Email Marketing & GDPR - 3 Steps to success

Do you need to consider GDPR when working with email marketing? Do you feel a bit anxious about breaking the rules and facing fines? Don't worry, I can help you navigate through the complexity. I'll guide you through everything you need to know to navigate the intricate world of GDPR and build a successful email marketing strategy.

In this blog post, we'll clarify the concept of GDPR and how it specifically impacts your email marketing. You'll gain a clear and comprehensive understanding of the regulations and how to adapt your strategy to meet all requirements. Finding the right leads is crucial to your success, so I'll present various methods for finding leads in a legal and efficient manner, whether you're purchasing leads, networking, or using social media. Once you've found your leads, it's time to build relationships and create engagement. Here, you'll receive concrete tips and advice on reaching out to them effectively, whether through email, social media, or other channels.

Don't let GDPR hinder your success in email marketing! Keep reading and learn everything you need to know to create a winning email marketing strategy.

Contents:

1. What is GDPR and how does it affect email marketing?
2. How to acquire email leads legally and effectively?
3. How to build relationships and create engagement?

What is GDPR and how does it affect email marketing?

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and is an EU regulation aimed at protecting personal data. It came into effect in 2018 and applies to all organizations handling personal data, regardless of where they are based.

Impact of GDPR on email marketing:

GDPR has a significant impact on email marketing. You cannot send emails to individuals who have not given their explicit consent. You must also be transparent about how you collect and use personal data.

Examples of GDPR's impact:

• You cannot send emails to individuals who subscribed to your email list several years ago without confirming their consent. Therefore, it's important to occasionally clean your email list and ensure that those included have indeed given their consent.
• You must clearly inform leads about how you will use their personal data before collecting it. You can do this, for example, in your website's pop-up when asking visitors if they want to subscribe to your newsletter. Ensure they can read there or click through to another page where you explain how you will use their personal data.
• You must give leads the opportunity to control their data and unsubscribe from your email communications. Make sure to add text plus a link at the end of each email giving the subscriber the option to unsubscribe from your emails. You don't want to keep subscribers who don't want to read your emails, and keeping these contacts can harm your email health and have negative consequences.

Risks of non-compliance with GDPR:

If you don't comply with GDPR, you could face fines of up to 20 million euros or 4% of your global annual turnover. You could also damage your reputation and lose customer trust.

How to acquire email leads legally and effectively?

There are many ways to acquire email leads legally and effectively. Here are some tips:

• Use social media: Establish a strong presence on social media platforms and use them to find and engage with leads. Provide valuable content and encourage your future leads that if they want even more value and knowledge, they should subscribe to your newsletter.
• Create valuable content: Write blog posts, create e-books, and infographics that help leads achieve their goals. You can offer whitepapers with lots of valuable information, and if your leads want that PDF, they need to provide their email address and consent to receive emails from you.
• Network with other industry professionals: Participate in industry events, join LinkedIn groups, and reach out to potential leads directly. Have a clear pop-up on your website: This clearly shows visitors that if they want emails from you, they can sign up via this pop-up.

But here's our most important tip:

DO NOT BUY LEADS! DO NOT BUY EMAIL LISTS!
Instead, make sure to invest in your email marketing and build a list by hand. Buying a list and sending out to those subscribers can extremely damage your email health. And repairing that health and your reputation can take several years. It simply isn't worth it.

How to build relationships and create engagement?

Once you've found your leads, it's time to build relationships and create engagement. Here are some tips:

Personalized and relevant emails:

• Segment your audience based on their interests and needs.
• Customize your emails to appeal to each segment.
• Use personal greetings and relevant images and videos. Make sure to send the email from a personal email address, not info@ or noreply@ etc.

Segmentation:

• Demographic data (age, gender, location)
• Interests (industry, hobbies)
• Behavior (website visits, click frequency)

Examples of relevant emails:

• Send a welcome email to new leads. This provides a nice welcome and an extra warm feeling to the customer.
• Send informative newsletters about your latest news or exciting things on the horizon.
• Send offers and discounts to leads who have shown interest.

Engagement:

• Ask questions and request feedback.
• Use humor and storytelling in your emails.
• Offer exclusive content and benefits to leads.

By building relationships and creating engagement, you can increase your conversion rates and drive growth.

Remember:

Following GDPR requirements is not only a legal obligation but also a good business strategy. By being transparent and respectful of leads' personal data, you can build stronger relationships and increase your conversion rates.

Here are some resources you can use to get more information about GDPR and email marketing:

• Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten: https://www.imy.se/
• Datainspektionen: https://www.datainspektionen.se/
• The European Data Protection Board: https://edpb.europa.eu/

Are you ready to take your email marketing to the next level? Or do you want to learn more about marketing?

Then you should:

1. Follow us on social media. We post updates on LinkedIn, Instagram & Facebook when we have a new blog post. You can also get valuable tips and learn something new from other posts we share on social media, so you lose nothing by following us!

2. If you want additional knowledge about marketing, maybe even a little help on how to start your marketing journey, don't hesitate to contact us! 

3. Want to connect on LinkedIn? You can find me here! I'm here to support you and want to help you through this exciting new marketing journey! Let's do this! 🌟🌟

/ Sofia Johansson - Digital Growth Marketing Specialist 🥰