Don’t ask for GDPR consent in Estate Agency Marketing

RAT 149 - You could lose your prospect database by asking subscribers for renewed consent? So don’t ask them!

Q: “What? Under the new GDPR regulations, I thought you had to get everyone on your database to re-consent to receive your marketing emails and property updates.”

 
A: This is a common misconception and a trap I nearly fell into myself, until attending an excellent seminar by the experts at Growthrack recently. My understanding is as follows:

1. If you ask people for consent and they don’t reply, you must treat them as if they had said NO, and delete them. With so many companies running scared and bombarding people with re-consent emails before the 25^th May GDPR compliance deadline, many people are just ignoring these, with the same effect as if they had said NO.
2. If you already have a legitimate mailing list, from people who have previously opted in compliantly or asked you to send them stuff about moving house, then you already have their consent. By asking for it again, not only are you admitting that you might not have their consent (or even worse, they unsubscribed, which is already an offence under the Data Protection Act), you are risking a “no reply”, thereby preventing you from ever contacting them again after 25th May
3. You should however ensure that anyone in your database is aware of any update to your Privacy Policy, and give them the opportunity to unsubscribe at every point of contact. There's loads of useful guidance on GDPR and PECR on the ICO's website at https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/ although watch out as it can be ambiguous. 
4. Finally, definitely don’t ask your actual vendor clients for consent! You are perfectly entitled to contact them under “Legitimate Interests" (possibly along with anyone else who has contacted you about property in the past!)  

Please note that the above is my opinion/understanding only as I’m no expert in this, but as I provide marketing content for estate agents, I have a vested interest in ensuring that my wonderful clients take fullest advantage of their ability to proactively manage their reputation and drive instructions, without big brother thwarting their commercial efforts!

Have a great day!

Richard

About the author: Richard Rawlings is a multi-award-winning estate agency trainer and consultant, and founder of EstateAgencyInsight.co.uk,  AgentMasterclass.co.uk, TheLeadHub.co.uk and SmartCanvassing.co.uk