GDPR UPDATE: How ready are you for the The Data Protection Act 2018?

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#1

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on 25th May 2018. It’s designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy which has major implications for anyone who collects, processes, stores and/or disposes of data.

When we first ran this poll in August 2017, 46% of voters knew GDPR was coming but hadn’t done anything about it, 27% didn’t know about the changes coming and only 27% had already taken action on this.

With around seven weeks to go and potentially large fines for anyone found not to be complying with GDPR, we’d like to see where everyone is with their preparations. Please indicate below and share any thoughts you have on this subject by commenting on this post.

  • I hadn’t heard about the coming changes :confused:
  • I know the changes are coming, but not done anything about it yet :dizzy_face:
  • I know about the changes, and i’ve already taken action :sunglasses:

0 voters

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#2

Yep, all prepared now thankfully! All systems have been in place for a few months now, all previous mailing list subscribers who should be on our new list are all now on the new list.

There’s some drop-off of course, but nothing that we’re worried about. Our new list now contains a much more engaged audience, with open rates to reflect that; so overall we’re happy!

Initially a pain to have to do (esp. given we’re a free organisation so all the time we’ve put into all this admin hasn’t been remotely paid!) but long term, it’s made our new database much healthier, full of people who are active members etc.

#3

Thanks Richard. Good to read about such a positive experience especially with regard to your drop-off rate which I know many people are concerned about. Did most people on your old list subscribe to your new list straight away or did it take several asks?

#4

Yeah overall, although it was most definitely a pain and not something we were remotely relishing, the outcome has been worth the hassle.

Most of our key people (i.e. most engaged members) re-subbed straight away, then handfuls after further reminders to our old list. Roughly 25% re-subbed on first mention, then further batches of 5% p/month or so over the last few months.

So yes, although we’re roughly half the size of our old list now, there’s much more engagement - & it does now show how antiquated some of the old list’s data was with many on there - but open rates are the key thing - it’s gone from roughly 30% open rates to around 55-60% open rate.

(Although a while back I did read something to suggest that Mailchimp’s open rate figure isn’t totally accurate, and it’s most likely more than stated - something to do with people either double-clicking an email registering an ‘open’ as opposed to opening it with with one click, with the email’s content in the preview window on right hand side etc - it can somehow skew the figures…)

2 Likes
#5

This is so encouraging. It makes sense that you only want engaged members on your list - it’s much easier if your content is hitting the right spot.

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#6

Thanks for that insight Richard. Just about to start work on a database that goes back to the 1950s so will be interesting to see how that pans out on the re-consent front.

Good to know re Mailchimp too. I hadn’t heard that.

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#7

Absolutely right - the message seem to be much more effective now. Or at least, it feels like it is if anything else.

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#8

Any information on how to deal with GDPR when you’re using third party like Eventbrite to connect with customers?

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#9

From what @nick_lawson mentioned a while back, Eventbrite are updating their tools/plugins that connect to Mailchimp etc to be fully GDPR compliant, if that’s what you meant?

Not sure if I’ve seen if that’s all ready to go yet, hopefully Nick will be able to comment on current status of that.

For the moment, I’ve just disabled the Eventbrite>Mailchimp connection until it’s all compliant and hunky-dory again.

2 Likes
#11

Currently running round like a headless chicken trying to understand it all.

What are the key changes event organisors have to make to their mailing lists?
Any help will be much appreciated.
Tope

#12

Hi Tope, sorry to hear that you’re struggling. There’s so much information out there. It can be a bit overwhelming. Here are the 12 steps you need to cover off for GDPR: https://ico.org.uk/media/1624219/preparing-for-the-gdpr-12-steps.pdf

#14

Do you find you have better open and conversion rates from your marketing emails now?