All posts by : janinepaterson

… can be a great way to find new customers

As you know, using personal data to generate leads for your business is a great way to grow your sales, but it’s so important that it’s legal and respectful of people’s privacy.

There are rules about how you can collect and use personal data, and it’s important to follow these rules to avoid getting into trouble.

Consider these to help you stay within the law:

Get people’s permission:

Before you use someone’s personal data, you need their permission. This could be asking for their consent, if that is required, or otherwise making sure they’re okay with receiving your marketing.

Be clear about what you’re doing:

People need to know how you’re using their data. Be clear and open about what you’re doing with it.

Only collect what you need:

Don’t collect more data than you need. Stick to the information that’s relevant to your business and make sure you’re only using it for the purposes you said you would.

Keep the data up to date:

It’s important that the data you have is accurate and up to date. Review your data regularly and make any necessary changes.

Make sure people can opt-out:

If someone changes their mind about receiving marketing messages from you, make sure it’s easy for them to opt-out.

Following these tips will help you use personal data for lead generation in a way that’s within the rules, but also in a way your customers would expect.

Fascinating!  

Marketing is such an interesting world and I’m always interested in understanding how people see advertising and understand the impact good, compliant marketing can have.

So I’m keen to read any research on the subject, especially when its looks into what works and what doesn’t, and the whys of that.

I saw the results of research into the impact of customer selfies has on 3 areas:

• Increasing sales of a product
• Increasing customer engagement, and
• Increasing brand reach.

Encouraging your customers to do your marketing for you is a great part of your marketing mix, but which images you use will depend on the goal of your campaign.

• If you want more sales, you need to encourage your customers to post images of them holding your product, with nothing else.

When we see a hand holding a product, we can imagine ourselves holding it, and this increases our desire for it.

However

• If you want your customers to be more engaged with your brand or you want to increase your brand’s reach, selfies with your customer’s face and the product are the way to go.

When we see a person’s face and the product, we perceive it belongs to them. We don’t see it as ours, but if it is something we desire, we will feel more social and want to engage with the image and the brand behind it.

It will depend on what you are selling (there are always caveats in research ?) but this shows the interaction between marketing and psychology.

Marketing is all about knowing your customers and clients and understanding what they want, which you can deliver.

It is also about knowing the rules you need to follow when providing your customers with their desires.

So if you need help with the psychological side of marketing, don’t ask me. I have some understanding of this, as I find it so amazing, but I don’t have the expertise.

But if you want help with understanding the rules, you are in exactly the right place.

Consent vs legitimate interests

A big part of GDPR compliance is the legal basis you rely on for using people’s data.

There are 6 in total, but for marketing only 2 will apply.

1. Consent.

You can choose to use consent or you may have to (automated calls and emails/text messages where the soft opt-in doesn’t apply).

When using consent, remember:

1. It must be freely given – there must be a choice, either yes or no. You can’t tie up marketing consent in your terms and conditions for your services.
2. The consent needs to be specific and informed – you need to explain exactly what the person is consenting to, so an email newsletter or general marketing emails sent every day.
3. Be unambiguous in the words you use – it should be obvious what they have agreed to.

You can collect consent from your customers and prospects directly, or consent can be obtained on your behalf by a 3^rd party. Make sure the 3^rd party collects the consent legally otherwise you will not be able to contact those people.

Consent can degrade over time. Sometimes because it was obtained for a particular purpose, say an event and therefore once the event has taken place the consent will end, or over time. If you have consent for general marketing, you need to regularly communicate otherwise the consent will expire.

• Legitimate interests.

You can look at legitimate interests if you don’t have to use consent. You need to show that your proposed use of peoples’ data is proportionate, has minimal privacy impact and is something the individual would expect or wouldn’t object to.

You need to justify using legitimate interests by following the 3 step test.

1. Purpose – why do you want to use peoples’ data for your marketing? This could be for gaining new customers or launching a new product.
2. Necessity – is it necessary to use the data in this way to achieve your goal? Is there another way without using the data?
3. Balancing – you should weigh up the needs of the business to carry out the marketing with the interests of the proposed recipients.

If you want to use legitimate interests, you need to tell people when you collect their data and allow them to opt-out. As with consent, a 3^rd party can obtain permission on your behalf to use legitimate interests.

Deciding which one to use is not always straightforward. But make sure you comply with the rules, whichever you decide, is important to your bank balance and your company’s reputation.

… whatever they apply to

I witnessed something the other day that got me thinking about rules.

We have all sorts of rules that govern our personal and business lives. Rules to keep us safe, help us achieve goals and ensure fair play for all.

But I realised that there are so many rules, that people can start to ignore them, or decide they won’t get caught.

I was out walking the dog with my husband. We had come around the normal route and were heading back up the hill to our home.

As we walked, a Range Rover passed us, at a fair speed (the limit is 30mph), but it was more what the driver was doing that left me speechless.

He was holding the steering wheel with his right hand, and in his left, holding it right in front of his face was a mobile phone! ?

To say I was flabbergasted is an understatement. The potential consequences of his actions are unthinkable and could have lifelong effects.

We all know you shouldn’t drive holding a mobile but people still do.

We don’t have many police cars come through the hamlet where we live, so maybe he thought he wouldn’t be caught.

In business, people feel that the chances of a visit from the ICO are very slim, so pushing the rules seems justifiable if the rewards stack up.

But one mistake could have a major impact on you and your business, and trying to keep just on the right side of legal can be stressful.

The rules are there for everyone’s benefit. They can be a little grey when it comes to marketing and advertising law, and there is scope for a little flexible thinking, but you do need to know and understand how far you can go.

It depends on the circumstances.

I thought I would go a little off-piste from the Direct Marketing Guidance as I read an interesting ICO case on a fundamental part of the rules around marketing.

The rules in the GDPR only apply if you use personal data in your marketing.

So what is personal data?

“any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual”

So, your name, address and your email address count, but in a recent Freedom of Information case, the ICO had to decide whether the name of a police dog was personal data.

The case concerned an incident where a police dog injured a woman at an illegal rave.

The woman requested information from the Avon and Somerset Constabulary (ASC) as part of a complaint she’d filed.

 ASC ruled that the information requested:

1. Name of the dog
2. Name and force number of the dog handler
3. The handler’s qualifications and training records.

was subject to an exemption from disclosure as there was an ongoing investigation and the information was personal data.

The ICO agreed that 2 was obviously personal data and felt that 3 was capable of being disclosed in an anonymous form, therefore removing any personal data.

The question regarding the name of the dog remained.

Due to the nature of the relationship between a dog and his handler, which is a very personal bond, the handler’s colleagues would definitely know who he was, and it was likely that others outside the police force would also be able to identify him from his dog’s name. The ICO, therefore, concluded that the dog’s name was personal data and was therefore exempt from disclosure.

Most of the time what is personal data is clear, and it’s likely that your dog’s name would count (especially if they are well known in your area, as is my dog, all the neighbours love him and know he is ours!).

However, this case shows that it can be a very subjective decision and dependent on the specific circumstances. When it’s not straightforward it can leave you with a question – do the direct marketing rules apply?

PS. It’s unlikely a cat, pet rabbit or gerbil would have the same relationship with its owner to allow someone to identify them, but you never know ?

..the data says you’re more likely to crash.

People use data in all sorts of ways and when used properly it’s a great tool to build your business by reaching people who want to buy your stuff.

But to do this we need to talk to our ideal customer, so we use data to try and understand their worries, feelings and what they really want.

However, I’ve found the quality of data available varies considerably and therefore what you can learn from a data set can be, in short, not a lot.

Take the colour of cars for example. Data has shown that red cars are the most likely to be involved in accidents! ?

This seems strange at first glance. A red car is hard to miss on the roads, being bright and distinctive, whereas the least likely car to be involved in a crash, grey could easily fade into the background of our concrete roads.

However, if you look deeper and apply a little knowledge of human behaviour and psychology, you can better understand the data.

If a person buys a sports car, it is more likely to be red (although I had a British racing green one in my twenties – however it was an MG and there is no other colour for them in my opinion ?).

And people who buy sports cars tend to be younger, have certain behaviours and buy the car for a specific reason, so may test the car’s speed range and not drive as defensively as others. (I will say this was not me!)

It’s not that every young person that buys a red sports car will be involved in a crash, but this is one story the data appears to be telling.

So it shows us that we have to be careful when using data to make decisions in our businesses, and especially in our marketing. We need to look behind those headlines and add a little pinch of salt.

Service vs marketing

One area of direct marketing that seems to cause companies to fall foul of the rules is sending a marketing message thinking it’s a service one.

The rules don’t stop you from talking to your customers.

They need to know things that impact their relationship with you. How they can contact you, the terms that apply to the services you provide, and when those change, how to make an appointment, the status of their order and a million other questions that arise in relation to you and them.

So there is no problem sending a message about any of this as these are service messages.

And I’m sure you know that at the other end, sending information about your products and services or additional options for them to buy what you sell is a marketing message.

What can be a little greyer is the space where these two meet.

Let’s look at an ICO decision on service vs marketing messages.

Halfords sent nearly half a million emails promoting the Government’s “Fix your Bike” scheme. The scheme gave vouchers of up to £50 to cyclists towards the cost of bike repairs. The vouchers could be used with any bike repairer or mechanic that had registered with the scheme.

The email referenced the voucher scheme and encouraged the recipient to book a free bike assessment and redeem the voucher at their local Halfords store. The email also stated, “This is a service message and does not affect your marketing opt-in status”.

Halfords said they were using legitimate interests as their basis for sending the emails as the customers had bought a bike from them within the previous 3 years and may be eligible for the scheme. They sent 498,062 emails to customers who had not opted into marketing.

The ICO found that the message was direct marketing. The emails directed recipients to the Halfords website and encouraged them to bring their bike and the voucher to their local store for a free assessment. They were fined £30k.

Reading the monetary penalty notice, it is clear that Halfords were promoting themselves as well as the Government scheme, so this was going to be marketing.

Perhaps if they had purely provided the information about the scheme and stated they were participating as a minor part of the email, there would have been a different outcome.

This case followed that of American Express which sent 4 million emails to customers explaining the benefits of using their Amex cards. They argued that customers would be disadvantaged if they were not aware of how to make the best use of the cards.

You are probably not surprised that the ICO didn’t take this as a defence to breaching PECR. Instead, they fined them £90k.

Getting the balance right when you want to send a service message is not always straightforward, but with a little help, you can find the right line.

What is direct marketing?

Right, the ICO’s Direct Marketing Guidance. Let’s start at the beginning.

As you know, if you are undertaking direct marketing, you need to follow the rules.

So what is direct marketing? The legal definition is in the Data Protection Act 2018:

“the communication (by whatever means) of advertising or marketing material which is directed to particular individuals”

 Let’s break this down.

 Communication: this is straightforward, any email, text, phone call, direct mail, post on social media, or information on your website. This will also cover any comms that haven’t been invented yet!

 Advertising/marketing: this has a very wide definition and covers any advertising, promotions and marketing materials. It covers the commercial marketing of your products and services, as you would expect, but it also includes the promotion of your aims, ideals, passions etc, so this will include fundraising or political messages, and any corporate initiatives.

This means charities and political parties are captured, but also any company sponsorship of a charity or a local community group. Sainsbury’s for example has a tie in with Red Nose Day, selling the merchandise and raising funds in their stores, so comms about this will be marketing.

 Directed to individuals: this is where some marketing falls out of scope.

The message must to directed at 1 person or a group of people. So an email or a phone call to a particular person or a piece of direct mail addressed to any individual will be covered.

But, an unaddressed envelope containing marketing delivered to all houses on a road or a leaflet placed in every parcel sent by a retailer to their customers will normally be exempt.

However, just because there is no name and address on the envelope or the leaflet is not personalised doesn’t mean it’s not “directed at” an individual or group.

This is because direct marketing doesn’t just mean the message sent; everything you do for “direct marketing purposes” is included.

So using lead generation to find prospects, screening data, and profiling will be covered.

Therefore, if you profile your current customers to find potential new ones, you can’t just send unaddressed marketing to them and avoid the rules. The profiling was for “direct marketing purposes” so the message you send has to comply.

So it’s not just the message itself that will be direct marketing, but everything you do beforehand.

Not bad for a recipe!

I’m sure you’d be ecstatic if a post of yours on social media was this successful.

The New York Times has an online cooking section where chefs from all over the world and from many cuisines offer recipes.

They have had Coconut Chicken Curry, Kung Pao Cauliflower and Youvarlakia Augolemono (Lemony Greek Meatball Soup to us non-chefs).

But 1 recipe has remained a favourite for nearly 20 years since it was published in 1994.

Molly O’Neil’s Old Fashioned Beef Stew is a dish that won’t appear on Instagram and needs only 4 main ingredients (plus some store cupboard essentials). No other recipe has come near in terms of popularity. In 2022 alone it averaged 18,000 hits a day, something many food brands can only dream of!

I read about this with a little amusement. I love a great stew, especially when the weather is cold and miserable, as it can really improve both body and soul.

But there’s an opinion out there that if something has a few miles on the clock, it needs updating or worse still replacing. This is something I’ve heard more than I’ve had hot dinners! So many “experts” on social media talk about the “next big thing” and how we need to innovate and improve.

Sometimes you do need to move with the times and take advantage of new technologies and opportunities that allow you to improve how you or your systems work, and sometimes you may be forced into a change to comply with new laws.

However, sometimes the old adage “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” is a sensible option, even in this day and age.

The trick is knowing when to stick with what works and when you should look to update how you do things.

Especially if you live in London

I read the other day that there are thousands of laws, some dating back to medieval times, that are still on the statute books in the UK.

There are many that apply in London, so beware if you want to carry a wooden plank or ladder along a pavement or need to beat your dusty rugs in the street, as both of these are illegal under the Metropolitan Police Act of 1839.

Others apply throughout the UK.

You need a licence if you want to have more than one “lunatic” in your home under the Madhouses Act 1774, you can’t ask your friend for change for the parking meter as this is illegal begging under the Vagrancy Act 1824, and under the Town Police Clauses Act 1847, you’re not allowed to keep pigs in plain view on your lawn (unless you build a big wall)!

Some of these offences seem very much of their time, but others have been passed in the last 30 years.

I think it is common knowledge that you can’t open someone else’s post, but did you know that it’s also illegal to delay the post, so be careful how long you spend talking with the postman!

And if you live in Daventry and own a dog, you need to make sure you have at least 1 spare poo bag in your pocket. If you don’t, you risk a £100 fine is found out under a local bylaw passed in 2015.

Personally, I don’t think we need to worry about these, as the police have more than enough “normal” offences being committed to keep them occupied.

But what may worry you is complying with all the laws and regulations that govern running your business, including your marketing and advertising activities.

As they say: “you don’t know what you don’t know”.

So you need to speak to an expert who does know.