Since 2016, the publication of GDPR by the European Union has tightened the conditions of use of personal data for commercial purposes. Obtaining the consent of a contact before canvassing them is therefore essential, in order to avoid legal proceedings. It is in this context that a company must ensure that it has a email opt-in procedure before sending its first campaigns. In this article, we will come back to what email opt-in is exactly, and how the law governs it. Then we will come back to the actions to be implemented to ensure your compliance with the law, without reducing your conversion rates.
Email opt-in: what is it?
email opt-in is a supervised procedure by which a company inquires about the consent of its contacts to send prospecting email campaigns. L’single email opt-in is to be distinguished from double opt-in and opt-out.
Opt-in: the basis of emailing consent
The law on the use of personal data requires the implementation of a procedure ofopt-in before’sending advertising by email, SMS, MMS or fax. We can summarize the opt-in as follows: if the recipient did not say “yes”, then it is “no”. There CNIL gives examples of notices to appear in the context of a email opt-in. For example, the following field can be displayed when a new contact subscribes to your newsletter : “ I agree that my email address will be used to receive commercial offers by email from the company *** “. This field must have a validation option (checkbox).
Other types of permissions
opt-out
L’opt out is a slightly different procedure for obtaining consent from a recipient for the use of their data. Its principle mirrors the opt-in: as long as a contact has not said “no” to the canvassing, then it is considered “yes”. Please note that the law provides that the opt-out mainly concerns canvassing by telephone and by paper mail. However, as an exception, there is a case where theopt-out is mandatory in emailing. This is the situation where the company approaches one of its customers who has already purchased from it products similar or analogous to those put forward.
The double opt-in
THE double opt in comes under a free procedure, which the law does not impose. It consists of inquiring about a recipient’s consent to the sending of promotions a second time, after registration. In practice, the double opt in is by email to send a welcome message to the new subscriber of a newsletter. In this welcome message, we introduce a confirmation link.
The subscriber must click on this link to confirm consent to receive messages and content. In fact, the double opt in is used for marketing purposes rather than legal. It guarantees in particular that the e-mail address given by the registered person is valid and used. This procedure renforce the health of a contact list And improves the deliverability of emailing campaigns. The double opt-in can also be a opportunity to quickly qualify your new contacts. In particular, you can take advantage of the welcome email to ask everyone what their interests are (related to your business).
Email opt-in and GDPR: What does the law say?
The opt-in procedure is legally framed, in particular by the GDPR for all possible registration in a database.
The purposes of the GDPR
GDPR is the acronym for General Data Protection Regulation. This document has been edited and published by the European Union, which thereby gave it the same force of law. In France, the CNIL is the organism that ensures compliance with its provisions. This committee investigates the practices of French companiesand may take legal action if deemed necessary.
L’purpose of GDPR is D’assure citizens of the European Union that their personal data is collected and used with transparency. For the European Parliament, this is a fundamental right that each State must guarantee. Gold, the email address is expressly part of the personal data whose use is governed by the GDPR.
Unequivocal consent
As we have seen, the GDPR requires companies to collect the consent of their contacts to the use of their personal data. Besides the definition of rigorous procedures (opt-in and opt-out)THE GDPR defines three essential criteria that every consent survey must meet :
- Clarity : it is meant without ambiguity that in case of consent, the email address of your contact will be used for commercial purposes;
- Transparency : a sentence informs your recipient of the exact way in which his email address will be used;
- Univocity : the sentence is formulated in such a way as not to mislead (no double negative in particular).
To have : How to make a free newsletter
For who ?
THE GDPR protects consumer rights. Therefore, these are the B2C companies who must observe its provisions. In the context of B2B, theopt-out remains the principle for prospecting by email.
The case of B2C advertising messages
In economics, we distinguish between B2B businesses of the B2C businesses. The quality of B2CBusiness to Consumer, is that of the company selling products and services to individuals. Conversely, the quality of B2BBusiness to Business, is that of the company selling its services to other companies.
It turns out that the GDPR only hears for the moment protect consumer rights. In other words, its provisions apply to B2C businesses. There legislation therefore remains much more flexible with regard to canvassing businesses. In this regard, theopt out rest of principle:company is assumed to be consenting in the absence of clarification to the contrary.
Similarly, canvassing for charitable purposes falls within a more flexible legal framework. Let us recall it once again: the GDPR only protects consumer rights. However, the contributor of an association is not defined as such. Thus, an association can freely solicit contacts and also stick to an opt-out procedure.
In addition, the GDPR also defines the rules for unsubscribe. THE right to withdraw consent must be guaranteed at any time to the consumer, and this is not to be confused with the opt-out procedure. In other words, a contact who opted in must still benefit in each email received an unsubscribe link. It is obligatory and the company which does not respect this constraint is in violation of the law.
Finally, it is important tomention the protection of minors, which the GDPR has come to reinforce. Indeed, the GDPR specifies that the information provided during the consent survey must be able to be understood by a minor (which refers to the clarity requirement seen earlier in this post). In addition, the authorization of a legal guardian is required to consent to the receipt of advertising messages by email when the minor is under 16 years old.
Email opt-in: 4 actions not to be missed
Let’s now see the 4 actions you should not miss to ensure that your opt-in procedures comply with the law.
1- Collect preferences in separate lists
If your email marketing strategy employs several different processes, consent to one does not necessarily imply consent to the other. For example, one of your contacts may have consented to receiving a newsletter, but not to receiving automated commercial emails (relaunch of abandoned carts, retargeting, etc.). The converse can also be true. However, different degrees of consent can coexist in the same contact list, especially if your company has recently changed its marketing strategy. In order not to risk confusion, it is therefore important to segment your email lists according to the consents collected. A voucher emailing software lets just do it.
2- Propose an unsubscribe link in each email
As we mentioned earlier, the presence of an unsubscribe link in any commercial email is a legal obligation. It is therefore necessary to make sure to introduce this link.
Moreover, ensuring this is actually beneficial in terms of marketing. Indeed, theThe contact who wants to unsubscribe will probably never buy anything from your company.. On the other hand, if you do not allow him to do so easily, he may file a complaint. However, a complaint can cause a sanction from your sending server and an increased risk of rebound. Hence the importance of well targeted Internet users who might be interested in your content.
3- Keep the (precious) permissions
In addition, there is no point in asking about the consent of your contacts if you cannot prove that you had this consent. Saving permissions will therefore ensure that you are protected from potential penalties.. In addition, it can facilitate the transfer of a contact list from one autoresponder to another, the latter now overseeing the way their customers manage their databases.
4- Notify your list of data processing and storage
Finally, the GDPR also requires you to notify your contacts of the processing of their personal data., in the event of a major change in procedures. For example, if you decide to store their data on servers located outside the European Community area, you have to let them know. The same applies if you change providers to manage your email marketing.
FAQ – opt-in email
What are the penalties for non-compliance with the opt-in and opt-out rules?
THE penalties are potentially high. French law provides for a possible suspension of the company’s website, with or without a fine of up to 4% of turnover, up to a limit of €20 million. In 2022, a French hotel group was condemned by the CNIL to pay a fine of €600,000, among other things for non-compliance with theopt-in.
What are the good reasons to use the double opt-in?
THE double opt in lets first ensure that your emails do not reach the spam filter of your new subscribers. In fact, you can invite them as part of a welcome email to add your company to their list of trusted contacts.
Furthermore, the double opt in assures you that the email addresses you collect are alive (they exist and are used). This ensures better deliverability. However, courier services are based on email deliverability to rate the quality of your domains and outgoing servers. This therefore also limits the risk of seeing your prospecting campaigns classified as spam.
What about B2B email marketing and opt-out?
Like charitable prospecting, theB2B email marketing is only subject to a opt-out obligation. In other words, the company that approaches must grant its contacts the possibility of indicating their non-consent to receive new emails. On the other hand, the consent survey does not need to be conducted prior to sending the first commercial message.