GDPR – Lemonade anyone?

On the 15th of December, 2016, the European Parliament reached an agreement to enforce the General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR), starting from May the 25th, 2018. As an email marketer myself, this was pretty petrifying. But hey, when life gives you email lemons, turn them into a potent email lemonade.

What’s it all about?

GDPR will affect every company that uses personal data from EU citizens, forcing emailers to make sure they have proper permission to send emails to prospective and existing customers. When it comes to the GDPR, ensuring your company has permission to have your customer data is critical as you could be fined up to £20 million, or 4% of your brand’s total global annual turnover  – whichever is higher.

But don’t stress, Cobb is on the case

We’ve put together our top tips for email marketers when complying with the new GDPR, ahead of the day of reckoning in 2018:

1: Prepare for a new opt in campaign, even if you have previously received data with permission, you will need to collect permission once again.

2: Personal data will now have to be collected in a lawful manner, giving individuals control of their own data. The new EU rules state that consent for email marketing must be explicit, specified and informed, using the data for no longer than is necessary.

3: Once you have received your data, make sure you keep a record of consent which includes the date the recipient subscribed, how they subscribed and their IP address. Better safe than sorry – right?

4: Tell your subscribers how their data will be used. For example if they give you their email address to download a white paper, you must tell them if you plan to use their personal data for further marketing purposes, with the recipient opting in to receive further emails rather than opting out.

5: Take further precautions against breach in security of the data. Review how your current data is stored without any chance of security breaches.

Although some of these upcoming changes may seem a little daunting (they’re not, promise), the stricter rules could improve your bounce rate which will increase email deliverability alongside your sender reputation – silver linings!

GDPR may be a game-changer, but if you follow our top tips, you’ll breeze through the process like an email bypassing clutter. If you play your cards right, you could boost your business ROI by up to 3800%, so don’t let the GDPR give you the jitters. Call us today, or come in for a cuppa and a chat.