It is looking likely that the EU Data Protection Legislation will come into effect at some point in 2015. The basic principle of the legislation is that everyone in the EU will have the right to the protection of personal data. Whilst I am sure that everyone would agree with the principle, the measures and controls will have an impact on how we use data in providing personalised web content and in particular the use of PURLs.

The original EU Data Protection Directive, which has been in force since 1995, sets out some simple principles surrounding data transparency, data collation and how this data is used or processed. This more often than not has worked for responsible marketers in the past, so why the change now?

The 1995 directive came into force at a time when most marketers would use traditional offline direct marketing channels and when digital marketing was very much in its infancy. There has been massive technological change over the past decade, particularly with the internet being an everyday experience for many people.

Under the new proposed EU Data Protection Regulation, the changes mainly centre around this concern of Internet-based data sharing. In effect, personal data will be the property of the person the data is about. As a result, any business using personalised websites and personalised web content, will need to alter their operating procedures accordingly.

You'll need to ask for permission to do things which you currently take for granted, such as adding customers to mailing lists and sending them marketing communications. You must also get permission to use your customers’ personal, behavioural, purchase and preference data to tailor a website or send them personalised and targeted emails. This applies to both B2B and B2B marketers.

So now is a good time to communicate with your customers and prospects in order to get their consent to use their data for marketing and digital communications. In fact, an opt-in PURL campaign might be the answer. You could drive people to a personalised opt-in page whereby each customer and prospect can opt-in to each type of marketing communication and set their preferences.

If you would like to find out more, talk to us now!