Transparency and Success through Creating GDPR Newsletters
General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) is a set of regulations created by the EU to ensure protection of personal data of consumers while they do business with companies online.
The GDPR requires that the companies get the consent of EU citizens before they collect and store their private information and wish to share it with third party (the customers have the right to deny sharing of their details with third party), inform the customers within 72 hours if a breach occurs, share the data collected by the company if the customers wish to view them, follow the regulations regarding website security measures and have in-house protection officers (if the company is of certain size).
Email newsletter subscriptions are very important part of revenue diversification. GDPR regulations, especially the information that the personal data would be shared with the third party, should be shared along with each newsletter as most people might not spend time or understand their rights mentioned in lengthy document named ‘terms and conditions’. Providing the information in a simple and straight-forward manner would reveal your trustworthiness and uprightness.
Campaigns through emails have been proved to be very successful but you must make sure that it is GDPR compliant. For this, you must have a secure method to collect and store personal data of the customers like an Admiral email signup automation method and create a consent request, detailing what they would receive in a simple and common language, for the user to respond to begin receiving your email.
Make sure that the consent request have detailed whether the information would be shared with a third party and provided an option for opting out. Keep a separate consent request for newsletters and make the process of ‘unsubscribing’ quick and easier.
Three Steps to ensure GDPR compliant emails:
- Proactive Email Subscription Opt-in
You can provide a single or double opt-in process for the users to begin receiving your emails. In a single opt-in form, the users can subscribe to the emails by providing their name and email. All the information like their data being secure, the subscriber policy and the details on how to unsubscribe are provided in the same form. In a double opt-in process the user is asked to provide their email and while receiving the email they can confirm or reject the opt-in process. Transparency could be assured by specifying that the user information would be deleted if they opt not to confirm their subscription. - Clear and Easy Unsubscribe option:
The emails you sent should comprise an unsubscribe button clicking which should ensure the users that their data is completely erased from the company’s list. If you sent the users more than just newsletters through their email, you should specify what they are unsubscribing and how they could unsubscribe all types of emails from you. - Inform the users how their data is secured and shared:
It is mandatory to inform the users that their data is securely stored and also if their data is shared with a third party. The users should be given the choice to opt-out any time of your subscription and also of sharing their details with third party. The information on how the data is stored and shared should be communicated during the opt-in process in addition to mentioning it in the terms and conditions.