So how was it for you? The great GDPR day. Did your inbox explode with emails bearing quirky and increasingly desperate subject lines begging you to reaffirm your desire to keep receiving updates from some long-forgotten company?
Or were you one of the poor people tasked with trying to inform uninterested contacts of a changed privacy policy concerning their data?
Either way, many individuals and organisations have questioned whether there has been a seismic change in the corporate landscape since G-Day.
The answer seems to be: not yet – certainly not as much as the frantic flurry of communications and think pieces prior to May 25th seemed to predict. There have been no reports of deserted inboxes only populated by tumbleweed and the sad echoes of tardy pleas to accept the new terms and conditions. But the impact is, to an extent, being felt at home and internationally.
A Sheffield publishing company dumped its entire client database in fear of onerous fines. The owners are predicting a huge loss of business while they rebuild customer lists from scratch.
Several publishers in the US have decided they don’t much care for it.
Readers in Britain and the rest of the EU have found themselves shut out from US news sites including the LA Times when publishers decided not to comply and take the hit on international audience figures rather than harvesting less data or offering more expensive privacy-friendly versions of websites.
USA Today removed tracking code ads resulting in EU audiences getting a slimmed down version of its site. The Washington Post put up a price-hiked paywall for European readers to avoid ads and data tracking.
Privacy campaigners are already testing the limits of the new legislation bringing cases against the usual suspects: Facebook, Insta, WhatsApp and Google.
We are seeing adherence to GDPR as GooD PR (we are ridiculously pleased with that pun!). The new interest in data could restore public’s trust in how businesses handle consumers’ information – but time will tell.
What is difficult to argue with is that the great GDPR data spring clean is a perfect opportunity for businesses to really make their CRM work for them. Cleansed data, consisting of individuals who actually want to hear from you, should be put to work by being properly segmented and sent tailored content: resulting in more leads and greater returns.
Your email lists may have shrunk – but the quality should have increased. If your contacts have actively told you that they want to keep in contact with you – it is up to you to turn them into customers.
ATTAIN can help with all your post-GDPR data management and email: get in touch with the data team today.
