Email marketing is one of the most commonly used channels for companies to communicate with their target audience. Although good marketing practices tell us that we can only send information to potential customers who have asked for that, the reality is that many companies don’t follow this practice and send information to databases purchased or provided by other organizations. With the entry into force of the new General Regulation on Data Protection, companies will have to be much more careful. Let’s address in this article the impact that the new data protection law has on email marketing!
The main change concerns the need to collect explicit consent from the user who wishes to receive communications from the company. It is therefore necessary to adopt new consumer opt-in rules, to have a proof of consent, and to provide a method by which consumers can request that their personal information be deleted. It is advised that companies use a double opt-in model.
Although the new legislation significantly changes the performance of email marketing, it will continue to be possible to communicate through this way:
The General Data Protection Regulation doesn’t only apply to information collected from May 25, but to all data that has been collected previously. The consent record of the current contact lists must prove that there is an explicit authorization for the sending of emails. If this clear consent does not exist, it is necessary to obtain a new authorization from the old contacts. Only then will you be able to continue to send emails to those contacts.
It is still possible to purchase contact databases, provided explicit consent is obtained from the contact. However, it is not advisable to buy contact databases because in most cases this doesn’t bring anything good to the companies, since the contacts that appear in these lists are often obsolete and don’t suit the target of the companies.
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