As GDPR looms ever closer, we’re starting to see brands get ahead of the ‘Opt In/Opt Out’ game with their Email Marketing and they’re using some clever tactics to get you to consent directly. Here are a few emails we’ve received in the last couple of months;
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Picturehouse Cinemas
Picturehouse’s Duke’s at Komedia cinema in Brighton sent this email out to me recently after they’d scanned their data and noticed I hadn’t opened their emails in a while. I only visited the cinema on the off chance while I was in Brighton, so there’s an obvious reason why I ignored their emails most of the time and stick to opening my local Picturehouse emails.
The way that Duke’s at Komedia addressed this issue was to send a whimsical email quoting the cinema classic ‘Brief Encounter’, with the iconic image to go with it. They asked if I ‘could really say goodbye’ before admitting that they wouldn’t want to be clogging up my inbox. Duke’s at Komedia invited me to update my preferences by my own choices or I could unsubscribe (even though they’d be sorry to see me go).
A classy and very on brand way for a franchise cinema to address the complicated GDPR standards for opting in and out!
Skyscanner
Skyscanner used quite the unsubtle tactic to try and keep me subscribed – they unsubscribed me altogether (or at least that’s what they told me in the below email). By unsubscribing me they created an urgency that I didn’t know I needed for cheap flight deals. I didn’t want to be kept in the dark about super cheap flights! I hadn’t bothered opening their email shots in months but suddenly my fingers couldn’t have hit that green button faster. Clever move, Skyscanner!
It was a risky little game to play though… Skyscanner could find themselves inadvertently chopping their entire email database BUT they are giving people the real option to re-subscribe themselves. It’s down to you to click that green button.
Booking.com
Booking.com meshed the two examples above together – they used their brand personality, fear of missing out and the choice to choose whether you want to update your preferences or not.
The nice touch with this email is that they acknowledged that not everyone is travelling all of the time. But it also instils some urgency with the last line in the header box “if there’s a spot of travel in your future, you might want to start receiving our emails again so you can get a great deal” – this gives the reader a potential fear of missing out so they may be just as likely to stay with the emails than not.
Have you spotted any companies emailing you with similar subjects? It’s an easy way to start getting your current database up to date on email marketing preferences but on their terms, which is what GDPR is all about.
Disclaimer: This material is provided for your general information and is not intended to provide legal advice. To understand the full impact of the GDPR on any of your data processing activities please consult with an independent legal and/or privacy professional.
