In a recent InternetRetailing webinar, The future of marketing in a post GDPR world, we heard from Sarah Taylor, chief marketing officer at SmartFocus on the challenges and opportunities of ensuring compliance with upcoming GDPR regulations. Here’s a bulletpoint overview of the event.
Sarah Taylor opened the webinar with a definition of GDPR (the general protection data regulation) looked at from a digital marketing perspective.
• What is GDPR? In effect from May 25 2018, brings significant fines for those who flout it.
* New rules on storing data: safely and for as long as needed; must minimize how much is held; must be accurate and accessible.
• Seven rights: including of the individual to access it; rectification; to be forgotten; to restrict processing, with detail on what they all mean.
• Access: what it means and how proper regulation will put you in a better place to deliver better marketing campaigns.
• Consent: major changes include consent has to be provable through clear affirmation. “A passive acceptance of a pre-ticked box is no longer acceptable, neither is an assumed opt in that requires a tick in an opt out box. Those tricky ways of getting people to sign up to use their data for future contact will be consigned to the past,” said Taylor. “Instead it has to be freely given, meaning it can’t be bought with an offer that is not available to those who do not sign up.”
• Children can’t provide consent.
• Exceptions around reconsenting: with detail.
• “Holding the personal data of the disengaged should be discouraged”
• What does this mean for marketers/customer databases? Businesses need to be upfront about connecting with customers, offer option to sign up for continuing contact. If not forthcoming, need to clean data – upside is an opportunity to spend budget and energy on those who want to hear from marketers.
• Data valuable to business – but decreasing in value every day. Can build back value now if start to clean up and repermission. Delay could mean it becomes a business risk – of up to €20m or 4% of global revenue.
• GDPR should improve quality of marketing, leading to better and more valuable connections. Consumers want a personalised experience: in post-GDPR world need to instil sense of brand confidence with customers.
• Important to be relevant to customers on their terms. Customers in control; single source of data needed, and why. Can aggregate anonymised marketing statistics even if individual customers want to be deleted.
• Lots to do, not much time, Taylor talked through some ways that SmartFocus can help.
The webinar was followed by a busy Q&A session. To see the webinar, slides and hear the Q&A session in full, visit the SmartFocus webinar page here.
