As a marketer, you collect, manage, and use personal data on a daily basis. This includes names, email addresses, home addresses, identification cookies, and clicks—for sending emails, sending direct mail, keeping your customer databases up to date in CRM, and so on. You may also frequently track IP addresses, clicks, location data, social media posts, and more. It goes without saying, then, that in your job you must take into account the guidelines of the General Data Protection Regulation.
But don't let the rules and requirements scare you, because the The GDPR also offers opportunities for marketers.
>> Download the free e-book: GDPR: 16 Specific To-Do Items
GDPR for Marketing: What Are the Most Important Rules?
For marketers, the following GDPR rules are the most important:
1) Documentation Requirement
You must keep accurate records of where and how you collected personal data and what you do with it.
2) Express consent
You may only send marketing messages to potential customers who have expressly given their consent to receive them through an explicit opt-in. In addition, your customers must always be given the opportunity to unsubscribe (opt-out).
!! Tip
Within a CRM application, you can record explicit consents. This allows you to see at a glance when consent was granted, through which source and for what purpose, how long the consent is valid, and, if applicable, when the consent was withdrawn.
3) Right to be forgotten
Your contacts may request to view, modify, transfer, or delete their personal data from your company's databases at any time.
4) Documentation of automated profiling
If you use remarketing or marketing automation, then it sounds like automatic profiling This may sound familiar to you: creating a specific profile based on personal data, visitor behavior, or similar characteristics shared with other individuals within the target audience. If you do this, you must clearly describe it in your website’s privacy and cookie policy in accordance with the GDPR. You must also include the consequences for the individual and the option to opt out.
Not just rules, but opportunities as well
Despite its many rules, the GDPR also offers Opportunities for forward-thinking marketers. Compliance with the new European privacy law is closely aligned with a customer-centric approach to thinking and working.
1) Transparent marketing
The run-up to the GDPR is an ideal time to review your company’s marketing processes. The General Data Protection Regulation requires your company to is transparent about the processing and use of personal data. Here are a few critical questions you can ask yourself:
- What personal information do I ask for in exchange for content? Do I really need all that data?
The GDPR stipulates that you should only collect the personal data you truly need (data minimization). So don’t collect data just for the sake of collecting it; only manage the data you strictly need. This way, you’ll avoid unnecessary risks of penalties. - What personal data is processed in which process, and for what purpose? (Consider the documentation requirement.)
- Is my content (such as a newsletter) sufficiently tailored to my target audience? Would my target audience give their explicit consent again based on the current content?
- Does the privacy policy on my company's website clearly describe what personal data we collect from our visitors, why we collect it, and how long we retain it?
If you show your contacts that you collect and process their personal data in a transparent manner, you will be seen as a professional and trustworthy organization that respects privacy.
2) Clean data
The new European privacy law also requires thoroughly clean up and optimize your customer base. You might ask yourself:
- Is there any personal information in our database that shouldn't be there?
- Am I keeping some personal information for far too long?
- Which data is out of date?
- Is the data spread across different customer files and databases?
- Which coworkers can view that personal information without authorization?
!! Tip
A CRM tool makes it easier to become GDPR-compliant. You can centralize all personal data in a single secure environment. This makes it much easier to handle requests from contacts, such as requests to access, correct, or delete their data, or if your contacts ask to withdraw their consent.
User access rights are also highly customizable within a CRM system.
A positive side effect of striving for GDPR compliance is that you’ll thoroughly review your contact database and, as a result, work with ‘clean data.’.
3) More content that really resonates
In fact, the GDPR requires not only transparency, but also relevance first and foremost. If you provide relevant blogs, videos, e-books, etc., this will drive more traffic from interested customers. What’s more, there’s a good chance they’ll become ambassadors for your company or brand. So consider the GDPR as an opportunity to further explore the questions and problems your target audience is facing and how you can help them.
If you provide (potential) customers with content that truly appeals to them and resonates with them, they'll be more likely to check the opt-in box.
4) Lower bounce rate, higher click-through rate
High bounce rates are often the result of a dirty mailing list, such as invalid or nonexistent email addresses. Even if your email doesn’t get past your recipients’ spam filters, it will be returned to you. High bounce rates give you a poor email reputation with Internet service providers (ISPs)—something you, as a marketer, want to avoid at all costs.
If you comply with the GDPR regulations, you will undoubtedly have a more valuable mailing list have (as you read above).
Because the marketing list contains only contacts who are genuinely interested in your email messages, this will ensure a lower bounce rate and a higher click-through rate.
5) The same marketing activities across national borders
If you are a marketer for an international company, it will be easier for you to marketing activities across national borders launch. This is because the same privacy rules will apply throughout Europe. It will also be easier for you to collaborate with third parties because they, too, will be required to comply with the same guidelines.
Conclusion
GDPR and marketing … it’s not all doom and gloom. The new European privacy law also offers opportunities for every marketer. Take advantage of them to make your marketing even more customer-focused.
