On 25th May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect, which changed the way we store and use data.
The marketing and sales teams are responsible for all communication that goes out to leads and client contacts and it is imperative that we ensure we are using the data in the correct way and only emailing people who have explicitly expressed an interest in hearing from us. The three main areas of GDPR that affect sales and marketing include:
Data Permission
Ensuring leads and contacts have ‘opted-in’ to receiving our communications (emails / newsletters etc.). It is important that the lead / contact has expressed explicit consent to receive information from us in the future and we must be able to demonstrate that this is the case (i.e. how and when they opted in).
In the lead up to the new GDPR regulations, we sent a series of email campaigns that linked through to a sign-up form to drive ‘opt-ins’. We ensured that on all our campaigns and forms were clear about the information that we might send them and link through to our updated privacy policy.
Forms are accessed by leads and contacts via our website and allow the lead / contact to sign-up to some or all of the information we might send, including blog, events, information about QFM, Archibus and P3rform information and white papers. The recipient will also have the option of unsubscribing either directly on the email or by clicking a link, where the lead/contact can unsubscribe or change their opt-in preferences. The form also provides a link to SWG’s Privacy Policy, which contains details on how to unsubscribe.
We track and monitor opt-ins. We ensure that as and when we receive sign-ups or unsubscribes that preferences are updated.
If a lead / contact has requested information from us previously and has opted-in to receiving future information from us, this would count as opt-in provided they expressed interest within a 3 year period. As our sales cycle is lengthy, we deem this a reasonable period to hold their data and send them information. Any contact that we have not had active contact with for more than 3 years or that has not expressed recent interest via a sign-up form or telephone communication, will be deactivated from any e-mail marketing lists.
If a lead unsubscribes or changes their opt-in preferences via the Preferences Centre or via the link in an email, their details are automatically updated. If a lead unsubscribes or changes their opt-in preferences via direct email or telephone we manually update their details.
Once a contract is signed with SWG, client contacts are also added to the ERP system for the purposes of tracking sales orders, issuing invoices and recording customer payments.
Once a customer ceases to be an SWG customer, their data is deleted three years from their last contact.
Data Access
Any lead / contact we hold has the right to be forgotten. This means that any personal data we hold can be updated or removed from our systems at any time if they so wish. This allows individuals to have more control over how their data is collected, stored and used. We must ensure that this information is readily available at their request. We must also be clear that they have a right to forgotten at any time. All of our marketing emails and forms have a clearly visible unsubscribe link to allow this. N.B. opting out of being contacted is different to a request for erasure or to be forgotten.
Data Focus
We also have a legal requirement to justify the processing of personal data we collect and that we’re not storing unnecessary data.
Sales and Marketing GDPR Best Practice:
- Any data held by Service Works should not be shared with anyone else outside the company.
- Please do not save the data to a central file that is accessible to others.
- Data held internally is reviewed and deactivated and removed from mailing lists on a regular basis. Once a customer cease to be an SWG customer, their data is removed three years after their last contact.