How will GDPR impact your marketing strategies?

With the new GDPR stipulations coming into play on 25th May 2018, how will this impact your business’ marketing strategy? Here’s everything you need to know with our guide to GDPR and marketing. The new general data protection regulation (EU GDPR) is set to take effect on 25^th May 2018 and will heavily impact the way businesses conduct their marketing strategies going forward.

While a considerable amount of businesses have started to take the necessary precautions, there are still a lot of grey areas surrounding the new regulation. That’s why we thought we’d pull together all the essential information, so you can prepare and comply well in advance.

How is GDPR going to impact your business? The new regulation means you’ll have to ensure that your database has specifically opted in to receive certain types of communications from you. For instance, just because your client has given your business consent to send weekly newsletters, doesn’t necessarily mean that you are entitled to send marketing communications without them giving you the thumbs up.

When you ask a client or customer to opt in, you’ll need to clearly state what they can expect to receive. You’ll also need to use the necessary consent storing systems to ensure all the details from your database are secure.

The final rule surrounding GDPR and marketing is providing your contacts with an easy method for customers or clients to ask for their personal information to be removed. In terms of email marketing, this can come in the form of an unsubscribe option at the bottom of the communication.

Can I still send email marketing campaigns to my existing list? The answer to this question largely relies on whether you have the evidence to prove where your data was obtained.

Do you have a clear trail as to how you captured it? Was your call to action, clear and precise online and offline? But more importantly, could you prove the legitimacy of the said data in court? If the answer is yes to these questions, then you can continue as before. However, for peace of mind, our advice is to send a quick email around to get customers or clients to give you the consent you need again.

Does GDPR mean I can’t buy data from third-party companies? GDPR requires businesses to include consent boxes, which ultimately gives web users the opportunity to manually opt in and allow their details to be passed over to third-party data companies. And unless it’s a mistake, we would hazard a guess in saying most people will jump at the opportunity to give that a miss. Consequently, GDPR stipulations will essentially make the third-party data industry virtually obsolete.

However, buying data from trusted providers for your email marketing campaigns is still very much alive and kicking. Marketscan provides an excellent insight into this area.

The next steps Although the marketing landscape is evolving, GDPR should be perceived as an opportunity rather than a hindrance. In fact, it has the potential to help you really prosper in 2018.

Firstly, by sorting your database, you’ll not only streamline your business, but you’ll also save yourself valuable money on resource spent targeting dead leads.

If you choose the safe option of sending out an email asking your database to opt in again, you’ll have the ability to segment your lists into warm and cold categories. In turn, this will enable you to target each said list with appropriate communications and potentially increase engagement/open rates.

To help you get started, try following these set of procedures (don’t worry, it’s easy):

Cleanse your data This involves sorting them by location and establishing which of your contacts have given you a clear trail of consent so you’re legally covered.
Understand your data Can you track how you initially acquired these contacts? Was it through an exhibition, a third-party data company, or via your website?
Review your data capture practices How do you ask your clients for their details? Do you give them a clear and precise instruction on what they are opting in for? Have you got a privacy policy that informs customers on how you collect, transfer, process and store your data in plain English? And if you do, have you given these people a clear way to view this information? For example, by providing a clickable link under the form.
Get ready for the future To save you from completing the first few stages again in the future, make sure you set up the necessary procedures to ensure you are complying with GDPR in your upcoming campaigns. This starts with including a clear ‘unsubscribe’ option in your email marketing communications.