Consent determines the effectiveness of CRM
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Author: Katharina DrechslerReading time: approx. 6 minutesPublication date: April 2, 2026Last update:Topics: CRM, Customer Data, Consent Management, Data Protection, Customer JourneyTarget audience: Head of CRM, Head of Marketing, CDO, Sales Executives
Summary
- Consent determines whether customer data can be used effectively in CRM. Without a clean consent logic, even a strong data foundation delivers no impact.
- The real challenge lies in operational usability across systems and channels, not in formal collection.
- Inconsistent communication directly affects conversion, efficiency, and brand perception.
- The greatest lever lies in structurally connecting consent, data, and contact logic. Only then does CRM generate real impact.
CRM scheitert nicht am Tool, sondern am Einwilligungsmanagement
Without Consent, CRM Remains Ineffective
97 percent of companies in Germany rate the effort required for data protection as high or very high. 77 percent say that data protection slows down digitalization. This is not a marginal legal note. It is an operational reality that directly impacts CRM, marketing, and sales. (Source: Bitkom e. V.)
Consent therefore comes before any other consideration of personalization, automation, or campaign logic. If no valid consent exists or if it is not cleanly available within processes, customers cannot be contacted. In that case, existing data loses its value before target groups, triggers, or journeys are even discussed.
When Leads Exist but Cannot Be Used
Consent is often treated in organizations as a compliance topic, something that must be formally addressed while marketing, sales, and service manage the actual customer business. This separation is precisely what becomes problematic in practice.
This issue is often only taken seriously when a lead exists but cannot be processed further. That is when it becomes clear that consent is not just a formal checkbox in the process. It concretely determines whether a recorded contact can even become a workable lead. This is one of the points where I see companies lose value without immediately noticing it.
The Real Challenge Lies in the Usability of Consent
In my view, consent is often approached too much from a documentation perspective. In project work, however, it becomes clear that the real challenge lies in usability or in other words, whether consent is available at the right moment, in the right system, and for the right channel.
This becomes particularly evident when consent is generated across multiple touchpoints. A customer agrees to a newsletter in-store, submits another opt-in on the website two weeks later, and is shortly after asked for their email by sales. Three capture moments, three channels. If this data is not consolidated, it becomes unclear which consent applies, for which channel it was given, and whether it is still valid.
At exactly this point, a CRM system begins to lose controllability. Consent data is then scattered across a newsletter tool, the CRM, or a sales application but not in a form that enables consistent operational decisions. Systems must be able to identify who can be contacted via which channel. Without this logic, consent becomes a mere formality without impact.
Why Uncoordinated Communication Erodes Trust
As soon as channels are not properly orchestrated, communication becomes chaotic. Customers receive messages in sequence that lack a coherent line. For example, a customer may receive a discount email for a product in the morning and then get a call from sales in the afternoon, completely unaware of the offer.
Internally, such situations often appear to be coordination issues between channels. From the customer’s perspective, however, they are far more serious. The customer does not perceive why these inconsistencies occur. They simply experience that the brand seems to lack a sense of when and how contact is appropriate. And this weakens trust faster than is often assumed internally.
Customer expectations are already clear. Every second person in Germany expects a consistent shopping experience across all channels. At the same time, IFH Cologne, Google, and HDE show that there is still a significant gap between this expectation and the actual cross-channel reality of many providers. (Source: IFH COLOGNE)
This gap is costly. It reduces trust, repurchase likelihood, and the efficiency of marketing and sales resources. Adobe illustrates how sensitive brand perception is: 67% of consumers consider it important that brands automatically adapt their content to the current context. If brands fail to do so, 42% of consumers are annoyed by the lack of personalization. (Source: Adobe)
The Economic Damage Starts Long Before Any Fine
Poor consent management carries significant risks and does not come without consequences. Depending on the violation, the GDPR provides for fines of up to €10 million or 2% of global annual revenue, and up to €20 million or 4% for more serious violations. Additional risks include warnings and reputational damage.
However, the more significant economic dimension lies elsewhere, where existing data cannot be fully utilized. Leads are not processed further, target groups are addressed too broadly, and campaigns are not prioritized based on a shared logic. The loss is not dramatic, it occurs in daily business operations and accumulates over time.
Recent figures illustrate how powerful the positive lever can be. 54% of Germans have purchased a product online at least once after seeing or hearing personalized advertising. 44% even visited a physical store as a result. At the same time, Bitkom’s study on digital marketing in Germany shows a return on advertising spend of €2.50 in revenue for every euro invested. (Bitkom e. V.)
The conclusion is obvious: if unclear consent, data silos, or coordination gaps block usability, a fundamentally strong lever loses a significant amount of its impact.
The Solution Is Structural, Not Technological
Solving this problem requires more than just a tool. Purely technological answers fall short. What matters is an end-to-end logic, a shared understanding of how consent, lead processes, and communication are interconnected.
- Which consent is collected at which touchpoint?
- How is it stored and updated?
- How is it ensured that it is consistently available in key areas such as sales, campaign management, and service?
- And how is it prevented that individual channels develop their own contact logic?
The real value lies in the use of data
From my perspective, the real lever is not more data, the data foundation often already exists. Business impact comes from making existing data more usable. This is exactly where significantly more potential often lies in mature CRM structures than initially apparent.Once data, consent, and contact logic are properly aligned, not only does communication improve. Leads are processed more effectively because it is clear what can be used and what the next logical step is. Campaigns work together instead of running in parallel. And from the customer’s perspective, a consistent experience emerges. The entire setup becomes more controllable, and the impact of CRM becomes tangible.
This impact is by no means abstract. Two-thirds of companies are currently not fully leveraging the economic potential of their data. (Source: Bitkom e. V.)
Conclusion: Ultimately, Consent Determines the Business Impact of CRM
Consent is not merely a regulatory checkpoint at the margins of CRM. It determines whether customer data can be translated into business impact at all.
The key management question is therefore not whether consent is formally compliant. It is whether consent is organized in such a way that customer data can be transformed into consistent, effective, and economically relevant communication. This is how existing data becomes a manageable asset. As a result, relevance in communication increases, wastage decreases, and CRM evolves from an infrastructure topic into a value driver.
About Katharina
Katharina Drechsler is Principal Consultant for Customer Data and CRM at DEFACTO. She supports companies in structuring their data, consent, and campaign logic so that customer data can actually be used in day-to-day operations. Her focus lies on intelligently connecting data, processes, and cross-channel customer communication. In her project work, it repeatedly becomes clear that the biggest challenge is not data collection, but the consistent use across systems and touchpoints.
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FAQ: Using Consent Correctly in CRM
Consent determines whether and how customer data can be used in the CRM. The following questions and answers highlight the key considerations, from the basics to the specific business impact.
