Consent emails: signed PDFs, requests to sign, and expirations 📧

Consent emails are automated, branded messages Ethnio sends around your consent forms. This article covers the three types of consent emails and how to customize them.

The three types of consent emails ✉️

Ethnio sends three kinds of consent emails.

  1. Signed consent emails. Sent automatically as soon as a participant signs your consent form, to the participant plus anyone else who needs a copy (study lead, legal, compliance).
  2. Requests to sign. Sent to participants from Pool. Select the participants you want to reach, click Email, and set the distribution goal to Consent.
  3. Expiring consent. When a consent type has an expiration set, participants are asked to consent again after that period.

Signed consent PDFs 🖊️

As soon as a participant signs, Ethnio automatically emails a PDF copy of the signed consent.

The consent email feature works just like any electronic signature tool. The email can include a downloadable PDF of the signed consent, your customized message, and optional CC recipients (for example Legal, Compliance, or the study lead). The signed PDF is also always available from Consent › Activity or the participant's Pool detail page.

Customizing your templates ⚙️

Set up your consent email templates from Home › Consent › Emails.

You can fully customize the sender details (From Name and Reply To), add legal or compliance recipients, and use the Consent title personalization variable in the subject or body to keep everything organized and traceable.

Expiration timing ⏳

Set how long a participant's consent stays valid.

From Consent › All consent types, open your consent type and head to Settings › Expiration. After that period, participants will be asked to consent again.

Localization 🌍

Consent forms can be translated for your studies.

To translate a consent form for a study, open your consent type's Settings and toggle on "Include in translations editor for any study with this consent."

A few settings control whether the signed consent email goes out.

  • Open the consent type from Consent › All consent types and confirm that sending a copy of the signed PDF is enabled, since this option is set per consent type.
  • Check the recipient and CC fields in Home › Consent › Emails to confirm the right addresses are listed.
  • Confirm which consent form is attached to the study under Scheduling › Pages, as the form attached there determines which consent type's email settings are used.

Keep in mind that a signature can be recorded even when no email was sent. If that happens, the signed PDF is still available from Consent › Activity or the participant's Pool detail page.


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