GDPR: forget compliance we want success!

I hear the voice inside your head… not another post on GDPR! But please bear with me.

Over the coming weeks there are plenty of things we marketers must get our heads round. Do we tick each and every one of those little boxes to make sure we are being compliant?

I think by now most of us have a plan in place, but what I want to challenge you on is this: Is your plan just for compliance? Or does it make GDPR into an ongoing business opportunity?

We all know that customers will soon have to actively choose to have a relationship with our business. And that our job is to engage them, drive conversation and loyalty and ultimately retain their custom.

However… with today’s barrage of journey builders pushing hundreds of automated emails at customers, are we really providing them with a reason to keep that conversation going?

Becoming compliant asks customers if they would like to opt in and the answer will depend on how engaged they’ve been in the past by your messaging. But also on whether they see your email in the first place. Because if you’ve already dropped yourself into the junk / promotions folder by being overzealous with the send button, it may never get there!

I only have to look at the 22K unread emails in my inbox (yes I’m one of those people) to realise that if we keep this up going forward, people will get seriously bored with what we’ve got to say… can anyone else feel those fingers hovering over the ‘opt out’ button?

I spoke to one company (naming no names) who said they were emailing the same people up to seven times a day. That’s millions of emails a week going out to their customer base. Does any company really have that much to say? And does anyone want to hear it?!

I know that’s an extreme example, but imagine if you received the same number of phone calls in a day from one company. I’m pretty sure you’d find somewhere else to shop and block their number pretty quickly. Think about the last email you sent to your customer. Would you pick up the phone and deliver that same message?

GDPR is an opportunity for us to renew our contact base and put a real plan in place to make the conversation match the fundamental things that our customers now demand from marketing: personalised, relevant and timely content. Can you honestly say your plan is for success?

If you’d like a little help building a successful communication strategy for a world post GDPR join our webinar; featuring John Mitchison, Director of Policy and compliance for the DMA: ‘The 5 Step Plan to GDPR and Customer Communications Success’ on the 23^rd January at 10am.