Effective commercial prospecting in compliance with the GDPR

Better commercial prospecting with GDPR compliance thanks to our 11 tips ⭐

Commercial prospecting and GDPR : The most talked-about topic on respecting personal data. 

Beliefs are manifold, everyone has an opinion. Each rule is considered independently of the others, leading to reasoning and decisions that are often erroneous❌. Sometimes even harmful to the actor making the decision:

• it avoids the use of useful data for commercial prospecting;
• achieves unnecessary development;
• is illegal.

 A study by Openprise shows that only 42% of marketers and salespeople are aware of GDPR rules and their applications to sales prospecting, marketing, selling.

1. If you're talking GDPR with a prospect, don't say THE GDPR but THE GDPR because it's ONE European regulation, not a regulation or a law. 📜

On the other hand, don't take Google's word for it, since it also gets it wrong by offering the answers "What's GDPR ?" or "What's the purpose of GDPR ?".

GDPR stands for "General Data Protection Regulation". 🚀

2. Commercial prospecting rules do not originate from the GDPR. ✅

They have existed in France since the European directive of 2002. The principle of "opt in" and "opt out" was introduced at that time, and incorporated into French law via article L34-5 of the CPCE .

"opt in": principle whereby an individual must give his or her prior and explicit consent before being the target of direct commercial prospecting.

"opt out": explicit information provided to the user of an e-mail address, at the time of collection of personal data, by a means immediately available to him, on the fact that he is likely to receive e-mails and that he can oppose this.

3. Opt in does not apply to all categories of commercial prospecting. ⭐

We need to distinguish between B2B and B2C commercial prospecting, as well as the type of commercial prospecting usede.g SMS, email, telephone and post). 

Opting in, i.e. the obligation to obtain prior consent, is only really necessary for SMS and e-mail.

B2C commercial canvassing by telephone is restricted by Bloctel, while commercial canvassing by post is unrestricted.

4. The checkbox is not always required for opt in. 📕

In B2C, opt-in is mandatory except :

• for clients to whom you offer similar products and services
• for prospects who have agreed to receive informatione.g newsletters, trade shows, webinars, etc.).

So there's no limit to contacting prospects who have signed up for a newsletter ❗

But it's important to always respect the opt-out.

If a client has already filled a shopping cart and registered with the service, you can send them a reminder. 🔥

5. Newsletter checkbox not required🔥

A newsletter only requires prior consent.

Use the "subscribe" button as a positive act, indicating underneath that by pressing it, they consent to receive the newsletter. You remove an action from your prospect.

6. In B2B, there is no opt-in if you are addressing people who have an interest in receiving your offer (e.g you can't sell fridges to a doctor). 📕

In all cases, however, the Opt Out must be respected.

 If you adhere to these conditions, you can collect all the relevant information you want on potential clients via Linkedin, the Internet, etc. and create your databases without limits.

Pay attention only to the comments in the CRMs.

7. You can keep clients data for more than 3 years under certain conditions. ✅

The legal Data retention period for commercial prospecting = 3 years from the last contact!

• For subscription or registration = works as long as it is subscribed or registered
• Excluding subscription or registration = with each new positive act by the prospect

8 . You do not need to request prior consent to store statistical data via cookies. 🔥

Opt-in applies to cookies used for tracking and targeted advertising.

Statistics tools are anonymous and do not fall under the GDPR regime!

9. Don't detail the nature of all your cookies in your Cookies Policy. 📜

Otherwise, the document will be difficult to update and complex for the reader to understand. Keep your communication simple but effective.

The GDPR only requires knowledge of the "categories of data" collected and the "categories of Data recipient" of the data. 🚀

You only need to inform us that you are using cookies, which may be used for operational, tracking or statistical purposes.

10. Do not think that the cookie banner and cookie policy are sufficient to comply with the GDPR. 🚀

 40% of users read privacy policies, which aim to inform them about the data collected, the purposes for which it is collected, the duration of Data retention , etc.

A good, clear and transparent policy improves your image!

11. Give yourself the image of a GDPR champion! ⭐

Use trusted labels to develop your business.

69% of French people no longer trust digital players.