Creativity meets compliance - GDPR as an opportunity to engage

GDPR – we’re in the last leg before live. Daily, I receive emails regarding ‘final preparations’ offering expert ‘guidance’ on all aspects GDPR related. Some of it scaremongering, some of it useful and all of it feels a bit too much. Currently, I have no less than twenty – six GDPR related emails in my inbox; all queued and waiting to be opened, scanned, saved or deleted. If you’re in the world of marketing – GDPR is not only on your radar, but hopefully something you’re embracing. It’s coming, so let’s all make the most of it.

As we ready ourselves for May 25th, are we marketers ready for ‘email marketing armageddon’ as put by one optimistic blogger? Is this level of drama really necessary? I mean, yes, it’s serious. The fines are big and it’s not optional. But this sort of attention seeking behaviour isn’t helpful.

But what about people whose work life isn’t impacted by GDPR? Has the average person even heard of it? Do they understand what GDPR will mean for them?

In a very robust poll made up of friends (from outside work) two of ten had heard of GDPR. The oblivious eight, who to me (although probably not statistically sound), represent an average person living in the UK had no clue what I was talking about. This is where it gets interesting, this is an opportunity.

Before we dive into GDPR as marketing opportunity, a confession to make…I was once one with 1000s of emails on my phone. I would check my personal email maybe once a month. I’m proud to say that I have since changed this behaviour after clearing through and unsubscribing from loads – companies that I just didn’t need hitting my inbox regularly. Now, it’s all a bit cleaner and I get messages from brands & businesses that I’m truly interested in and would purchase from in the future. And I’m hoping that when they approach GDPR, they’ll do it with a bit of creativity.

Why the campaign works:

• video 
• benefit to me for subscribing
• real language
• showed me an easy way to resubscribe
• more benefits for me
• deadline
• optimised for mobile
• clear instructions for if I change my mind later

Manchester United makes a compelling case to get me to the preference centre, where I can subscribe as I choose in a secure and straightforward way. The preference centre ticks the regulatory boxes and easy as that, I’ve converted. ‘Email marketing armageddon’ isn’t a danger because the content is interesting. The football club has approached opting in as an opportunity to connect with fans who can then engage with Manchester United on their terms via their preferred channels.

If brands that haven’t been culled from my inbox approach GDPR purely from a compliance perspective and forget their creativity, I could sit with an inbox of dry & dull requests to opt-in. This wouldn’t be good for me or their business. I want to hear from them – I want to continue to have personal & relevant messages. I want offers & recommendations based on my spending habits. But without a compelling reason to resubscribe, these emails will be left lingering, like the days of inbox past when I had 1000s of emails sitting on my phone. The business will lose the right to contact me and I will lose out as a consumer.

With 3 months and a bit to go, there’s still time to make it interesting and I’m hopeful that brands will use GDPR as the opportunity it is to increase my buy in and engagement. I’m looking forward to seeing creative approaches to GDPR in my inbox soon.

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