I run a small business that offers social media advising and consulting services to Executives, and I use e-mail marketing as one of many tools to attract new clients. Over the years, I have assembled a list of several thousand current and aspiring Executives that I have worked with, met at conferences, or interacted with on social media….basically your standard networking techniques. I am rigorous about tending to my list. If someone stops opening my monthly newsletter, I will automatically unsubscribe them after three months.
Enter GDPR, the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation, which kicked in late last month. Among other things, it ups the ante on data breaches. It also requires e-mail marketers to get express permission to e-mail prospective clients in the EU and to have a documentation trail of that permission. While it technically exempts small businesses with less than 250 employees from most requirements, some remain, including a threat of a 40 million Euro fine.
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Of the 1000+ that opened my last newsletter, only 35 were from the EU. Most are Executives of US multi-national companies stationed abroad. Several are from the US. While the EU is not a huge part of my business, I would like to retain these Executives as prospective clients, especially the ones that are already opening my newsletters. They apparently value the content.
In my first effort to comply, I sent a re-opt-in message to my EU subscribers, but got and anemic fraction of my normal response rate. The vast majority never even opened it. Let’s face it, they were getting bombarded with opt-in e-mails and privacy policy updates from much bigger fish than me. I reached out to one on social media who said that he is so overwhelmed right now that he just deletes them all.
So rather than risk a huge fine, I have just unsubscribed all the EU subscribers that I can identify. It is not a pretty solution, like using a baseball bat to swat a fly. Apparently, I am not alone. Mashable writes that “an overly aggressive approach in the name of GDPR compliance is not necessarily surprising: GDPR violations can rack up astronomical fines pretty quickly, and many companies have resorted to overly broad policies in the short term.”
So what’s next for me. One suggestion was to send out a “last chance” e-mail in a few weeks, after the buzz dies down. It would let my former EU subscribers know that I had to unsubscribe them from my list, but they have one last time to opt in.
I am giving it consideration, but wonder if you have any other ideas? I could use the help.
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