Remember the days when businesses used to take your contact details whenever you used to buy some products from a store.

And days later, 

Messages….

Offers, New products, Sale…… and so on.

Things used to irritate you. 

And comes 2018, everything just changed. 

As if the same companies asking you whether or not to disturb you. Should they tell you about new offers or product launches.

Life has never been so sorted before.

Isn’t it?

But, that’s one side of the coin.

The other part of the coin, i.e., businesses. Has anything changed for them?

I am sure a lot of things.

May 25, 2018….. The date must have been a game-changer for thousands of businesses online. 

Let’s not deviate much and start with the concept of GDPR right away.

GDPR- A Brief Review

GDPR means the General Data Protection Regulation. A privacy policy implemented across the EU and EEA region for all companies selling to or storing personal information about citizens in Europe.

This includes companies in other continents as well. 

It simply means that customers or visitors would have an upper hand when it comes to sharing their personal data such as name, photo, email address, bank details, location details, medical information, or IP address.

Nothing can be disclosed unless and until an individual says so. 

Here is the detailed description of GDPR rights that individuals have.

– The Right To Access

It means that any individual has the right to access their personal data along with asking the company about the usage of their data once it has been feeding on to their system.

– The Right To Step Back

If the customer withdraws their consent from any company to use their personal data, their data needs to be deleted right away.

– The Right To Transfer

Every individual has the right to transfer their personal information from one to another company. 

– The Right To Information

This means that individuals must be informed beforehand that companies will gather their personal data. Customers must opt-in for such services. 

– The Right To Updates

According to this, an individual has the right to update their information if the earlier data is out of date. 

– The Right To Object

This guideline gives the customers to restrict marketers for using their data for any form of direct marketing strategies. 

– The Right To Be Notified

In case there are any data breaches, the individual must be informed within 72 hours. 

Many businesses and other agencies, especially startups get confused about whether or not they need to abide by these policies, or what should be done to be in compliance with such policies. 

Here are some commonly asked questions concerning GDPR policies.

Does My Company Need To Follow GDPR Privacy Policies?

Well, the answer is Yes.

If you own a shop in India and use manual data computing procedures, well then you are pretty sorted.

But, if you own a website that utilizes information from any of the 28 EU countries, then the policies should matter to you as well.

What Type Of Data Does GDPR cover?

The following types of data come under the GDPR policies-

1. Name of any individual
2. Address
3. Email address
4.Card details
5.Location details
6.IP address
7.Cookie-ID
8.Advertising identifier on your phone
9.Data held by a hospital or doctor that could relate to any individual closely

– Has GDPR Affected Lead Acquisition?

This is perhaps the most affected region if your company depends on acquiring leads online via the website, PPC ads, social media platforms, or others.

For instance, you collected data from any resource offered online. As per the new guidelines, you need to let your customers know about the details of the data processing.

Also, there has to be a consent form where the customers confirm that data can be used for business purposes such as sending newsletters or offers.

Consent forms should have-

• Unchecked boxes where customers manually select the boxes that they agree for.
• Short description of the utilization of the data.
• Separate boxes must be there if the number of required consent is more than one.

Although, this might look tedious at first. But, such a concept has helped to build trust among the two parties.

Hence, improving the chances of converting leads into buyers.

– How Does GDPR affect Cookies and Tracking Codes?

If your company is involved in any type of lead generation campaigns, it is but obvious, it will be using cookies, or codes to process the data entered. 

You will be required to ask for consent here as well. You can use a free Cookie consent software as well to minimize the investment.

– How Does GDPR Affect Email Marketing Campaigns?

GDPR governs the data that you have collected using any email marketing software. 

So, understanding that you need to keep a record of consent forms is essential whenever asking your customers to link with your company. 

Now that the ball is entirely in the customer’s court. Companies are changing the ways of data processing and implementing new policies as per the GDPR guidelines.

Privacy by design is one of the key elements of GDPR legislation. So, companies need to figure out ways of handling the data.
Here’s How you can also get started with new policies in compliance with GDPR.

Identify the Source of Data

Experts recommend checking all the sources where your companies get its data from and document the data processing ways. 

Identifying the risks involved must be one of the top priorities. This is one of the promising steps to build customer engagement.

Prioritise The Useful Data

To be on the safer side, you need to keep only the information that will be helpful for your business. Discarding the rest of the unnecessary information will help to lighten the burden of data-keeping departments.

Hence, less chances of goofing up. Here are some of the questions you need to ask before starting the clean-up procedure.

. Why the data needs to be processed instead of erasing it?
.  Why are we saving the data in the first place?
. Are there any benefits for using such a massive amount of information collected?
. Will you benefit anything from erasing the data?

Once all the answers are sorted, go ahead of what is necessary for your business while keeping in mind the GDPR policies.

Implement Necessary Security Measures Beforehand

It is important to develop safeguards before actually starting your online business to prevent any future data breaches.
This also includes the procedures and due diligence in case of any data breaches as well.

That includes notifying the individuals in time. Make sure to check in with your outsourced partners as well.

Be Ready With The Right Documentation

According to GDPR, companies are explicitly required to ask customers about the consent regarding using and processing of their personal information.

Companies need to use pre-checked boxes whenever they are closing any deals.

In the end, data is a valuable entity in modern-day marketing. While GDPR might be making it tough for you, it is also beneficial in many ways such as customer engagement.

Value your customers, they will value your business more. Hence, more sales and growth as an enterprise.