At Digital NINJA, in the last few months of documenting we decided to publish an article about our views on GDPR as an online marketing agency.
When a new set of rules is introduced for the first time, our first reaction is often fear. Fear of compliance with something we don’t know, fear of punishment, fear of bureaucracy.
But here’s the secret:
All the recent data protection laws, from CAN-SPAM to CASL to GDPR and beyond, are built for one simple reason: to provide better experiences for our customers and those who trust us with their data.
In this way, they are perfectly aligned with the Inbound concept. Be relevant, be helpful, be transparent and you’ll be on your way to compliance. Be spammy, interrupt the visitor experience, aggressive pop-ups and you’re in trouble.
GDPR compliance will take effort, and that effort can lead to stress between the day and the deadline. But at the end of the day, if GDPR will make customers’ lives better, your business will grow as a result of a fair and friendly implementation.
Here are some advantages to think about as you work through the process over the next few months:
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GDPR has specific rules to allow contacts to specify exactly what they want to receive from you.
This makes total sense from a business perspective. Don’t send people who don’t want to hear from you and make sure they choose what they want. In practical terms, this will lead to fewer unsubscribes and better delivery.
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GDPR requires increased transparency in data collection and processing.
In legal language, this is “right of access” and “portability”, which means that your contacts can request a copy of their data in a common format. In other words, your contacts should be able to ask you what their personal data has been recorded and receive a quick, accurate and easily digestible answer. When it comes to transparency, not so crazy, right? Transparency breeds trust, plain and simple.
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GDPR requires you to provide your visitors with the following. “right to be forgotten”.
They may ask you to delete them from the database. Not only will this satisfy the specific visitor in question; it will ensure that you are not wasting time trying to market and sell to visitors who have no interest in your product or service. That means more time to focus on your best customers and prospects.
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Perhaps most importantly, GDPR requires a lawful basis for processing.
In other words, you need a legal reason to use a visitor’s data, such as consent or legitimate interest. This is bad news if you buy lists or email databases: not only is this not allowed under Digital NINJA’s acceptable use policy, it’s now not allowed under GDPR. This may seem painful in the short term, but it’s good news for your company in the long run. Think about it. Who is more likely to buy from you: a set of email addresses copied from the Internet with people who may or may not have ever heard of you, or a set of people already interested in your product or service? We’ll try our chances with the second option. The fact that you have established a legal basis will lead to a more engaged list, better email delivery and fewer annoying contacts.
