GDPR is a pain in the butt. There, I said it. Legal data regulations that can result in massive million pound fines really do pile the pressure on marketing departments, not to mention that most email databases are going to halve overnight. But, we have to remember that these rules are designed to protect users’ privacy – an ever-contentious and increasingly theoretical topic in today’s digital age. Below are our top 5 tips on how to ensure a seamless GDPR transition and how to keep your customer retention rate nice and high!
Be Open and Honest
You need to be open and honest with your customers. Why do you want their information, how will you use it? A brief and unclear privacy statement breeds distrust, so be upfront. Are you going to retarget them with banner ads? Let them know. Perhaps you like to do market research or internal data reviews? Write it down on your site. No one complains about something they knew about in advance (and at least when they do, you have an easy to read, honest page to point them to in response).
Make It Easy To Opt In
You need to make it as easy and obvious as possible for customers to update their email preferences. A clear call to action on your website and in all emails is crucial – someone who takes time clicking around is going to get frustrated pretty quickly and just give up. Another hit to your rapidly shrinking database. Its not the customer’s job to chase us! This isn’t a time for playing hard to get… you need to serve it up on a plate! A well-labelled web page and plenty of links will make it super user friendly and remind your customers that you have their best interests at heart!
Add A Little Extra Motivation
Now while you can’t bribe customers to hit the yes button, you can incentivise everyone to update their email choices (even if that might be a no). Manchester United did a fab version of this! A competition for everyone who opts in or out is a great motivator and remains completely fair. It also not-so-subtly reminds customers that emails can sometimes mean discount codes – and what’s not to love about that?
Give Them A Reason To Stay
The ‘why’ has always been crucial in marketing. Find your reason for being and customers tune into that. Why should they shop with you? Why should they stay on your email list? How are you enriching their lives? All these questions might make your head hurt but give a good answer and the customer won’t stay away.
Don’t Panic
Every online business in the UK is having the same issue. This is a change aimed at consumer happiness, not corporate greed, so there will be some changes. If you wake up on May 26th and find that your database has really shrunk, don’t panic, keep living your best marketing life, and give your customers some time to miss you. Its like a break up, soon they’ll be reading old emails and trawling your website just begging to be added back to the mailing list. Follow the 80 20 rule, those who are opting in are more likely to be better customers than those who don’t bother. Your conversion rate on emails is going to rocket! And think about it – no one likes being emailed 100 times a day. Just because you don’t want to see all those sales emails doesn’t mean you won’t be buying the clothes! This is a pretty seismic shift in marketing practices, so just try not to panic. Online retailing will continue long after the pain of GDPR subsides.
For more information about what our award winning marketing agency can do for you, why not take a look at the digital marketing services we offer or contact us to tell us more about your business? Offering everything from PPC management to creative social media marketing services, we can help with whatever you need.