Do you need to get additional permission when marketing to people you have been in contact with via other ways before? POPIA in South Africa has come into effect, however, some questions still remain unanswered for many marketers.
In 2020, Everlytic and Elizabeth de Stadler from Novation Consulting hosted a POPIA Webinar Series to unpack the legalities of the POPIA legislation that have been enforceable in South Africa from 1 July 2021. Some of the questions received during the three webinars and the answers de Stadler provided are shared below.
When closing a lead, can we continue to market to them? These are prospects that have come to us but have not made a purchase, or we couldn’t contact them at the time. We typically close the lead off of our system after six weeks but continue to market to them after this.
It depends on how they ended up on the list. If you told them you would be marketing to them if the products or services you are marketing are along the same lines of what they consented to, and if you have continuously given them the opportunity to opt-out, then you can continue marketing to them.
When a prospect becomes a lead (e.g. they have responded to us), can we continue to market to them if we have made the Ts & Cs and privacy policy available to them?
This depends on if you told them you would be marketing to them, if the products or services you are marketing are along the same lines of what they consented to and if you have continuously given them the opportunity to opt-out.
We have been seeing our customers face-to-face; do we need consent to market to them? They know who we are, but we have never digitally marketed to them before, so we have not received official consent. Do we need to get consent now?
If you told them, in the face-to-face session, that you would eventually use their details for direct marketing, got them to sign for this so there was a record (or you kept a recording of a digital meeting) and gave them the opportunity to opt-out, then no. If you did not do this in your face-to-face sessions, then yes, you will need consent.
What about lead nurturing, like when a prospective client contacts you for more information about your products and services and, during the discussion phase, you send them more information about your products/services in the form of testimonials/case studies, etc. Can you send these types of messages?
If you have been upfront that you will be sending these types of messages and they agree, then that is considered consent. You can nurture leads in this way. Remember the rule of thumb: would this person be surprised to receive this information?
If you communicate to a membership base regarding an element of their membership, i.e. service-related communication, must these communications have an opt-out?
No, if it is a service message you do not need an opt-out as you want to be able to contact them about their services. Just make sure you do not mix your service messages with direct marketing.
Can we email market to people who have enquired on a contact form on our website?
Only if they know that this is what you will be using their information for and they explicitly opt-in for it, and you continuously give them the opportunity to opt-out.
EVERLYTIC
https://www.everlytic.co.za
