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Majority of marketers believe GDPR has not impacted business

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February 18, 2019

More marketers than ever (52%) state GDPR has had no impact on their ability to meet customer’s demands, according to the DMA’s ‘Data privacy – An industry perspective’ report.

Over a 12-month period, the percentage of marketers who believe GDPR has not had an impact on their ability to meet consumers’ demands has risen from 37% in September 2017, to 52% in September 2018.

In addition, one in four (26%) would go a step further and agree that the regulations has actually helped them to serve customers better.

“The GDPR is the gold standard of data protection laws and so it is encouraging to see marketers becoming increasingly optimistic about the benefits of it. Marketers that intend to build sustainable relationships with consumers based on the principles of the GDPR, honesty and transparency, will reap the rewards,” said Chris Combemale, CEO of the DMA.

When it comes to sales, there is still some concern among 38% of marketers that the new laws have negatively impacted them. However, nearly one in four marketers (23%) say their sales have actually improved post-GDPR.

The proportion of marketers who feel the benefits of the GDPR outweigh the costs has also doubled from 16%, prior to 25 May, to 32% in this most recent study. Additionally, following Brexit, most marketers (78%) believe the UK should adhere to the existing GDPR legislation – with a further 11% even wanting stricter rules.

Marketers increasingly believe their businesses will experience long-term benefits from the GDPR, with the number who state it will negatively impact their organisation falling considerably from 56% in the previous survey, to 41% since the laws came into force.