Why Email Marketing is Still Just as Important Post-GDPR

By reading any publication in the run-up to the 25th May, you’d be mistaken for believing that 2018 was going to be the end of email marketing for good. A beginning of an era where you could not talk to a talk to potential customer without first obtaining five layers of consent and a written signature.

Of course this is hyperbole, but the fear for many businesses in the run up to the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was certainly real. But, three months since GDPR’s implementation, email marketing is not only still a viable channel to communicate with potential customers but one of your most important. Here’s why…

72% of consumers say that email is their favoured conduit of communication with companies they do business with.

– Marketing Sherpa

Email Marketing has certainly stood the test of time and has constantly evolved over the years.  We continue to use email marketing as part of our clients’ wider strategy, as it represents one of the most significant communication channels to interact directly with customers.

As stated by Kath Pay and Tim Watson for Only Influencers, ‘GDPR is about data, not about channels’. GDPR is in force to protect consumers from acts of data processing undertaken without their permission – not to prohibit businesses from communicating with their audiences.

If you can prove that data subjects within your database have a legitimate interest in your business’ products and services then you are free to communicate with them. With Direct Marketing Association (DMA) research putting the ROI of email marketing in 2017 at $30.01, why unnecessarily avoid such an important marketing channel when your audience is likely to be legitimately interested in receiving communications from your organisation?

Further research from the DMA found that 66% of consumers have made a purchase online as a direct result of an email marketing message, showing that email is not only an important marketing channel, but one vital to brand success.

Following best practice

• Don’t trick people into subscribing
• Be clear about what you are offering
• Don’t use a pre-ticked checkbox
• Link to the Privacy Policy at the point of subscription
• Be clear and transparent with what you will do with their data

When reading the above recommendations, you’d be forgiven for thinking that they’d come from an article preparing you for the implementation of GDPR. However, these best practices are for the EU Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive.

Since 2002, the European Union has been clear on how businesses should acquire, hold and use data from an individual, and is not much different from the legislation put in to effect 16 years later. GDPR is not meant to hamper a business’ email marketing activities, but instead ensure that it’s utilising best practice. If your business are not using every one of the above recommendations, then it’s about time that you started.

Email marketing offers a highly targeted, cost effective route to reach your existing and prospective customers. We send thousands of emails on a monthly basis for clients and tracking them for delivery and performance.

We focus on objectives, segmentation, personalisation, deliverability and the all-important message to ensure our clients achieve the most from their campaigns.

To find out more about our email marketing services, get in touch with one of our expert marketing consultants.