Can You Still Use Lead Magnets with the GDPR??!

One of the biggest questions I've been getting about the GDPR is the use of lead magnets... aka those opt-ins that bloggers and creatives are so fond of.

Since there's so much misinformation out there—and no shortage of attorney scare tactics on the topic—I hopped on Facebook Live to debunk the myths. 

Watch the video to learn more about opt-ins and lead magnets and the GDPR.

 

Don't have time to watch? Here's my take:

(1) There are many extremely conservative opinions coming from attorneys who are attempting to interpret the law themselves, based PURELY on the articles + recitals that came from the EU and their own experience/opinions. Most of these attorneys, including myself, are not licensed to practice in EU courts. No one is sure how the EU will enforce non-EU businesses how to comply yet.

(2) As of the filming of this video on May 23, 2018, this law had not even gone into effect yet. WE DO NOT KNOW what valid consent looks like on the practical side of things (i.e. how much we can "get away with"). This is why you will see other attorneys talking about the known consent upon opt-in requirement, and of the attorney opinions I've seen, their opinions are very hyper-conservative, onerous and prohibitive to our normal marketing flow (i.e. they are saying that trading contact info for a freebie is not allowed under the GDPR—I disagree but explain more in the video).

Essentially, we know that black is black, but we don't know how gray we're allowed to go before businesses get reprimanded.

(3) Remember, the GDPR applies ONLY to EU subscribers/site visitors, of which most of us have very little traffic from. Personally, I am not willing to revamp my entire TCS site/opt-ins to everyone, and I am seeking solutions that will only appear to EU users/visitors.

(4) Big companies will be targeted first. My opinion is that this will operate like FTC complaints do right now, where a business will have to be reported frequently within a short amount of time for anyone to ever notice the advertising activities of said business.

(5) There are no public payment requirements, so similar to FTC reporting, the consumer doesn't stand to gain much from reporting a business for failure to comply.

(6) Over the coming weeks as we see what this looks like in the marketplace and will receive further guidance; stay tuned to my Facebook page where I'll be posting big updates (the smaller ones + how to actually implement this stuff will be announced to my GDPReady™ purchasers — you can get access here.)

(7) If you want to make a bunch of money, come up with either a Wordpress plugin and/or Shopify app that only pops up for visitors with EU IP addresses and shows these users/visitors a different pop up for email opt-ins that is more onerous and focused on consent to opt-in than the ones we traditionally have for US/AU/CA/non-EU audiences.

I hope this was helpful, and if you want to stay updated on the GDPR and other legal-ish that may affect the creative industry, click here to follow The Contract Shop on Facebook.