Consent: The word on the lips of every organisation across the UK, but what does it mean?
In relation to GDPR, consent means ‘offering individuals real choice and control. Genuine consent should put individuals in charge, build trust and engagement and enhance your reputation.’ How can organisations gain consent and maintain a contact database effectively?
Building a contact database based on who, when and how consent was given, prevents individuals being bombarded with information they do not want and allows a company to feel confident that they are staying in line with the GDPR. Paul Tarantino the CEO of Consenteye explains that using a GDPR compliant consent management system takes away the pressure of companies having to manage this consent lifecycle, enabling organisations to increase opt-in rates and drive revenue growth.
Gaining consent
You can gain consent when clients are asked to sign up to a newsletter or create an account, alternatively e-commerce businesses can use this method at the checkout.
For this opt-in to be sufficient under GDPR, individuals should be allowed to actively make the decision to have their data processed, rather than having a pre-ticked option which has to be deselected.
Studies have shown that large fonts draw people’s attention, companies such as Sainsbury’s also place the consent option in a bright yellow box. Gaining consent is also increased with the use of positive language such as ‘stay connected’ or ‘I would like to hear about offers’ rather than just ‘notify me.’ This can be effectively used in email marketing as well, bear in mind that it never hurts to sell the benefits of staying connected.
Further actions
End-users should always be given the option to go back to their consent declarations at any time for review, validation, revocation or to make any other changes, for example on the bottom of further correspondence emails, the option should always be given to opt out from previous consent.
Ensuring you keep records of each user, who they are and when they consented is important to stay within the GDPR guidelines. If you are sure your customers have consented in line with the new regulations, then you have nothing to do. However, it is still a good idea to take an audit of your contact database and implement a re-permission campaign to those who cast some doubt over whether they are completely compliant. Within the campaign, don’t bombard the user with technical knowledge, ensure they understand the benefits of staying connected, this will make them less likely to unsubscribe.
