If you read my posts you will know that there are very clear rules regarding email marketing that many professionals continue to ignore. However, these rules are the ones that mark the red lines that separate legal email marketing from spam .
In fact, the fo r the existence of this new data cambodia phone number data protection law at European level are mainly based on rapid technological evolution and the massive management of personal information by companies and professionals.
By now you are well aware of the scale of personal data collection and sharing that new technologies enable.
You will also be aware of the volume of personal data to which we have access thanks to the massive access of citizens to digital environments.
When the rules governing the collection and management of this data are unknown, people fall into the trap of believing that having easy access to this information means being able to freely use this data.
This is where this information is abused and this is what happens to many professionals in their email marketing and social media campaigns.
Have you ever thought that you can easily turn an email marketing strategy into spam?
It's much simpler than you think. Thousands of professionals become unwitting spammers every day by applying the ostrich strategy.
By pure statistics, you could become one of them, so I intend to save you the trouble with this post about what you should know about this new European data protection law.
Email marketing regulations you should know
Several studies agree that spam accounts for 80% of the email we receive; the percentage of legal and consented email is insignificant compared to the intrusive advertising bombardment we have to deal with every day.
In order to stop this unfair and ruthless practice called spam, laws were developed to regulate the sending of commercial communications by electronic means:
As the Law on the Information Society and Electronic Commerce (LSSI-ce)
And to protect the user from the indiscriminate use of his/her personal information:
With the Organic Law on Data Protection (LOPD)
Now a new regulation emerges that adds new requirements to those we already knew.
The New European Data Protection Regulation
The New European Data Protection Regulation
Approved on April 14, 2016, this new data protection law will apply to all EU member states and is intended to harmonize all data protection regulations of the member states.
It came into force on May 25, 2016 and will be mandatory in a couple of years, so it is best to familiarize yourself and apply the new requirements to your strategy.
Therefore, there are two direct laws that have been in full operation for some time and another that has been recently approved .
However, it is rare that a day goes by without receiving a commercial email from a company or professional who continues to ignore these two laws and turns their email marketing strategy into a spam strategy.
How to comply with the new European data protection regulation in an email marketing campaign
Although there are still many things to be clarified regarding the applicability of the new European regulation, I am going to give you some basic guidelines that will help you to be on the right track when designing your marketing and acquisition campaigns.
► Step 1: Review how you obtain and record the consent of your users/customers to send them your campaigns
Currently, tacit consent is legal for basic data; such as placing a small text under contact forms that says “ I accept the privacy policy ” or assuming it by the mere fact of subscribing voluntarily.
This is a stricter requirement than in the LOPD, since consent cannot be understood as having been granted implicitly.
Consent cannot therefore be deduced from the silence or inaction of persons.
Furthermore, the Regulation provides that consent must be explicit in some cases, such as to authorise the processing of sensitive data.
Thus, it will be necessary that the statement or action explicitly refers to consent and a specific purpose.
Consent must also be verifiable, that is, you must always be able to prove consent.
And for this reason it is essential to verify the consent recording systems so that it can be verified during an audit or inspection .
► Step 2: Provide information with complete clarity and transparency
In the current LOPD, the requirement to inform the recipient about all aspects affecting the processing of their data was a basic requirement.
For individuals, the following points must be completely clear when requesting or managing their personal data:
That your personal data is being collected, used or consulted
The extent to which such data is or will be processed
Of the possible consequences of not providing such data
The purposes of the processing for which the personal data are intended and the legal basis for the processing
The identity of the recipients or categories of recipients of the personal data
The identity of the person responsible for management and, where applicable, the data protection officer
The period for which the personal data will be kept or, when this is not possible, the criteria used to determine this period (this is new)
