GDPR Compliant Data

Who can I email?

Email marketing is currently governed by the Privacy and Electronics Communications Regulations (PECR). The UK GDPR still applies as it covers the processing of personal data in a general sense (note PECR is due to be replaced by the ePrivacy Regulation but this has been delayed and there is no date yet as to when this is likely to happen).

Licensed (bought-in) data

An email address at work is personal data, whether that email address is a corporate one or that of an employee of a sole trader/partnership. The UK GDPR applies to the processing of the email address. The difference between sole traders/partnerships and corporates comes when you look at PECR.

PECR deals with gaining permission to send marketing by email. The general rule is that you must gain prior consent to send a marketing email. However, in a B2B environment, there is an exemption for employees of corporates, and you can send a marketing email to these individuals without their prior consent.

Confusion often arises over the meaning of B2B marketing in relation to email campaigns. In an email environment, B2B marketing does not include sole traders and partnerships. You need to gain consent for your organisation and your products/services in order to email sole traders and partnerships, as these are treated in the same way as consumers. Be very careful not to get caught out by this when licensing third party data by making sure your supplier is only providing emails for B2B marketing.

In summary, email addresses of corporate employees can be licensed for third party email campaigns. Legitimate interests can be used to process this personal data as long as all the following criteria are fulfilled:

• A corporate is defined as a limited company, public limited company, limited liability partnership or government departments and can be emailed without prior consent (eg. [email protected]).
• Employees of corporates must be given the option to easily unsubscribe or opt-out from receiving email marketing.
• The product or service being promoted can be purchased by the recipient in a professional capacity.
• The sender must identify itself and provide contact details.

Marketscan holds one of the largest, legally-compliant email feeds in the UK. The emails supplied by Marketscan for third party direct marketing are all corporate emails and meet the requirements of the UK GDPR.

1) Corporate bodies

Any existing customer OR prospect that is a corporate body (a limited company, public limited company, limited liability partnership or government departments) could be emailed using the legitimate interest route.

When emailing a corporate, you must a) give them the option to easily unsubscribe from receiving further communications, b) the product or service being promoted must be able to be purchased by the recipient in a professional capacity and c) you must identify your company and provide contact details.

It is also good practice, and good business sense, to keep a ‘do not email’ list of any businesses that object or opt out and screen any new marketing lists against it.

Further guidance on legitimate interest and whether it’s right for your business can be found on the ICO’s website.

2) Sole traders and partnerships   

There are 2 options for emailing sole traders and partnerships (ie. a non-corporate body):

1. A) You can email existing customers if they bought a similar product from you in the past and didn’t opt out from marketing messages when you gave them that chance. This is known as the ‘soft opt-in’ but does not apply to non-commercial promotions (eg. charity fundraising or political campaigning). You must include an opt-out or unsubscribe option in each message and you must identify your company and provide contact details.
2. B) You can email existing customers OR prospects if they have specifically consented to receiving emails from you – for example, by ticking an opt-in box. You must include an opt-out or unsubscribe option in each message and you must identify your company and provide contact details.