Transforming data privacy from a threat to a business enabler
GDPR often strikes fear into the hearts of a business owners, but it doesn’t need to be a threat. The reassurance of knowing an organisation is GDPR compliant, can be used to your advantage and enable more business connections and relationship development.
Firstly, by having a GDPR-related cull you will be able to detect and get rid of redundant, obsolete and trivial (ROT) files which your organisation retains. Those without any business value can be removed from your database, leaving a selection of highly relevant leads and customers, who genuinely want to hear from you.
Having this reduction in your contact list, makes producing targeted advertising much simpler, more cost effective and could result in high quality leads for your business.
As consumers are becoming more and more aware of how their data is being handled and often suspicious when companies ask for personal information, demonstrating a sense of transparency and taking responsibility for the data you hold, is going to encourage a good relationship with clients. You can use the GDPR to underline that you do care about the privacy of your current and prospective customers and leverage it as a benefit above competitors.
Start being one of the first companies to advocate being GDPR compliant, using it in marketing campaigns and cultivating new business values. The business mindset of a companies is often reflected in a separate ‘values’ page on the site; in doing this, an organisation can highlight their genuine respect for customers’ private information, generating a good basis for relationship development.
In order to ensure your company is GDPR compliant and transform data privacy from a threat to a business enabler, there are some important points to remember:
Asking people to positively opt-in is absolutely necessary, using a pre-ticked box that needs to be unchecked does not indicate consent.
Specifying why you want the data and what you are going to do with it, instils a sense of trust and reassurance that data will not be passed to other organisations.
Always use clear language. Whether you are a technical, financial or retail organisation using your ‘normal’ terminology within a consent statement is not necessary. Using clear, concise and easy to digest information is best.
Make it clear that consent can be withdrawn at any time and make it easy to do so.
Keep a record of consent and how and when the consent was given.
Act on withdrawals of consent immediately.