What does no marketing consent mean for your business?

Following the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation on 25th May 2018, you will no longer be able to contact your customers without prior recorded marketing consent, unless it is to conduct an annual review.

Here’s an overview of the activities you cannot carry out without recorded marketing consent:

Call, email, text or write to your clients for the following reasons …

• to offer new/additional services
• to ask for referrals
• to communicate with regularly to bridge-the-gap between their next transaction
• to contact to assist with another property in their portfolio

There are some grey areas where we are waiting for further clarification from the ICO, such as contacting your customers when their product is due to expire as there is a strong argument that this is a key part of protecting your customer under Treating Customers Fairly (TCF).

How can marketing consent be collected?

Existing Customers
Call all of your customers before the 25th May 2018 and ask them to confirm whether they are happy for you to continue to contact them via telephone, email, letter and text message. Your calls must be recorded as proof of their consent.

Write to all of your customers using the Opt-In letter available via the Marketing Suite section of the Case Portal. To encourage your customers to respond it may be beneficial to enclose a prepaid envelope or provide an email address so they can scan the form back to you.

Email all of your customers with a copy of the Opt-In letter available via the Marketing Suite section of the Case Portal attached. There is also an email template which you may wish to use.

New Customers
Send new customers a copy of the Communications Consent Terms of Business letter with your standard Terms of Business. This is now a mandatory document which needs to be submitted on all new cases because it records marketing consent and requires the customer to sign to say that they agree with your service processes e.g. that you operate call recording.

Here to help

If you have any questions on GDPR, then please do not hesitate to contact our Compliance Team on 01702 538 800 or request a call back.