Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), consent is required of all EU residents that you store data on. This means that you are required to give EU subscribers the ability to opt-in or out of email communication as well.
Finding EU contacts
BenchmarkONE has a quick and easy way to identify and tag all EU Contacts in your database. We can run a quick check on your database and tag all EU contacts which we identify by country or by top-level domain. If a contact has given no identifying information that they are EU residents, we will not be able to tag them. However, should someone request you stop communicating with them or tracking them, you can simply deleted their contact record.
If you would like help with this, email support@benchmarkone.com and let us know you'd like these contacts tagged. We'll get that done is short order!
Getting Consent from EU Residents
Once your EU contacts have been tagged, you need to gather consent in order to continue emailing them. We have created a pre-designed email template to help you get started.
Head to Tools > Email Templates > +New Email Template > Pre-designed Templates> GDPR Compliance to preview the template we've created for you. If you'd rather build your own email, no problem. Just read on to ensure your template is in tip top, compliant shape!
Edit your template to include your own logo and incorporate your own branding and voice.
IMPORTANT: Link the "Opt In" button to one of your GDPR-friendly forms so you will be able to track who has or has not submitted the form.
Segmenting by Consent & Taking Action
Segment your list based on the marketing permissions received from your opt-in email and online form. To find contacts that either have consented or have not, you will filter using the Contact filter for 'Form Activity' and either do or do not have the tag "Agreed to Tracking"
EU Contacts that you have sent the Opt-in email to and HAVE filled out a GDPR-friendly form and HAVE checked the GDPR complaint box, WILL be tagged with "Agreed to Tracking."
EU contacts that you have sent the Opt-in email to and HAVE NOT filled out the form and HAVE NOT check the GDPR compliant box, will not be tagged. These contacts should be unsubscribed immediately. Continuing to send to this group can result in a violation of the GDPR with serious consequences.