New EU GDPR Rules All But Ends Unsolicited Email Marketing in Europe, and Everywhere Else

Europe’s new rules on data have had a devastating effect on businesses that rely on email marketing, according to a new report just published by CNBC.

The European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) hasn’t even been in effect for a month, but according to the newly published research the advent of GDPR is killing the email marketing game, as much as anything because consumers haven’t been opening the emails that ask them to stay opted in to continue receiving further correspondence.

Worryingly for email marketing as a whole, (but not the people who receive the emails), GDPR is having an effect worldwide, 

CNBC reported that up to 38% of Americans have ignored emails outright, with a large proportion of consumers using them as a chance to unsubscribe from email lists without any effort on their part.

The European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, went into effect on May 25

Large email lists have in recent years been turned into assets that are worth tens of millions of dollars. That value is being hit as the new rules shrink email lists. 

But isn’t GDPR a European thing? Why would that affect the USA or other countries around the world?

That’s a good question. But essentially the answer lies in the fact that Europe is a huge market place, and that international companies such as Google, or Facebook for example transcend national and regional boundaries.

Therefore, it’s been a lot easier for email marketers to simply use a blanket approach to avoid the heavy EU fines for GDPR transgressions, instead of micromanaging their billions of email addresses.

It’s also the reason why Facebook, (again for example), has decided to implement the same data-protection policies worldwide; it doesn’t want to get fined by the EU. Hence the reason that many Americans and others, have been receiving requests that they re-enroll in many email lists.

Email marketing is big money

CNBC estimate that the market will be worth some $22.16 billion by 2025. 82% of marketing companies use email marketing. As a result of GDPR, one marketing firm confirmed to CNBC that its clients have currently lost up to 80% of its contacts. 

The European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, went into effect on May 25. GDPR establishes higher standards for what is considered “consent” to receive marketing emails, especially for recipients who aren’t already customers, and it applies to interactions with EU residents and citizens.