Will GDPR affect cold-emailing?

GDPR is coming! The countdown is on. #GDPR is less than 100 days away. Are you ready? Ensure you are well-prepared for upcoming GDPR Compliance regulations.

So, will GDPR affect cold-emailing?

In short, the answer is YES.

We all know that many entities solely depend on Outbound sales methods to drive revenues. But now, they are going to have a difficult time doing so because GDPR becomes enforceable from 25 May 2018. If your organization is dealing with EU citizen's personal data then you will be subjected to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

Under GDPR, you will have to collect freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous consent.

To get compliant, you will have to follow 3 different steps when doing cold-emailing:

• Have their permission to send them Emails.
• Get a clear proof of their consent (keep those consents in a Data Base).
• A way for each receiver to withdraw their consent anytime.

GDPR sets out fines of 2% of the global annual turnover of a company or, 10 000 000 Euro whichever is higher for minor breaches and 4% of the global annual turnover of a company or, 20 000 000 Euro whichever is higher for serious breaches.

Remember: GDPR will apply to you if you are dealing with EU customer data even if your business is not located in the EU.

My view is that emailing without opt-in/consent from the subscribers may be considered a serious breach. So Stay informed!

The only safe way to comply is to ask for consent in the form where the customer provides contact information.

Another way to do it is to send a first outreach email to obtain consent.

Also, make sure to follow these basic cold emailing rules:

1. Clear, easy and obvious opt-out option.
2. Include a proper physical address.
3. Personalize email and the content.
4. Appropriate subject line and target auidence.
5. Authentic sender ID
6. Maintaining a directory of Opt-in and Opt-outs is the most important.

GDPR being a very extensive topic, it is advisable to get your team trained by compliance experts.

I hope you found value in reading this article. Check out my next article GDPR: What’s the fuss about?