7 Ways to Make Your Cold Emails GDPR-friendly in 2024

Jan 26, 2024

Frank Jenkins

Key Takeaways:

• Cold emailing is compliant with GDPR but you need to follow certain guidelines
• Cold emailing is legal in most countries
• You need to respect the recipients’ right to opt out and unsubscribe from your cold emails at any time.
• You need to write honest and relevant subject lines that match the content and purpose of your cold emails.
• You need to personalize your email content based on the recipients’ profile, industry, pain points, and goals.

Cold emailing is a powerful and cost-effective way to reach out to potential customers, partners, or investors. But how do you make sure your cold emails are compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?

The GDPR sets strict rules for how businesses can collect, process, and use personal data, including email addresses. If you want to avoid hefty fines and legal troubles, you need to follow these rules.

1. Identify your legitimate interest

The first step to send cold emails under the GDPR is to identify your legitimate interest. This means that you have a valid reason to contact them. And that your email is relevant and beneficial to them.

Legitimate interest is one of the six legal bases for processing personal data under the GDPR. It allows you to send cold emails without explicit consent. As long as you balance your interests with the recipients’ rights and expectations.

For example, you may have a legitimate interest to send cold emails if:

• You are offering a product or service that is similar or complementary to what the recipients are already using or looking for.
• You are providing valuable information or resources that can help the recipients solve a problem or achieve a goal.
• You are inviting the recipients to an event or a webinar that is related to their industry or interests.
• You are requesting feedback or participation in a survey or a research project that is relevant to the recipients.

However, you cannot rely on legitimate interest if:

• You are sending unsolicited promotional or marketing messages that are not related to the recipients’ needs or interests.
• You are contacting the recipients for purposes that are not aligned with the original context or source of their email address.
• You are sending cold emails to individuals who are not likely to benefit from your offer.

To use legitimate interest as a legal basis for sending cold emails, you need to document and justify your reasoning before you start your campaign. You need to conduct a legitimate interest assessment (LIA) that evaluates the necessity of your cold emailing activities.

You can use this LIA template from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to help you with this process.

2. Collect and store email addresses ethically

The next step to send cold emails under the GDPR is to collect and store email addresses ethically. This means that you need to obtain email addresses from reliable and transparent sources, and that you need to store and protect them securely.

To collect email addresses ethically, you need to use sources that are publicly available and that indicate the recipients’ professional role and interests. For example, you can use:

• Public directories or databases that list the contact details of businesses or professionals in your target market or niche.
• Social media platforms or networks that allow you to search and filter users by their industry, location, job title, or other criteria.
• Referrals or introductions from your existing customers, partners, or contacts who can vouch for you and your offer.

You should avoid buying or scraping email lists from dubious or illegal sources, as this violates the GDPR and can harm your reputation and deliverability.

To store email addresses securely, you need to use encryption, access control, and backup systems that prevent unauthorized access, loss, or damage to your data. You also need to keep records of how and when you obtained the email addresses, and how long you intend to keep them.

3. Provide clear and easy opt-out options

The third step to send cold emails under the GDPR is to provide clear and easy opt-out options. This means that you need to respect the recipients’ right to withdraw their consent at any time. And you need to honor their opt-out requests and remove them from your email list immediately.

To provide clear and easy opt-out options, you need to include an unsubscribe link in every cold email. You should also provide alternative ways for the recipients to opt out, such as replying to your email.

You should avoid making the opt-out process difficult or confusing, such as requiring the recipients to log in, fill out a form, or confirm their email address. You should also avoid hiding or obscuring the opt-out link or button, such as using a small font size, a low contrast color, or a misleading text.

You should honor the recipients’ opt-out requests and remove them from your email list immediately, and not send them any further emails. You should also update your records and inform any third parties that may have access to your email list of the opt-out requests.

4. Craft honest and relevant subject lines

The fourth step to send cold emails under the GDPR is to craft honest and relevant subject lines. This means that you need to write subject lines that are truthful and accurate, and that match the content and purpose of your email.

Subject lines are the first thing that the recipients see when they receive your cold email, and they play a crucial role in determining whether they open it or not. Therefore, you need to make sure your subject lines are:

• Honest: Do not make false claims, such as promising unrealistic results, offering free gifts, or implying urgency or scarcity. These tactics can violate the GDPR and damage your credibility, as well as trigger spam filters or lower engagement.
• Relevant: You should use phrases that match the recipients’ interests and needs. And that reflect the value proposition or benefit of your offer. If you can, you should also personalize your subject lines with the recipients’ name, company, or any other details.

Here are some examples of good and bad subject lines for cold emails, and why they are effective or ineffective:

• Good: Hi John, I have a question about your website. This subject line is honest and relevant, as it addresses the recipient by name, and it indicates the topic and purpose of the email. It also sparks curiosity and invites the recipient to open the email and find out more.
• Bad: URGENT: You need to see this before it’s too late. This subject line is dishonest and irrelevant, as it uses false urgency and scare tactics to manipulate the recipient. It also does not specify what the email is about or how it relates to the recipient. It is likely to be ignored or marked as spam.

5. Personalize your email content

The fifth step to send cold emails under the GDPR is to personalize your email content. This means that you need to use data and insights from your research and analysis to tailor your email content to the recipients’ profile, industry, pain points, and goals.

Personalization can make your cold emails more relevant, engaging, and respectful, and improve your response rates and conversions.

To personalize your email content, you need to:

• Show that you know the recipients and their context, such as their name, company, role, industry, location, or recent activity. For example, you can mention a blog post they wrote, a webinar they attended, or a problem they faced.
• Explain why you are contacting them and how you can help them, such as offering a solution, a resource, or an opportunity. For example, you can highlight a pain point they have, a goal they want to achieve, or a benefit they can get from your offer.
• Provide value and credibility, such as sharing a testimonial, a case study, or a statistic. For example, you can show how you helped a similar customer, how you achieved a remarkable result, or how you stand out from the competition.
• Include a clear and compelling call to action, such as asking a question, requesting a reply, or inviting them to a meeting. For example, you can ask for their opinion, feedback, or availability, or suggest a time and date for a call or a demo.

What happens if you can't personalize every cold email?

If you are sending huge volume of cold emails, personalizing each one would require a lot of time and effort. This could be expensive.

The good thing is that you can leverage AI tools to do this for you in a matter of seconds. Take for example eCold.ai - A tool that let's you personalize every cold email with AI in bulk. With this not only will you be complying with GDPR rules, but also increasing your reply rates by making sure every recipient feels the email was tailored specifically for them.

Here's how personalizing at scale works with eCold.ai:

• Upload your prospects' information in a csv
• eCold.ai looks at their LinkedIn for information
• The AI writes 6 unique personalization for each prospect
• You use your personalization inside your cold email script, ensuring every cold email is unique and personal
• All of this done in less than a minute

If it sounds too good to be true, you can check it out for free at eCold.ai.

6. Integrate your email with other platforms

The sixth step to send cold emails under the GDPR is to integrate your email with other platforms. This means that you need to use tools and software that can connect your email with your CRM, landing page, chatbot, social media, and other platforms, and track and measure your performance and results.

Integration can enhance your cold email strategy and provide a seamless and consistent customer journey across different platforms. By integrating your email with other platforms, you can:

• Automate and streamline your email workflow, such as sending personalized and timely emails, scheduling follow-ups, and updating your email list.
• Monitor and analyze your email metrics, such as open rates, click rates, response rates, and conversions, and optimize your email content and strategy accordingly.
• Provide value and convenience to the recipients by offering them multiple ways to interact and engage with you and your offer, such as visiting your landing page, chatting with your chatbot, following you on social media, or booking a meeting with you.

There are many tools and software that can help you integrate your email with other platforms, such as Mailchimp, HubSpot, Zapier, and Calendly. You can choose the ones that suit your needs and budget, and integrate them with your email platform.

7. Use AI-powered insights to optimize your email campaigns

The seventh and final step to send cold emails under the GDPR is to use AI-powered insights to optimize your email campaigns. This means that you need to use AI to leverage data and analytics to improve your cold email campaigns and achieve your goals.

AI can help you enhance your cold email strategy and results by providing you with insights and recommendations that are based on data and algorithms, rather than intuition or guesswork. By using AI, you can:

• Find the best time to send emails, based on the recipients’ behavior, location, and preferences, and increase your open and response rates.
• Craft effective subject lines, based on the recipients’ interests, needs, and emotions, and improve your click and conversion rates.
• Predict response rates, based on the recipients’ profile, industry, and pain points, and prioritize your email outreach and follow-up accordingly.

Leverage AI tools to stay ahead of the competition in this extremely competitive market. You can leverage AI in many ways like personalization, analytics, prospect scraping, automated follow ups, etc.

Conclusion

Sending cold emails under the GDPR can be challenging, but not impossible. By following these seven steps, you can ensure that your cold emails are compliant, ethical, and effective, and that you respect the recipients’ privacy and rights.

Cold emailing is a powerful and cost-effective way to reach out to potential customers, partners, or investors. But it also requires a lot of research, planning, and testing.