Email field in Account Engagement doesn't track consent. Use this field to prevent sending emails to unengaged prospects.
- Moving prospects to the Recycle Bin in Account Engagement, or permanently deleting prospects from the Recycle Bin, doesn’t delete or update their email consent status in Marketing Cloud Next.
- To match consent based on public lists, your Account Engagement business unit must have fewer than 250,000 active, opted-out prospects. If you exceed the limit, you can use the Recycle Bin to reduce the number of prospects, or use the Opted Out match type instead.
- If a public list is moved to the Recycle Bin, consent matching continues and a configuration issue appears in Optimizer.
- When using the Opted Out match type, the sync behavior for the default prospect Opted Out field in Account Engagement must be set to "Use the most recently updated field value," "Use Account Engagement's value," or be unmapped to Salesforce.

## Start Consent Matching

When you’re ready to start matching consent data across the two apps, turn on the feature in Account Engagement Settings.

1. In the Lightning app, select **Account Engagement Settings**, and then select **Email Consent Matching**.
2. On the Set Up Email Consent Matching page, click **Get Started** to open the Edit page.
3. Under Match Type, select **Opted Out Field** or **Public List**.
4. If you selected Public List, configure your communication subscriptions.
    1. Select up to 100 public lists to match.
    2. For each list, enter a unique name for the communication subscription to create in Marketing Cloud Next. You can't map a public list to an existing subscription.
5. Review your selections, confirm that you understand how consent matching works, and click **Match Consent**.

It can take up to 48 hours for updates to process, but your initial copy progress appears in the status field. Don’t import new consent records to Marketing Cloud Next until the process is complete. When matching is done, the status shows Active and the user who started the process receives an email.

## Manage Consent Matching

Review the consent matching status for each of your public lists on the Email Consent Matching page. You can also add or remove lists from active consent matching at any time. If you stop consent matching for all lists, consent data is no longer aligned between Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next though it's still available. Marketing Cloud Next supports only one unique name for each subscription. To restart consent matching, first delete or change the name of the affected subscription in Marketing Cloud Next.

 
| Task | Steps |
| --- | --- |
| Start matching a new list | On the Email Consent Matching page, select **New**. Select a list and click **Next**, enter a subscription name, and then click **Match Consent**. |
| Stop matching a single list | On the Email Consent Matching page, next to the list you want to work with, click the Settings drop-down, and select **Stop Matching**. If only one list is actively matching consent, use the **Stop Matching** button instead. |
| Stop matching for all lists | On the Email Consent Matching page, in the page header, click **Stop Matching**. Review the confirmation window and click **Stop**. |

#### See Also

- [_Knowledge Article_: Understanding Consent Differences Between Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=005225288&type=1&language=en_US)
- [Manually Match Consent and Subscriptions Between Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mcae_mc_campaigns_consent.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Marketing Cloud Next consent management is powered by Data 360 so that you can manage multiple marketing channels with subscriptions. By default, consent isn’t shared between Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next. To use your prospect consent preferences in Marketing Cloud Next, export them from Account Engagement or API, and then import them into Marketing Cloud Next, one subscription at a time. The resulting output file includes prospects that need a corresponding subscription in Marketing Cloud Next. We recommend using a small, simple subscription to start.")
- [_Salesforce Help_: Understanding Consent Concepts in Marketing Cloud Next](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mktg_consent_tools_ref.htm&language=en_US)
- [_Salesforce Help_: Considerations for Managing Marketing Consent Data](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mktg_consent_considerations.htm&language=en_US)