4 Examples of Amazing Re-permissioning Opt-In Emails
In recent months I’ve spent quite a bit of time working with various companies on compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). During that period, many businesses chose to ensure compliance through what are known as re-permissioning campaigns. These are essentially campaigns in which the customer re-affirms their “freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous” consent to receive communications - to quote the language of the GDPR law itself.
Whilst GDPR day may be behind us now, there are still many times where you might want to re-engage with old contacts and refresh your acquaintances. So, I’ve selected a few of the best ideas and campaigns that I found to share with you.
1. Empower the customer
To start off with, let’s take a look at ASOS’s recent campaign. It stands out for one main reason: clarity. ASOS’s email is a clean, minimalist and aesthetically pleasing design which nevertheless communicates the most essential information in a way that conveys two important messages.
The first message is that time is of the essence, which is trumpeted by a scrolling text bar at the top of the email that says ‘the law is changing’.
The second message is then even more important. In several ways, they tell us that the email is not soliciting information, but offering them greater control. The message announces ‘You’re in control’, then explains the GDPR in brief and tells email recipients what messages they have opted-into already.
The content of this re-permissioning email frames the message as a way to empower the consumer, rather than letting them think of it as another annoyance in their inbox.
2. Make it part of something
Here are several examples of firms including their re-permissioning request within emails that are offering other interesting and valuable content:
The biggest benefit of this approach is that it entices customers with the sort of interesting content that they signed up to see in the first place.
However, since many customers give these kinds of emails a cursory scan, this approach is less likely to earn a re-permission than the clear ASOS approach. You’ll notice that each email includes the re-permission opt-in highlighted in a button for extra visibility. This approach is good, but it may require another email.
3. Don’t be afraid to follow up
Naturally, we have had to carry out our own re-permissioning campaign. For our own campaign we chose to open the campaign with a personalised email explaining the nature of the GDPR and why we need our subscribers to opt-in.
However, since not everyone is going to respond to the first appeal, we sent out a second and third email. All of them offered a simple choice of yes or no, with the affirmative choice in an eye-catching green and the negative in red.
4. Think outside the inbox
Ultimately, email re-permissioning isn’t your only option. The Manchester United website, for example, allows football fans to opt-in on their website. The site enumerates all the benefits that subscribers can enjoy, including news and exclusive content.
One of the primary reasons for anxiety around a permission passing campaign is the amount of work involved. However, A/B testing an email campaign is relatively simple, and segmenting your customer base can be done along pre-existing lines: what sort of goods and services they’ve purchased from you, how frequent a customer they are, etc.
So where next?
A lot of companies despise the idea of drastically culling their email list, but to me this is a blessing in disguise. As a marketer, I now know that those customers who consent are more interested and engaged with our brand. And ultimately, that should translate to a higher click-through and interest rates.
If you want my advice, don’t look at it as removing possible customers. But instead, see it as improving the quality of your prospects!
