Can You Still Use Lead Magnets for List Building Under the GDPR?
Disclaimer: I am not a legal expert, and this post does not constitute legal advice.
You have probably heard of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and how strict it is about needing explicit consent before we can collect customer data, like email addresses for a mailing list. This, by the way, is not only a GDPR requirement, but many other countries and states have also hopped on the privacy bandwagon. And overall I think that’s a good thing!
What’s important to remember is that these laws apply based on your audience’s location, not your business location. Meaning that if we have subscribers from other states and countries, we need to comply with their laws.
Lead magnets or freebies have always been popular for attracting subscribers onto our lists, but now we need to be SUPER CLEAR about it. We must disclose that we are doing this and what we are doing with the data.
This means we can no longer just say, “Download your freebie here,” and then add them to our mailing list without telling them.
Below are the steps I have taken to be compliant.
Steps
Be transparent with your lead magnet
Use double opt-in
Link to your privacy policy
Turn on your cookie banner
STEP 1. Be transparent with your lead magnet
The most important rule: be transparent with your lead magnet. Offering freebies or lead magnets is a popular list-building strategy, but we can no longer add people to our newsletter list without being very clear about that. Because consent must be explicit and unambiguous, someone downloading a lead magnet from you does not equate to consent to be added to your newsletter email list.
Make it very clear on the sign-up form that to get the freebie, your subscriber will also be subscribed to your newsletter. If your email platform has this feature, add a checkbox where subscribers can consent to receiving your newsletter.
STEP 2. Use double opt-in
Double opt-in is the easiest way to get consent and to qualify your subscribers. After entering their email address, your subscriber receives a confirmation email asking them to confirm their subscription. In addition to being privacy law compliant, this is also a great way to qualify your subscribers because those who are genuinely interested in your offerings won’t mind the extra step.
Here is how to set it up:
Activate the double opt-in in your sign-up form.
Create a post-submit page to remind the subscriber to confirm their subscription.
STEP 3. Link to your privacy policy
Make sure you have a privacy policy and link to it on your sign-up forms. I use Termageddon, a website policy generator, for this.
I wrote a whole post about website policies here:
→ Why you need a privacy policy and how to generate one easily
STEP 4. Turn on your cookie banner
A cookie is a small piece of data sent from a website and stored on your device by your browser. All websites use essential, functional, and marketing cookies, and it is always a good idea to have a cookie banner. Many website platforms have this as a built-in function, or you can use a third-party tool like Usercentrics. This is what I have because it comes free as part of my Termageddon subscription and because it’s more comprehensive and accurate than the built-in Squarespace banner.
Here is a post I wrote about cookie banners:
