GDPR: How to create an opt in email

I've been told that i need to re opt-in all of my subscribers. How do i actually do it?

Yikes, this can see a bit of a daunting and scary task at first. With GDPR just around the corner, a lot of us have been told that we need to re opt-in all of our subscribers in order to be compliant.

This week, we are going to find out how you can quickly do this, and most of all make a success of it.

Before we jump right in, there is a little side note that we have covered in some of our previous videos. If you have an existing working relationship with your subscribers - for example, they are current customers, under the legitimate interest clause of GDPR, you are well within your rights to contact them regarding services updates etc. So you may not actually need to perform a re opt-in of all your subscribers.

But if you do need to re opt everyone in. Let’s find out how to do it.

When i talk to a lot of companies, one of their biggest concerns is that with asking everyone to re opt-in, they going to loose a lot of their mailing list. This does not have to happen, and if you approach everything just right you will keep your great subscriber list but with the confidence of being fully GDPR compliant.

GDPR goes live on the 25th May 2018, so if you plan to ask your subscribers to re opt-in, now is the time to do it. This gives you a chance to send your re opt-in email and a few follow up emails before the deadline. Remember, you need to get this done before the 25th May.

So, thats enough chit chat. Lets find out how we can ask everyone to re-opt in.

The approach that we would recommend and one that we are seeing a lot of companies follow is actually very very simple. This week, Mc Donald’s used it, yes i’m ashamed to say that i’m on their mailing list and a few hardware suppliers which we use such as Cable Monkey.

Here is the approach. Design your nice looking email asking your subscribers to click on a button in order to stay on your mailing list. When they click on that button, just forward them to a very simple thank you page on your website.

Expecting something a little more complex? It really is that simple.

Ok, it is a little more complicated, but if you are using email blaster, we take care of the complicated. The email blaster analytics will automatically record every subscriber who clicked on that button to stay on your mailing list.

Even further to comply with GDPR, the email blaster analytics will provide you with a record of the exact time and date that every subscriber clicked on that button.

This is really perfect as under GDPR you will need to keep a record of when consent was gained. All this data inside your email blaster can be exported with a few clicks.

and that is pretty much it.

But next, let’s find out how to really optimise your re opt-in email.

First off, your re subscribe button on your mailer needs to be bold and stand out. If your subscribers can’t find it within a second or two, the boat has sailed and you have missed the opportunity to keep that subscriber.

Also, don’t do what i saw another company doing this week, on their normal mailer, they buried a re opt-in button right on the footer of their mailer, it was tiny - i pretty much missed it. Remember big and bold.

Your GDPR mailer needs to be a dedicated mailer, not attached to the footer of your normal mailer. Try to avoiding lots of legal phrases and walls of text. To maximise the amount of people that click to re opt-in, keep everything very simple - mention that data protection laws change on the 25th May and you need to make sure that you re opt-in to keep receiving current updates. Thats really all you need to mention.

Dangle a carrot

On it’s own, a re opt-in button on your mailer may not grab a huge amount of attention. This is where the carrot comes into play. Email marketing is a two way relationship, if you want something from your subscribers - such as taking the time to re opt-in, make sure you provide something in return.

Mc Donalds, they offered me a chance to win a £100 voucher if i re opt-in. Cable monkey, they offered be a chance to run a bit of techie kit work £5000. Both of those grabbed my attention, and guess what … after 25th May, Mc Donalds will still be still be emailing me to let me know when they have the Big Tasty.

But in all seriousness. Without both companies offering me that carrot. I probably would not have clicked the re opt-in button.


Ok, there we go. That is potentially a very scary and daunting task made simple. Thanks for watching. i hope you found this useful & be sure to checkout our other GDPR related videos - we’ve got a video on pretty much every big GDPR topic, you can check those out on our website.