• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, January 18, 2018

Did you somehow believe that email marketers are among the most popular cut-ups in the world? They’re not so beloved, at least not in Europe. A study by HubSpot, reported today by eMarketer, shows that email is the second-most despised medium, right behind telemarketing.

Asked what actions they would take as GDPR approaches, 61% of European respondents said they would opt out of receiving phone calls from a company.

And 60% said they would spurn emails. In addition, 59% would ask a company to delete their records completely. 

That means you’re going to lose six out of ten email contacts and almost as many individual records. Gone. Why even stay in business?

This flies in the face of the research done by the UK Direct Marketing Association, showing that email is central to people’s lives, and that 49% will open emails from brands they recognize. What’s more, 44% have a separate email account for marketing communications.

However, it’s in line with the research reported yesterday from SAP Hybris, showing that Americans and Western Europeans are more suspicious of marketing than Asians and Latin Americans.

For its part, HubSpot surveyed 3,017 consumers in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 

Of that sample, 55% would opt out of having their information stored, and an equal percentage would ask to see all the data being held on them. Finally, 49% would reject retargeting ads.

Even more worrisome are the attitudinal findings that can be found by digging down on the HubSpot website. They show just how deeply GDPR has penetrated the European consciousness. 

The respondents agree with these statements:

• I don’t think companies should be able to contact me without my permission under any circumstances — 84%
• I would opt out of all communications with a company if I could — 73%
• I don’t think companies should store my personal data at all — 71%
• I would not buy from a company if they are not GDPR compliant — 71

• I expect to be notified promptly if a company suffers a data breach — 92%
• I want companies to be 100% transparent about how and when they’re going to use my data — 91%
• I am very careful about filling out a form on a website — 86%
• I feel like I am being tracked when I see ads from websites I’ve visited or products I’ve looked at — 85%
• Companies today are not handling personal data in a safe way — 75%
• I understand how companies can use my personal data for personalized marketing — 66% 

And HubSpot found that trust can accumulate. Of the consumers polled, 72% say that transparent companies are trustworthy, while 23% say very much so. (Of course, 21% say that transparency would have no impact on them).