Marketing in a Post-GDPR World!

Marketing in a Post-GDPR World!


The purpose of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is to compel marketers to be more thoughtful, transparent, and respectful of the data they collect and use. Realistically, that means marketers need to take a step back - to stop personalizing every piece of information without regard for what is appropriate for the consumer.

GDPR gives the power to consumers to control the use of their data. Any European consumer can call out any company and ask the company to account for the data they've collected and how it's being used.

To master marketing in post-GDPR world, Gartner analyst Bryan Yeager has said that marketers should elevate the importance of privacy as part of their data-driven initiatives. "Audit your current marketing activities, including what data has been collected and how it's processed. Co-ordinate closely with your legal and privacy teams about your approach. And think about how you can use a pivotal moment like GDPR as a way to engender value and trust in your future engagements with customers", he suggested.

It's very concerning to know that a very whopping 41% of marketers admit to not fully understanding both the GDPR law and the best practices around the use of consumers' personal data.

To quickly check if you're complying with GDPR today, see if you can answer 'Yes' to the following:
  1. You've built privacy settings into the digital products and websites - and have them switched on by default.
  2. You regularly conduct privacy impact assessments, strengthen the way you seek permission to use personal data, document how you use personal data, and improve the way you communicate data breaches.

To put it simply, if you have a list of leads, you can't send them a promotional email UNLESS they have given you consent for it. You can't even send them an email asking if they want to hear more from you, and as such, is a violation of GDPR.

In August 2016, Flybe sent an email to 3.3 million people in their database with the subject line "Are your details correct?". In theory, this sounds like a smart strategy, but unfortunately, these 3.3 million people had previously opted out (unsubscribed) to marketing emails and thereby gave no consent to be contacted. Result? A fine of 70,000 pounds.
Key takeaway: If your customers have opted-out of marketing emails, don't email them - it's as simple as that. You're breaking the law if you do.

Best practices to keep yourself GDPR compliant

1. Signup Forms: 

Don't assume a person wants to receive your future offers just because she made a purchase. Don't assume a person who opts-in for a newsletter subscription also wants all your marketing materials. And please - remove all pre-ticked boxes that seek permission for future contact from your emails.



Consent must be very clear, and the retailer must keep records of consent under the GDPR's accountability principle.

2. Consent Settings

The right to be forgotten has become one of the most talked-about rulings in EU Justice Court history. It gives people the right to have old or false personal data removed, and it has already been implemented with companies like Google, which was forced to remove pages from its search engine results in order to comply.



As a marketer, it will be your responsibility to make sure that your users can easily access their data, and remove consent for its use, in line with the right to be forgotten. 

This can be as simple as including an unsubscribe link within your email marketing template and linking to a user profile that allows users to manage their email preferences (as shown in the example below).



3. Take What You Need

Marketers get greedy when it comes to getting formed filled out by customers. We tend to ask for information that we might not even require. Ask yourself, do I really need to know someone's favorite holiday destination before they subscribe to our newsletter? Probably not.

To stop the collection of unnecessary data, GDPR requires you to legally justify the processing of personal data you collect. Don't worry - this is not very complicated.

What this means is that you need to focus on the data that's really useful to you, and stop asking for the "good to haves". If you really need to know a piece of customer information, and can prove why you need it, then you can continue asking for it. But try to avoid collecting any unnecessary data, and stick with the basics.

Actionable tip for GDPR-compliant marketing


Data collection: If you still buy mailing lists, it's probably a bad idea to continue. In fact, you should dump the data you bought right away, because a single complaint from a customer about a breach of consent can subject you to a penalty of up to 4% of your gross revenue. Instead, start fresh. Find new ways of collecting opt-in data by introducing clear, brief web-forms. 

Scan your list: Go through your data list periodically and remove the data without an record of opting in. For new subscribers. make sure that they want to receive emails from you by sending them a re-confirmation email after they opt-in for a mailing list.

Content marketing: Content is more important than ever in a post-GDPR world. Since you can only send your communications to interested people, you need a lot of content to generate that interest. Also, you can ask customers to subscribe in order to access content like e-books, infographics, webinars and whitepapers.

Pop-ups: Invite website visitors to add themselves to a mailing list by launching a pop-up on your website. The conversion rate of pop-ups is only around 3%, but like other marketing communications such as emails and Facebook ads, if the pop-ups are launched at the right time with the right message, they can give you a higher conversion rate of up to 40%.

Data storage: In a data-conscious world, you cannot afford to keep records in a spreadsheet and manage the data manually. You need a CRM application where you, and your sales team, can keep updating the data and centralizing your data collection. Of course, CRM applications come with a lot of other benefits as well.

Social selling: Since reaching customers over email is subject to some legal restrictions, find new ways of reaching out to them outside the scope of the GDPR law. Educate your sales team on social selling and connecting with customers on social media sites. Social media will also give your salespeople some perspective on your customers and help them approach with the right message.

Push notifications: You may also take a shot at push notifications. These are pop-ups that seek permission from website visitors to send them promotional notifications. One advantage of this is that once the customer allows you to send them push notifications, they will receive notifications from you even after they have closed your website. One disadvantage of push notifications is that they cannot be personalized, since IP addresses are anonymous.

Privacy policy: Update your privacy statement to let people know that you are GDPR compliant. Mention what you do with customer data you collect and that you don't engage in any practices in violation of customer privacy.

Conclusion

Remember, GDPR hasn't been enacted to stop marketers from communicating with customers. Quite the opposite, actually. It's designed to increase the quality of customer data. The best and most resourceful marketers are seeing the bigger picture and recognizing that it's an opportunity to personalize messages for their prospects and customers, rather than using the traditional one-size-fits-all approach to marketing.

The rules of GDPR compliance are quite simple: don't contact someone unless they specifically ask you to. Don't assume they want to hear from you. Don't cold contact them, and don't send them irrelevant information that they didn't request. If you can do all that, then you've done your job in complying with GDPR.

Is your marketing GDPR compliant?

    Zoho Desk Resources

    • Desk Community Learning Series


    • Digest


    • Functions


    • Meetups


    • Kbase


    • Resources


    • Glossary


    • Desk Marketplace


    • MVP Corner


    • Word of the Day


      • Sticky Posts

      • 10 simple e-commerce marketing tips to boost sales

        Congratulations! You've finally set up that e-commerce store you've been thinking about for a long time. Hopefully it wasn't too difficult. Even if it was, the effort will be totally worth it when you start seeing some orders come through. Now that the store is live, let's take a look at some marketing tips you can apply for sales growth. 1. Avoid cart abandonment If you've ever shopped online, you might have added a product to the cart but then decided not to purchase it. This is known as cart abandonment.
      • Marketing in a post COVID-19 world!

        Consumers across countries are increasingly spending more time on a wide variety of digital activities, right from online grocery shopping, to video conferencing, to tele-medicine. There is a good chance that you performed one or more of the following activities during this lockdown, thanks to COVID 19: Cooked a meal Made a TikTok Video Signed up for a remote learning session Consulted a doctor online (or ordered medicines online) Shopped for groceries online A study by Hunter, a food and beverage
      • Inbound Marketing 101: The Foundational Blocks of Inbound Marketing Strategy

        According to a behaviour survey, 68% of the buyers use sources such as blogs to evaluate the product even before considering it. Before buying a product, we do a lot of research to learn more about the product through communities, blogs, social media,
      • How Zylker doubled their webinar registrations!

        Webinars are good educational resources to gather qualified leads for your product. But what if your visitors are dropping off from your webinar landing page without signing up? What more could you do to convert visitors into registrants? This is the
      • The ideology behind why features tell, but benefits sell

        Do you think there's any truth to this? Do features only tell, and benefits sell?  Well, let's see why we should focus on benefits rather than features as the great marketing wizards, David Ogilvy and Steve Jobs proved to be the best examples leveraging

      Zoho CRM Plus Resources

        Zoho Books Resources


          Zoho Subscriptions Resources

            Zoho Projects Resources


              Zoho Sprints Resources


                Zoho Orchestly Resources


                  Zoho Creator Resources


                    Zoho WorkDrive Resources



                      Zoho Campaigns Resources

                        Zoho CRM Resources

                        • CRM Community Learning Series

                          CRM Community Learning Series


                        • Tips

                          Tips

                        • Functions

                          Functions

                        • Meetups

                          Meetups

                        • Kbase

                          Kbase

                        • Resources

                          Resources

                        • Digest

                          Digest

                        • CRM Marketplace

                          CRM Marketplace

                        • MVP Corner

                          MVP Corner




                          Zoho Writer Writer

                          Get Started. Write Away!

                          Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                            Zoho CRM コンテンツ






                              ご検討中の方

                                • Recent Topics

                                • Can't get authorization for Sandbox environment using the self client

                                  Hello, After creating a self client, and following the client-credentials method (as it's not optimat to manually generate a code for every 10 minutes), after inputting the sandbox org id for SOID parameter, im getting the error: "error": "no_org". For
                                • Create landing pages from Zoho Marketing Plus

                                  Hey everyone, Over the last few months, we've introduced various features and enhancements to bolster the marketing capabilities of Zoho Marketing Plus and make it simpler for everyone. To that end, we're excited to announce that Zoho LandingPage is now
                                • Custom service report or Zoho forms integration

                                  Hello, So far the experience with Zoho FSM and the integration with Books has been good, however there are limitations with service reports. As with my business, many organisations send technicians to different types of jobs that call for a different
                                • Email tracking subdomain

                                  The Email Tracking configuration screen of the ZeptoMail asks for a subdomain. I have gone through the documentation but could not find more information about how that subdomain is used by ZeptoMail to track the emails. Can someone throw some light about
                                • Chart View group X-axis values above a value

                                  I have a data set with X values ranging from 0 up to 300-400, the Y values are an AVG of the values for the given X. I am interested in the values at the low end of the scale, say 0-10 and want the X values 10 and greater to be grouped into a single category
                                • How do I get the Text Account name instead of the Reference number?

                                  Good Morning everyone! I am very new to zoho analytics. I'm trying to create some pivot tables and when I add the Account or Division name it comes up as a reference number. From my research, I need to use a lookup. I'm having a really hard time understanding
                                • Custom API - Need to create a string return value, not only MAP

                                  @Support: When creating a Custom API it only allows a return from a function of MAP type. The service I'm using requires a string return, how can this be achieved?
                                • missing video-urgent

                                  hi..I have a problem regarding zoho meeting. I already record almost 2hrs for my interview session. After end my session, i'm stop the recording. Its happened when i didn't received any meeting recording at my email.But i received recording 7minutes after
                                • Duplicate New Ticket Emails

                                  I am getting two Ticket emails when a ticket is created. The first one goes to me as the Admin helpdesk@ And because I am an Agent as well it also send to helpdesk@, support1@ and support2@ Is there any way to stop this?
                                • Ticket Response Email Template

                                  Is there a way to have an email template automatically selected when I click on Reply for a ticket?
                                • Unpublishing Job Post for LinkedIn

                                  Hi, We have experienced issue with the above. We did unpublish a job in Recruit but it still appear under Job section in our LinkedIn page. It did not remove from LinkedIn as it should be.  Please check and advise. Regards, Snyder 
                                • Power of Automation :: Automatically start / pause / stop timer on task status update.

                                  Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:-
                                • Editor limitations to define screen types

                                  Guys I have noticed that even in version 2.0 of the editor (which is this new one we use) we still have a lot to improve... When I compare to some more global solutions like Wix, Zyro, Go Daddy, Squarespace and Weebly feel that we have some limitations
                                • Dúvidas do Zoho Creator

                                  Pessoal, Estou colocando um tópico para dúvidas do Zoho Creator. Um abraço, Leandro
                                • Tropicalize Books

                                  Books is an incredibly powerful tool that works well in many countries. But I feel that it is a product that is not yet "tropicalized" for Brazil as we speak (this would be like adapting the local reality). We have many strong competitors who do more
                                • Automatic Sitemap Generation

                                  Guys are all right? Doesn't make sense for me to have to generate a map site and upload it... because it's not automatically generated just as it is done in WIX? where the customer doesn’t have to worry about this.
                                • SEO improvements with ZIA

                                  Are you okay? I would like to bring an idea that would be amazing to improve the product that is the possibility of being able to improve the SEO of the pages (this of each page or each article on the blog) through ZIA so that it could create page Summary
                                • Automatically updating field(s) of lookup module

                                  I have a lookup field, which also pulls through the Status field from the linked record. When the lookup is first done, the Status is pulled through - this works perfectly. If that Status is later updated, the lookup field does not update as well. As
                                • Initiating a SalesIQ Zobot from a custom button on Zoho Sites

                                  I have created a Zobot set to initiate on a custom action called "Fast_Answers". On Zoho Sites, I created a code snippet button and set it to on-click run the event called "Fast_Answers". I installed the SalesIQ integration code into the Zoho Sites Page
                                • Zoho Desk -> Zoho Analytics : Where is the field for "Layout" ?

                                  I have many different layouts on my helpdesks and I want to be able to identify the stats for each one, however I can not file the field in the raw data from the Zoho Desk datasource. I thought it might be under "Tickets" but there is nothing. There is
                                • Set resolution mandatory field

                                  Hi,  i have 2 questions:) : - i want to set the resolution field mandatory before close the ticket. Because for now, i can close the ticket without writing how i solve it - how can i setup zoho desk to receive ticket by email(e.g. clients sent email to support@mydomain.com) and it create a ticket in zoho desk
                                • Impuesto automatico en cotizaciones

                                  Buen dia Mi pregunta es como se puede poner alguna operacion para que las cotizaciones me salgan automaticamente con impuestos ya que uno al cargarla al final tienen que añadir el porcentaje de impuesto Saludos
                                • Zoho Assist "Agree and Download" Button "Greyed Out" ("Light Blued" Out)

                                  Anyone else having issue where support clients are unable to click "Agree and Download" to access the client so that we can provide remote support? This is for "on demand" support via accessing the support page and entering the support key and name. This
                                • Project Billing with the Staff Hours Method in Zoho Projects

                                  The Staff Hours Billing Method in Zoho Projects allows you to bill your clients based on the actual time spent by each team member on a project, at the rate set for each user. This is useful for projects where different skill sets are needed and service
                                • Creator Subform to CRM Subform

                                  Hello all, Has anyone successfully written data from a Creator Subform into CRM subform? I have been able to get the rows to populate but none of the data will come through. I'll add my code and the result in CRM. Creator Subform is 'Delivery_Receiving_Hours'.
                                • custom fields not populating from deluge script into invoice

                                  Hello, I've created some Deluge script that is meant to take a few inputted invoice custom fields and calculate a few others. I can see when I execute the function that my inputted custom fields are being passed, yet im still ending up with all "null"
                                • tax summation function - getting error

                                  Hello, I'm trying to create a function that adds all of individual tax rates from a few jurisdictions. I'm getting an error on line 9 - Value is empty and 'get' function cannot be applied. I've checked that I have data in each of the required fields,
                                • Backstage / Zoho Books integration

                                  Hello. We have Zoho One and have slowly started using Backstage. Loving it. Problem is, we have ZERO accounting control over what is sold through this product. When will we be able to connect it to our existing Zoho Books tenant? Thank you very much!
                                • Getting list of calendar events over api for zoho mail calendar

                                  Hi, I am using just Zoho mail without using Zoho CRM. I wanted to get all events booked in my zoho mail calendar through an api at regular intervals. I could find such API support for Zoho CRM calendar but not for zoho mail calendar. Can you kindly let
                                • Allocate emails to user in a shared mailbox

                                  Hi, This might be obvious, but I cannot find the answer. I have 3 shared mailboxes so any team member can see the emails. Is there a way of allocating a specific email to a user so that it is their responsibility to deal with it? Thanks in advance.
                                • Introducing Zoho Campaigns' own gateway for SMS campaigns

                                  We are excited to announce the launch of our SMS Gateway to send SMS through Zoho Campaigns. We have also made a few other changes in our current SMS Campaign model to improve your over all user experience. These updates are planned with an aim to expand
                                • Update a lookup field in CRM from Creator using deluge

                                  I have a Creator form that creates a new account. When it creates the new account in the Accounts Module, I need it to also populate the Parent Account, which is a lookup field coming from the Module Parent Accounts, field Parent Account Name. I have
                                • SMS Keyword Tracking in Zoho CRM From Zoho Campaigns

                                  Is there a way to track SMS leads in campaigns by associating them with specific keywords or codes? Additionally, can these leads be pushed to the CRM while retaining the keyword for tracking and reporting purposes?
                                • Projects Multiselect API

                                  Having troubles setting a mutli select field via API. updateMap = map(); updateMap.put("UDF_MULTI1","picklist_id1,picklist_id2"); updateProjectRes = invokeurl [ url :"https://projects.zoho.com/restapi/portal/XXXX/projects/" + projectID + "/" type :POST
                                • Bill quantity received / PO quantity

                                  PO's are raised & often the quantity received is greater than the PO quantity, so when we receive the bill & adjust the quantity on the bill we get.... Quantity recorded cannot be more than quantity ordered. This necessitates the adjustment of the PO
                                • ZOHO BOOKS - RECEIVING MORE ITEMS THAN ORDERED

                                  Hello, When trying to enter a vendor's bill that contains items with bigger quantity than ordered in the PO (it happens quite often) - The system would not let us save the bill and show this error: "Quantity recorded cannot be more than quantity ordered." 
                                • Adding Bluesky channel

                                  Hello, Is Bluesky (AT protocol) soon added on Social ? Bluesky is being developped and is now open to anyone (no more invitation) Thank you
                                • Using Queries with dynamic parameters in Kiosk Studio

                                  Hi, I'm pretty new when it comes to developing within Zoho (I'm really a .NET developer), as it was just added to my responsibilities. For a new feature in the CRM, I'm trying to develop a Kiosk function to show a list of records (retrieved by the new
                                • Unused items should not count into the available number of custom fields

                                  Hey, I realized that unused Items reduce the number of available custom fields. I can't see a case where that makes sense. Especially in our case where we have two different layouts in Deals with a lot of different fields, this causes problems.
                                • Introducing Bot Filtering for Accurate Email Campaign Analytics

                                  Dear Marketers, We're excited to announce a new feature designed to enhance the accuracy of your email campaign analytics: bot filtering. This feature helps you filter out bot-generated opens and clicks, ensuring your campaign reports reflect genuine
                                • Next Page