The GDPR: Then and now…

It’s just over a year since The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced to all members of the EU and Europe.

So what has this meant for businesses? Some say the change in law has negatively affected their business, while most have come out the other side of the ‘GDPR pandemic’ and now see the changes in a positive light.

Recent research carried out by the DMA, ‘Data Privacy: An Industry Perspective 2018’ found 57% of marketers actually think the GDPR will have a positive or neutral impact on sales.

No matter which side of the fence you sit on, one thing is for sure. It has sharpened modern marketing practices and made for better communication among businesses and their target market.

At Marketing Week Live this year, Shane Phair, CMO of CM Group gave a talk on ‘How GDPR saved email marketing: What happens next?’ and addressed some of the key thoughts on GDPR from the industry.

 

‘Remember when they said GDPR would kill email marketing? It didn’t.’

‘After GDPR, our customers’ open rates increased by 28%’

Looking at the B2B space then, there is evidence to support that marketers on the whole have found the transition from the Data Protection Directive to The GDPR a positive one:

Stopped businesses contacting people who didn’t want to be contacted

A major concern for people a year ago was the damaging effect that the GDPR would have on their database and therefore results.

The ‘opt-outs’ and ‘unsubs’ were once something to be feared, but why would you want to spend your marketing efforts on people who aren’t interested in your service offering? The GDPR meant that businesses were able to build a sharpened and targeted database and could focus their attention on the prospects who have a genuine interest.

‘A more engaged and trusting audience is much more likely to respond positively to marketing.’ DMA’s GDPR: A year on research.

Business alignment

The GDPR has made for better alignment in businesses. Where there was once major differences between Marketing and IT/ Data, we are now seeing a building of relationships and working together to ensure compliance. Marketing teams and departments are increasingly getting their hands dirty in data management, sourcing, compliance and relicensing, and we are here for it!

In many businesses, this alignment has also meant the introduction of the DPO (Data Protection Officer), the beacon of data compliance and legislative knowledge. This just shows the importance the new law has made on the daily running of businesses. As a content writer in our Marketing department, I am now getting on famously with our Data Protection Officer, who knew?!

At a first glance, GDPR was a scary change. Now marketers, IT departments and DPOs alike are at the forefront of a developing, data driven business space. I wonder if the we’ll be saying the same in another 365 days…

Tags: B2B Marketing, Data Services, email marketing, GDPR, Lead Generation