Seven years ago, email marketers went through turmoil when the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect, anticipating shrinking lists, lower email engagement, and increased compliance headaches, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Fifty-six percent of marketers witnessed positive impacts on their marketing operations, including improved data quality, better targeting, and increased audience trust.

If you have just started building your audience using email marketing or need a refresher, this guide is perfect. I’ll cover key components of GDPR and share key best practices to stay on the good lists of regulators.

Table of Contents

• What Is GDPR?

• Email Marketing and GDPR: Why Should You Care?

  • It Helps You Maintain a Strong Sender Reputation.

  • It Helps You See Higher Email Engagement.

  • It Helps You Build Real Subscriber Trust.

• Key Changes Introduced by GDPR

  • Strict Regulations To Collect Consent

  • Clear and Well-Documented Data Collection

  • Stronger Focus on Personal Data Security

• 5 Ways To Make Your Email Marketing Campaigns GDPR-Compliant

  • 1. Get Clear, Genuine Consent, Not Through Pre-Ticked Boxes.

  • 2. Make Opting Out as Easy as Opting In.

  • 3. Allow Subscribers To Manage Their Preferences.

  • 4. Review Consent Regularly and Maintain a Clean List.

    • How does beehiiv help you manage unsubscribes?

  • 5. Keep Consent Separate From Other Agreements.

• Conclusion

What Is GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European law that was passed on May 25, 2018, that sets the rules on how businesses collect, use, and store personal data of EU citizens.

The law considers personal data to be anything that can directly or indirectly identify an individual. It outlines the following items as personal data:

• Names and email addresses

• Location information

• Ethnicity

• Gender

• Religious beliefs

• Political opinions

The law applies to anyone—businesses, media owners, content creators–who handle the personal data of people in the EU or European Economic Area (EEA). It means even if you don’t have a business presence in the EU but your subscribers are based there, GDPR applies to you.

Email Marketing and GDPR: Why Should You Care?

Short answer: Email marketing hinges on using an individual's data such as names, email addresses, locations, etc.

If you have even a handful of subscribers from the EU, you need to pay attention to GDPR.

But that’s just scratching the surface. Here are some other reasons why paying heed to GDPR is important:

It Helps You Maintain a Strong Sender Reputation.

GDPR’s emphasis on getting clear consent isn’t just about following rules. It’s a cornerstone of good marketing, something Seth Godin perfectly captures in his concept of permission marketing—the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal, and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.

When someone explicitly says they want to hear from you, they’re naturally more likely to open, read, and engage with your emails. Compare that to blasting emails at random people who consented to receive emails, and your emails will end up in the spam folder.

Additionally, GDPR emphasizes that every subscriber should have a clear way to opt-out whenever they want. By doing so, you can give subscribers an easy way to opt-out and also build trust.

When you respect your readers’ choices, mailbox providers like Gmail and Outlook notice, and they reward you with better deliverability.

It Helps You See Higher Email Engagement.

Inactive or unengaged subscribers add zero value to your email list.

GDPR helps you weed out readers who don’t want to hear from you, leaving you with an active and more responsive audience.

Instead of chasing ghosts, you focus on subscribers who actually want to hear from you—the ones who open, click, and drive your results.

GDPR also helps you segment smarter. If someone downloads your ebook but doesn’t tick the box saying, “Yes, send me marketing emails,” you know exactly where they stand, and you don’t mistakenly flood their inbox later on.

GDPR helps you build a leaner, stronger email list where engagement rates don’t just look better; they are better.

It Helps You Build Real Subscriber Trust.

At its core, GDPR is about transparency.

Telling your readers what you’re doing with their data, why you’re collecting it, and getting their clear permission makes all the difference.

When readers see that you're upfront and respectful, they feel safe trusting you with their information. And in today’s privacy-conscious world, trust isn’t just nice to have; it's the foundation for long-term loyalty.

Key Changes Introduced by GDPR

GDPR is about protecting individual data and holding businesses—or anyone handling EU citizens’ data—accountable, responsible, and transparent in their practices.

Let’s discuss the major changes GDPR introduced.

Strict Regulations To Collect Consent

A major premise behind GDPR is receiving explicit consent from your subscribers. It means no pre-ticked boxes, sneaky opt-ins, or automated signups.

Clear and Well-Documented Data Collection

GDPR requires proof of data collection, management, and storage. The regulatory bodies won’t just take your word for it.

That means keeping track of the following:

• What personal data you collect (name, email, location, etc.)

• Where that data is stored

• How it’s protected

• Who has access to it

Stronger Focus on Personal Data Security

GDPR also empowers subscribers to have more control and transparency over their data. It introduced several rights that your readers can practice, and you’ll have to adhere to them:

• Right to access: Individuals can request confirmation that you hold their data and obtain a copy.

• Right to rectify: Individuals can ask you to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.

• Right to erase: Individuals can request the deletion of their data when it's no longer necessary or if they withdraw consent.

• Right to restrict: Individuals can ask you to limit how their data is used, meaning you can store it but not use it further.

• Right to portability: Individuals can request their data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format to transfer to another service.

• Right to object: Individuals can object to the processing of their data for certain purposes, such as direct marketing.

5 Ways To Make Your Email Marketing Campaigns GDPR-Compliant

1. Get Clear, Genuine Consent, Not Through Pre-Ticked Boxes.

Under GDPR, consent must be actively given. That means your subscribers must tick that box themselves or confirm their email address, not find it already checked for them. Otherwise, it’s invalid.

While you're setting up your opt-in forms, make sure that the checkbox is blank by default.

Also, it’s good for email deliverability, too. Research shows that 55% of users mark emails as spam if they didn’t knowingly give permission.

You can also clarify that when subscribers share their email address, they are permitting you to send them emails, just like we show under beehiiv’s newsletter opt-in button.

2. Make Opting Out as Easy as Opting In.

Add a clear unsubscribe link in your email footer, not hidden under tiny fonts or in long paragraphs.

Trust me, if readers want to unsubscribe but can’t find the link, there’s a good chance they’ll mark your email as spam. 47% of people say they will mark an email as spam if an unsubscribe option isn’t easily available.

Creator Spotlight, beehiiv’s editorial newsletter, is a really good example of a newsletter adding a clear unsubscribe button in its footer.

3. Allow Subscribers To Manage Their Preferences.

If you're sending multiple types of email, like newsletters, event updates, or special offers, set up an email preference center.

While users might have consented to receive emails from you, over time, they might not want to receive ALL types of emails.

Instead of forcing them to mark your emails as spam, a preference center can give them choices such as the ones listed below and ensure that you’re sending emails they consented to receive:

• Receive fewer emails (weekly instead of daily)

• Choose specific newsletters they’re interested in

• Opt-in for only event-related updates

• Unsubscribe completely

For example, Descript, a video editing platform, includes a "manage your email preferences" link in their welcome email.

When clicked, the link leads to a preference center where subscribers can customize what they want to hear about or unsubscribe completely.

Here’s how to build and customize your preference center in beehiiv:

• Go to Audience > Subscribers > Preferences.

• Click the + New preferences button.

• Set up the types of options you want to offer (multiple-choice, dropdown, short response, or true/false).

• Once you’re done, click the Create button.

4. Review Consent Regularly and Maintain a Clean List.

GDPR compliance doesn’t just apply to new subscribers. It applies to everyone on your list, even people who subscribed before GDPR came into effect.

That means you must have records showing that each subscriber gave valid consent. And if you’re unsure, it’s safer to reconfirm consent by sending a re-permission email. 

Here’s a really good example of an email sent by Zapier asking its subscribers to manage their preferences.

But, apart from abiding by GDPR rules, email list auditing is important for two main reasons:

• Consent is highly contextual. If a subscriber gave consent to receive promotional emails for your services, the consent doesn’t go beyond your other marketing emails. By auditing your email list, you can flag if you’re sending emails to non-consented readers.

• Subscribers unsubscribe over time, and keeping them on your list will hurt your engagement metrics.

How does beehiiv help you manage unsubscribes?

You can manually unsubscribe individual users or bulk remove them from your audience. 

To remove unsubscribes individually, go to the subscriber’s profile and hit the Unsubscribe button.

But unsubscribing only removes the person from the list. Their data still remains intact.

To remove the associated data as well, click on the dropdown menu and select the Delete button.

To bulk unsubscribe or delete data, create a segment of inactive or unengaged users.

Once a segment is created, locate it in your list of segments and go to the Overview tab.

In the dropdown menu next to ‘the Quick export’ text, select Delete.

5. Keep Consent Separate From Other Agreements.

GDPR Article 7(4) explains that consent should not be "bundled" with other agreements. It means that consent to marketing must also be optional and separate from agreeing to your general terms of service or privacy policy.

Additionally, if a subscriber downloads your free ebook, you can’t make it a condition that they must agree to receive your marketing emails. Under GDPR, that’s not considered real consent.

So next time you create an opt-in form, make sure your readers:

• Know exactly what they're opting into

• Aren’t required to say "yes" to extra emails just to access your main offer

Conclusion

Looking back, GDPR enforced ethical and transparent marketing practices, which, let’s be honest, should have always been the norm.

Despite initial turmoil, the law made email marketers and businesses more vigilant in how they collect, manage, and store their customer’s data.

Beyond just avoiding legal trouble, staying GDPR-compliant directly benefits your email marketing campaigns: It improves deliverability, enhances subscriber engagement, and prevents your emails from landing in the dreaded spam folder.

beehiiv makes it easy for you to stay compliant by helping you manage unsubscribe or data delete requests, set up transparent opt-ins, and create preference centers. Check it out today!