Form: Terms and Conditions element
The Terms and Conditions element is the classic "I agree to the terms" checkbox — but in Apsis One it does more than just capture agreement. It also subscribes the Profile to the Subscriptions you designate. One click, one commitment, one opt-in.
Use it when your Form has a single clear purpose (one newsletter, one service, one agreement) and you want visitors to confirm consent without choosing between options. If visitors should pick which Subscriptions to join, use the Consent element instead.
In this article
When to use the Terms and Conditions element
You can request consent for email or SMS communications with either the Terms and Conditions element or the Consent element.
Terms and Conditions element — subscribes Profiles to designated Subscriptions. A single checkbox confirms agreement with your terms and opts in to the Subscription(s) you've chosen for this Form.
Consent element — opts in Profiles to Subscriptions of their choice. A list of options where visitors pick what they want.
💡 Tip. When creating a Form that offers several Subscriptions to choose from, use the Consent element instead.
Read more in the Create New Form article's How to collect consent section.
Prerequisites & rules
When using the Terms and Conditions element, keep these things in mind:
It must be mapped to at least one Subscription in a Folder.
It is a required field — visitors must accept your terms in order to submit the Form.
It needs to be complemented with an Input Field element and a Submit button to work as expected.
For double opt-in, two prerequisites apply: (1) double opt-in must be activated at the Section level by an Admin, and (2) Double opt-in settings must be configured in Account settings. See Double opt-in.
Quick start
Place a Terms and Conditions element into the Canvas.
Edit text directly in the Canvas. Adjust colour for when the checkbox is unchecked or checked by clicking the arrow next to Unchecked and Checked.
Give the element an internal name. This will name the Row or Column in the Structure panel to the left as well as in the form submit event on the profile.
Open Mapping on the right, expand the Folder and Subscriptions dropdown, and select where the Profile's consent should be mapped. Pick the channel (Email or SMS) if prompted. Optionally enable Double opt-in.
Mapping
In the Mapping section on the right, expand the Subscriptions dropdown to select where you'd like to map the Profile's consent.
Select channel
If you can see the channel option, remember to pick either Email or SMS as the communication channel for gathering consent.
Note: if you're using a Consent element in the same Form as a Terms and Conditions element, make sure you don't choose the same Folder and Subscriptions for the two elements. Overlapping Subscriptions between the two cause confusing consent states — one element says "yes", the other might say "no".
Double opt-in
Double opt-in keeps Audience quality high. Once a visitor provides their email consent, they receive an email asking them to confirm their subscription. This way you avoid collecting invalid email addresses.
Configure Double opt-in
Before you can enable Double opt-in for your Form, you must complete the Double opt-in settings. If you see a message telling you to complete settings, head over to Account settings to configure Double opt-in. Learn more.
Note also that double opt-in must be activated at the Section level by an Admin before it works on any Form in that Section.
Enable Double opt-in in the Form
Tick Enable Double opt-in to send a confirmation email to Profiles who sign up via your Form.
If you leave this option unticked, the consent for all Profiles who opt in via this Form will be automatically confirmed.
Pending Profile
Until Profiles have confirmed their subscription, their Profile will show their email channel consent as Pending. Profiles with a Pending opt-in consent type will not receive any sendings until they confirm.
How to find your pending profiles:
In Segment builder, create a segment using the Subscription property and select state Pending Opt in. Calculate or Show profiles to find out how many you have.
The confirmation email and the landing page after clicking are part of the sign-up experience, not a technicality — design them as such.
Label, style, alignment and margins
Label
Add a Label name to the Terms and Conditions element to enhance accessibility. The label helps screen readers understand what the checkbox is asking the visitor to agree to — which matters both for inclusivity and, increasingly, for legal compliance around digital accessibility.
A good label describes the purpose of the agreement in a few words — for example, "Marketing consent" or "Terms and privacy agreement". The label doesn't replace the checkbox text itself (which should still clearly explain what the visitor is agreeing to); it works alongside it as an assistive cue.
💡 Tip. Because the Terms and Conditions element is always required, accessibility here matters more than for optional fields. A visitor using a screen reader must understand exactly what they're being asked to agree to before they can submit the Form. A clear Label plus clear checkbox text removes any ambiguity.
Colour
Set colour for Border, Fill and Check. Enter hex code, RGB or use the colour picker. To make it transparent, click the X icon next to the colour code — the preview will show a white circle crossed with a red line.
Alignment and margins
Alignment — align the element to the left, centre or right.
Margins (padding) — maximum 100 pixels.
💡 Tip. The design options work interactively. Hold an icon for a pixel value and drag left/right to change the number of pixels live in the Canvas.
Use cases
Lead nurturing — newsletter sign-up
The textbook use case. A short Form with an email Input Field, a Terms and Conditions element (pointing to the Newsletter Subscription), and a Submit button. One agreement, one Subscription, one clean entry into nurturing.
Perfect when there's only one thing to subscribe to.
Retention — re-consent campaign
Periodically, brands run "are we still a good fit?" campaigns to confirm consent from inactive Profiles. A Form with a short reminder of what the Subscription covers and a single Terms and Conditions checkbox is the cleanest way to capture renewed consent.
Pair with double opt-in for an extra layer of certainty, especially for B2B or regulated industries.
Brand building — gated content download
A whitepaper or guide download usually needs contact details plus one consent checkbox. Terms and Conditions is ideal here: visitors download the content and simultaneously opt in to the lead nurture Subscription.
Keep the T&C text honest — "By downloading, I agree to receive marketing emails about [topic]" — not hidden in legalese.
Loyalty — programme enrolment
For a loyalty programme with one clear Subscription (the programme itself), Terms and Conditions is the right pattern. The checkbox confirms they've read the programme terms and joins them to the Subscription in one click.
Common mistakes & how to troubleshoot
Visitors can submit without accepting the terms
Cause. This shouldn't happen — Terms and Conditions is a required field by design. If it does, the element may be misconfigured or the Subscription isn't mapped correctly.
Fix. Confirm the element is correctly placed and mapped. If the issue persists, see Forms & Pages: Troubleshooting.
Profiles submitted but aren't appearing in the Subscription
Causes to check.
The Subscription you are looking at is in a different Section from the Form. Subscriptions are Section-specific.
Double opt-in is enabled and Profiles haven't confirmed yet — they're Pending.
Double consent states because both Consent and T&C map to the same Subscription
Cause. Using both elements in the same Form and pointing them at overlapping Folders/Subscriptions.
Fix. Make sure the Consent element and the Terms and Conditions element map to different Subscriptions. Each Subscription should be owned by one or the other element, not both.
"Configure Double opt-in" message appears in the editor
Cause. Double opt-in settings haven't been completed in Account settings, or double opt-in isn't activated at the Section level.
Fix. An Admin needs to complete the settings. See Double opt-in.
For a wider set of Form issues, see Forms & Pages: Troubleshooting.
💡 Tips & tricks
Keep the agreement text clear and honest. Visitors read these checkboxes more carefully than you might think. Plain language outperforms legalese.
Link to your full terms and privacy policy. The checkbox text is a summary; the full policy should be linked so visitors can read if they want to.
One T&C, one Subscription scope. Don't stretch the element across wildly different commitments. If you have "newsletter" and "product updates" that are separate Subscriptions, use a Consent element.
Enable double opt-in for acquisition Forms where deliverability matters. For preference updates from existing Profiles, it's usually unnecessary.
Don't use T&C and Consent for the same Subscriptions. Keep the two elements' Subscription mappings distinct.
Always name your Terms and Conditions element. The internal name appears on every Profile's Form – Submit Event. A named field shows as
Terms_newsletter-[ID]; an unnamed one shows as the uninterpretablenone-[ID]. Makes the Profile timeline far easier to read.
Next steps
Forms & Pages: Troubleshooting — common issues and how to fix them