Time to bring your email marketing into line with the GDPR

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With 25 May 2018, i.e. GDPR D-Day, not all that far away, the time has come to bring your email marketing policy up to speed. In this article we give you a number of tips on how to hit the ground running when the new legislation comes into effect.

Segmentation

Start by amalgamating all your contact details into one single database from where they can be segmented.

“Segmentation allows you to filter one specific target group from an existing (sub)list on the basis of one or more criteria.”

It is about having a 360° view of your contact, which is quite different from “campaign-like” thinking. In the past, we all religiously collected all ‘potentially interested’ contacts. Campaign done and dusted…. The arrival of the GDPR is a great opportunity to take a hard look at that strategy.

For one, you will have to bring all your contacts’ information such as interests, address details, age, location, gender…. together in one main list as, under the GDPR, your contacts are entitled to ask for and obtain this information.

Opt-ins are essential under the GDPR

We would advise everyone, as we explained in a previous article, to use double opt-ins. An opt-in is proof that your customer did indeed want to receive your communication. For existing customers, a reactivation campaign may be in order.

Dreading the idea of seeing your recipients dwindle? Look at the bright side! Committed customers are worth their weight in gold and result in higher click-through, opening… ratios.


Whatever way you go about it, it is essential that your communication contains an unambiguous and clearly visible opt-out link.

Know your customer

Why not make the most of your reactivation campaign to ask your contacts about their preferences?

Once you know what your contact is really interested in, it will be a whole lot easier to tailor your content to the needs-questions-situation of each recipient, which, in turn, will result in higher ratios, more reliable results and better conversions. A double win in other words!!

Preferences must be conveyed freely, meaning that they cannot be pre-checked and must be expressed by the customer. However, there is nothing preventing you from offering your customers a choice: blog, newsletter, product A, product B, etcetera.

Your opt-in mail could read as follows:

We are determined to make our communications as relevant to you as possible. To do so, we analyse your click behaviour throughout the various communications to further personalise the content you receive.

Hereafter, you will find an overview of the various types of emails we send out. By checking your preference(s), you will henceforth only receive this type of communication.

To change your preferences at any stage in the future, simply click the link you will find at the bottom of all our communications and you will be redirected to this page.

Consent

Make sure to store the e-mail opt-in in your database so that, in the event of an issue, you are always in a position to prove that your contact gave his/her consent voluntarily and to show where, when and how the opt-in was obtained, including the status of the opt-in (yes or no) and what type of communication your contact expressed an interest in (blog, weekly newsletter…). As, by law, European citizens are entitled to revoke their opt-in at any time, the unsubscribe link must be clearly visible.

Time is of the essence

Lastly, there is no time like the present to start working on your reactivation campaign. The clock is ticking and, come May 2018, everyone’s inbox will be bulging with opt-in messages. It is of the essence in other words to convince your contact to stick with you as soon as possible.

By putting the above into practice, the GDPR will no longer be a threat but a golden opportunity as you will find that quite a number of sleeping contacts can be reactivated. What’s more, as they will provide you with information you can work with, your contacts will only receive highly relevant, personalised content. An all-round win-win situation!