Commentary

The Adobe Formula For GDPR Compliance

GDPR is here, but email marketers are dealing with it in different ways, depending on their level of risk. Many are trying to comply using tools such as Adobe Campaign.

It’s a good market to be in: Of companies recently surveyed by TrustArc, over half are relying on outside vendors for tools to automate data privacy. And Adobe is right there.

For insights on how Adobe Campaign works — and on GDPR in general — Email Insider interviewed Matt Rawding, senior product marketing manager, Adobe Campaign. 

MediaPost: What is happening with GDPR? 

Matt Rawding: There is a lot of anxiety for brands that see it as more regulation and compliance. But we see it as an opportunity to strengthen consumer loyalty and create the kind of personal engagement that individuals want.

MediaPost: How is Adobe helping them do that?

Rawding: Adobe Campaign is the campaign orchestration engine of the Adobe Experience Cloud. It allows brands to manage their communications with customers in email and any channel on a personalized, one-to-one basis. And it’s GDPR-compliant.

MP: What constitutes GDPR compliance?

Rawding: The first thing brands should be aware of under GDPR is  that it expands the definition of personal data, so they need to revisit the data they’ve collected. Another big caution is around consent. GDPR doesn’t change when you need to collect consent, but it does change how—it has to be unbundled and unambiguous, and it has to be for each purpose for which you use data.

MP: Who is subject to GDPR?

Rawding: GDPR applies to any brand that houses data about individuals in the EU. We’ve seen it more focused around companies based in the EU, but we also have seen it with companies in America. For example, we have a retailer focused on navigation equipment: It has built a dedicated part of the account portal on its web site, which allows them to see their data.

Two of the new individual rights that are strengthened by GDPR are the ability to access all the data a brand has about them and to delete the data it has. This brand allows the subject to log in and say, ‘Show me all data,’ and it’s integrated directly with Adobe with our API.’

MP: Is everyone providing that level of granular choice?

Rawding: Brands are implementing GPDR in different ways. For companies that are a little less sophisticated, they can still comply through manual processes — the end goal is the same.

MP: What determines that? 

Rawding: A lot of factors play into a firm’s response. Some are taking a more risk-based approach, determining what level of integration they need. Companies will have different volumes of requests coming in from data subjects. For companies that don’t anticipate a million in one day, or too many to handle manually, they de-prioritize an automated approach. Adobe can help them with that. 

MP: Are consumers opting out of emails under GDPR?

Rawding: We’re still really in the early stages of GDPR, so it’s probably too soon to draw any strong conclusions. We’ve seen anxiety from brands, but it’s not that they’re overly concerned with GDPR specifically — when customers opt out, it’s an indication that brands are not listening to them.

Even outside of GDPR, it’s important to be sure they’re giving individual to right opportunity to have their voice heard. That’s the biggest focus for brands, and GDPR is just another way of enforcing that.

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