{"id":32375,"date":"2018-07-05T09:23:45","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T16:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oroinc.com\/b2b-ecommerce\/?p=32375"},"modified":"2018-07-05T09:23:45","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T16:23:45","slug":"surveying-the-gdpr-aftermath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oroinc.com\/b2b-ecommerce\/blog\/surveying-the-gdpr-aftermath\/","title":{"rendered":"Surveying the GDPR Aftermath and Impact – OroCommerce Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been about a month since the <\/span>General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)<\/span><\/a> went into effect. In the months leading up to implementation, some companies were filled with escalating panic while others barely yawned. Now that the initial frenzy is over, let\u2019s assess GDPR impact, look at implementation hits and misses, and weigh actual GDPR consequences. <\/span><\/p>\n

GDPR Impact<\/span><\/h2>\n

There\u2019s no doubt. GDPR implementation was costly. According to Bloomberg, the estimated <\/span>cost for the largest 500 multinational companies to comply was upwards of $7.8 billion<\/span><\/a>. Countless hours of planning and implementing audit controls and security measures had to be complete before May 27. The largest companies designated a data protection officer, and some also designated a regulation liaison officer as well just to be safe. One German producer of bottling equipment had 60 people involved in the GDPR process. Smaller companies were faced with many of the same tasks but with far fewer resources. \u00a0<\/span>AuroraWatch<\/span><\/a>, a service of Lancaster University, operated with absolutely no commercial interests. When faced with the task of compliance, they opted to delete their database, stop sending emails, and just asked users to follow them on social media. The cost was simply too high. Clearly, there was plenty of panic and the GDPR impact was huge in terms of financial and human capital. <\/span><\/p>\n

GDPR Email Hits and Misses<\/span><\/h2>\n

GDPR was all about respecting privacy and securing personal information. As a result, marketers in the European Union (EU) were on the hunt for double opt-in consent to email and explicit user consent for website cookies. Companies that are not EU-based but may have their content seen by people in the EU or have EU residents on their email lists had to comply as well. <\/span><\/p>\n

Pundits proclaimed in the period before implementation that GDPR would kill email. To the contrary, one of the earliest GDPR consequences was the torrent of emails hitting inboxes worldwide as companies scrambled to get the necessary opt-ins for compliance. \u00a0When the torrent became a flood of epic proportions, jokes were inevitable.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"gdpr-aftermath\"<\/p>\n

Some companies like <\/span>MM.LaFleur<\/span><\/a> turned a regulatory requirement into opportunity and scored $4,000 in sales with their creative GDPR email. Now, that\u2019s not much for an email marketing campaign, but this was their <\/span>privacy policy email<\/b>. That\u2019s a most definite hit and a company that got it right. <\/span><\/p>\n

Not every company was so savvy. <\/span>Asos<\/span><\/a> was a clear miss. Twitter was filled with complaints about their incessant emails. As if that wasn\u2019t bad enough, some customers even received text messages in the wee hours of the morning. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

So effective<\/p>\n

— Brittaney Kiefer (@BrittaneyKiefer) May 25, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n