GDPR's working but we'll need more, say marketers

GDPR is no longer seen as the big bad wolf of the marketing world, in fact most brands now believe the regulation has had a positive impact on their business, citing a range of benefits, from strengthening customer relationships to making their campaigns more effective.

So says the latest instalment of the DMA’s Data Privacy: An Industry Perspective report, which shows that almost half of the respondents have reported positive impressions about the impact GDPR has had on their business.

Compared to September last year, when a few marketers showed strong confidence (19%), this year, almost half of them reported great trust in their ability to effectively meet their customers’ needs.

Not that everything is hunky dory, over a third of marketers (37%) are still concerned about the cost of GDPR, in terms of both time and resources.

DMA head of insight Tim Bond said: “The key for brands is building trusted, authentic and transparent relationships with customers, always communicating that they are the businesses’ top priority.

“This strategy already appears to be paying dividends for some, but the future success of the data and marketing industry will be in making this the go-to solution for all organisations.”

However, the study shows that Brexit still weighs heavily on marketers’ minds. While the number who wish the UK to retain access to the ‘Digital Single Market’ after Brexit has fallen (from 89% in September 2018 to 78% in this study), far more marketers are concerned about the financial impact of exchanging data between the UK and the EU post-Brexit (up from 51% last year to 72% now).

In fact, three-fifths of marketers believe that if and when the UK finally leaves the EU, the Government should bring in far stricter data protection legislation than GDPR.