Following the arrival of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), all marketing professionals, including eMail , must make changes in relation to how they seek and obtain consent from users . Today we tell you how the GDPR will affect eMail Marketing and what actions to take to fully comply with the new regulation.
How GDPR affects eMail Marketing
The GDPR will apply to all persons and entities of any size that process personal information of European Union residents , regardless of their place of origin.
This regulation will therefore apply to both those who control and those who process user data, including third parties such as cloud service providers.
So if your company handles personal data, this law will also apply to you, and to summarise, from now on you will have to collect explicit consent , which has been russia business email list freely given and shows that the user is informed that you will collect and how you will use their data.
But how does the GDPR affect eMail Marketing? To comply with its rules, you will need to adopt new practices , including:
Create new consent rules for your subscribers
Store proof of consent for storage systems
Integrate an easy and clear method where subscribers can request that their personal information be deleted.
This is what you should improve in your registration forms
While you may have already created your lead capture forms, you need to keep them up to date and focus on communicating clearly and accurately to your future subscribers what they can expect after signing up.
Among the information they must receive, it is vitally important to include how their personal data will be processed.
To achieve this, follow these steps:
Use an active Opt-in : Set up your Opt-in or subscription forms with checkboxes that are accompanied by affirmative statements that clearly indicate to users what they are subscribing to.
Lessons from fashion brands on email marketing
But be careful, the GDPR prohibits the use of pre-checked boxes that subscribers must uncheck if they do not wish to accept any item on your form; they must verify them, and you can no longer group multiple subscription options into one affirmative statement; they must be separately and explicitly stated.
Each piece of personal information you require must be explained , meaning that if you ask your subscribers for their email address, you will need to specify what will be necessary for you to be able to send them the information by email. This will be necessary for each of the fields you request.
A very effective solution is to use a tool to help you collect data through forms.
Arengu is a system that allows you to create and manage online forms quickly and easily . These forms can be inserted into websites or third-party applications, such as Mittum, and thus collect data in real time, all under the new data protection regulations.
While these restrictions may initially seem detrimental to capturing more leads, they will actually help establish a closer bond with your potential customers by ensuring that those who subscribe are doing so for the right reason and that they really want to receive your information.