The new AVG (General Data Protection Regulation) legislation has been in effect for almost four months now. This has caused a lot of stress and headaches for many business owners. Still many companies and organizations are running into numerous issues. Even in the area of email marketing and the deployment of a newsletter, many business owners have question marks about what is and is not allowed .
In this blog you will read how to deal with newsletter opt-ins for potential customers. What should you pay attention to? What is allowed and what is not? Read on to avoid mistakes when collecting personal data.
What is personal data?
According to the General Data Protection Regulation and the personal data authority is personal data any information about an identified or identifiable person. Thus, information that is directly about someone or can be traced back to a person falls under personal data. According to the AVG, data about deceased individuals is not personal data.
If you look at the explanation of the personal data authority, e-mail addresses can also be classified as personal data. The e-mail address must belong to a specific person or be in the control of a specific person. Both consumer and business e-mail addresses can therefore be personal data. are.
Collecting email addresses for a newsletter
An important part of email marketing is collecting email addresses. But how do you get email addresses to email people? According to the AVG, you need a basis for that. The legislation has six bases. The most important for being allowed to mail people are consent, agreement and legitimate interest.
Consent and agreement
You may retain customer data if they have given you permission to do so. This is of course necessary in order to communicate with your clients and carry out orders. Note that the consent you obtain must be free, specific, informed and unambiguous.
Legitimate interest
A legitimate interest could be business interest or marketing interest. So this includes email marketing and opt-ins for newsletters.
Using e-mail addresses for e-mail marketing
Personal data may only be used for the purpose for which it was obtained. If you collect newsletter subscribers with the basis of permission, you must ask permission for each purpose. Do you plan to send several different newsletters ? Then you will need to obtain consent for each newsletter .
Sending e-books is one of many effective ways to collect e-mail addresses and attract Web site visitors. Have you been given an e-mail address to send an e-book? Then you may only use this e-mail address to send the e-book to the requestor. You are not allowed to also send newsletters without explicit permission from the requestor. In addition, you must be transparent about the collection, use, security and deletion of personal data. According to the AVG, you must provide information about more than 11 things. You must provide this information even before someone gives you their personal data. Or else at the same time someone gives their data. You can do this by preparing a privacy notice.
Is a double opt-in mandatory?
With double opt-in, the owner of the personal data gives Double consent to receive newsletters, for example. According to the AVG, double opt-in is not mandatory, but as mentioned earlier, the consent must be free, specific, informed and unambiguous.
The risk of a one-time opt-in, is that people could sign up others for a newsletter. The new legislation states that consent must be provable. With a one-time opt-in, you will never be sure who entered the e-mail address. With a double opt-in, you don't have this problem.
A clear Opt-out button
To be fully compliant with the law, it is very important that you provide a simple opt-out for newsletter subscribers. Opt-out means giving newsletter subscribers the option to unsubscribe from a newsletter. You must display this option in every newsletter.
Data minimization
When someone unsubscribes, you no longer need that person's personal data for the purpose for which you obtained the data. The AVG forces organizations to minimize data. This means that you can only keep data that you actually need in the future. It is therefore mandatory under the AVG to delete data when someone unsubscribes as a newsletter subscriber.
Monkey Vision Tip: Think about why you keep certain personal data and record this in a document. This ensures that you can justify your legitimate interest to the personal data authority.
Want to read more valuable blogs like this one? Or are you looking for inspiration and tips to grow your online channels? Then read the blog 'Successful online - Social Media'.
