Insight
GDPR created the most extensive data protection regulation in the world with big impacts on marketing. What are we seeing now, two years on?
Almost two years ago, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in the European Union, creating what many consider to be the most extensive data protection regulation in the world.
If we rewind to 2018, most of our clients were frantically trying to become compliant and safeguard as much data as possible, with varying degrees of success, but what are we seeing now, two years on?
Re-engagement campaigns
Some organisations we work with lost 50% + of their pre-GDPR database, and that makes it very clear that every record counts. The objective of a re-engagement campaign is to reach out to leads who were at some point interested in and engaged with your company but have now gone cold and are no longer engaging. The goal of re-engaging leads is to ignite that spark in the relationship once more and encourage your inactive leads to listen what you have to say. This requires great copy, tactful timing of email sends, and continuous research and analysis of both the recipients and their engagement with the emails.
Consent renewal campaigns
GDPR requires businesses to regularly review their consent processes to ensure continued compliance with the legislation. Consent collected under GDPR does not last forever and should be renewed regularly. Similarly, the legitimate interest provisions of GDPR are also time limited. Your legal team will be able to advise the time limits for both consent and legitimate interest (typically 2 years) after which inactive contacts must be deleted from your marketing automation platform. As we approach the two-year mark, many of our clients are looking to build out campaigns to renew consent status and a process to identify and delete affected contacts that need to be deleted if consent is not renewed.
Archiving and purging data
While it was previously acceptable to hoard old and non-opted in data, GDPR is responsible for eradicating that particular bad practice. Many of our clients have processes setup to constantly monitor data and archive data ready for a quarterly purge process. For those that don’t, with the two-year consent renewal period coming up, a data purge project is looming on the horizon.
Use of legitimate interest
This is a tricky one as it’s down to your Legal department to determine if you can make use of legitimate interest. At first, we saw most of our customers adopt a ‘letter of the law’ approach meaning use of legitimate interest was not allowed. However, as time passed, we saw some Legal departments relax this and the use of legitimate interest increase.
More targeted campaigns
The best and most resourceful marketers have taken GDPR as an opportunity to delve deeper into the needs of their prospects and customers, rather than using the traditional “batch-and-blast” approach to marketing. This coupled with a better quality of data in general, has resulted in far more targeted campaigns which in turn yield better results. Essentially, GDPR has forced us marketers to do a better job with our campaigning efforts.
Remember, although sometimes it may feel like it, GDPR hasn’t been designed to stop businesses from communicating with their prospects and customers. Quite the opposite, in fact. In our experience, it’s led to an improvement in data quality, a shift in perspective and overall approach to marketing with many of our customers now adopting a truly omni-channel approach.
To sum up, the rules for GDPR compliance are actually quite straightforward – don’t contact someone unless they specifically give you permission or ask to be contacted. Don’t cold contact them, and don’t send them irrelevant information that they didn’t request. Don’t assume they want to hear from you. Simples.
Written by Joanna Mills – Business Development Director, CRMT