How to Speak Data under GDPR

How to Speak Data under GDPR

The EU’s General data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been getting a lot of air time for a while now. Some marketers may already be clued up on the regulation and what it means for their departments. Others, however, may not even know where to begin.

The requirements under GDPR govern how businesses used consumer data and this will have a big impact on marketers. Under the new rule, marketers will now have to gain explicit, informed consent for all uses of personal data. That means that you’re going to have to get permission from your customers to send any marketing communications or undertake any data analysis. Furthermore, you’re also going to have to explain in simple terms exactly what you plan to do with your customers’ data, and that includes the algorithms you intend to use.

There are high stakes for marketers who fail to comply with the regulation by the May 2018 deadline – a potential €20 million or 4% of global revenue fine, whichever is greater.

To complicate things further, marketers will not only have to explain complex subjects like data science and algorithms to adults but, when using their data, children and their parents/guardians too.

So how do you begin to broach this subject with your customers? As any marketer worth their salt knows, you cannot explain something clearly enough if you don’t understand it fully yourself. You don’t have to become a data scientist overnight, but having a basic grasp of how algorithms work and what data scientists are doing to your consumers’ data is a good starting point.

You also need to understand your audience and ensure everyone is catered for. One good way to do this is to keep using examples so those with slightly less technical knowledge can keep up with what you’re saying. You’re also not restricted to just explaining things through words, as the saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words and videos can help make an otherwise dry subject more palatable.

It also goes without saying that you should avoid industry-specific jargon, buzzwords and acronyms as much as possible. It can also be tempting to only focus in on the technical stuff, but some people may not be interested in that. Explain to them why you need to use their data and what they get out of it. Every marketer needs to use data, at the very least to help personalise and target campaigns. Explaining to a customer that without their data they’re more likely to receive irrelevant messages could go some way in gaining their consent.

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