GDPR compliance is the adherence to the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation, the European Union's law governing data privacy and security. This means any organization that processes the personal data of EU residents must meet its legal obligations for how that data is collected, handled, and protected. The regulation outlines key principles, including lawfulness, data minimization, and accountability, that must be at the core of any data processing activity.
The GDPR is founded on seven key principles for processing personal data. These mandate that data handling must be lawful, fair, and transparent. Organizations must also limit collection to specific purposes and only gather data that is strictly necessary, a concept known as data minimization.
Furthermore, data must be kept accurate and stored only as long as needed. The principles of integrity and confidentiality demand robust security measures. Finally, accountability requires organizations to prove their compliance with these regulations.
This is how you can begin your journey toward compliance.
While often discussed together, these two legal frameworks have distinct scopes and applications.
Navigating GDPR compliance presents several significant hurdles for organizations of all sizes.
Achieving GDPR compliance offers significant advantages beyond just avoiding fines. It enhances an organization's reputation and improves data management practices, fostering a culture of privacy that resonates with modern consumers.
Does GDPR apply to B2B marketing?
Yes, it does. Business contact information, such as names and email addresses, is considered personal data under GDPR. Companies must have a lawful basis, like legitimate interest, to process this data for marketing purposes.
What are the penalties for non-compliance?
Penalties can be substantial, reaching up to €20 million or 4% of a company's annual global turnover, whichever is higher. The severity of the fine depends on the specific nature of the violation.
Is consent always required to process personal data?
No. While consent is one legal basis, data can also be processed if it's necessary for a contract, a legal obligation, or based on the legitimate interests of the organization, among other reasons.
Feature flags let you remotely control features in your app without new code. This enables safe testing, gradual rollouts, and quick rollbacks.
Google Analytics is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic, offering insights into user behavior and marketing effectiveness.
Direct mail is a marketing method where businesses send physical promotional materials directly to potential customers' mailboxes.
Learn about business process management, including benefits of implementing BPM, steps to effective BPM, common BPM mistakes to avoid, & BPM tools and software.
An AI sales script generator is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to create personalized sales scripts for any outreach scenario.
Warm outreach is contacting prospects with whom you have a pre-existing connection, like a mutual contact, making your message more personal and effective.
Email personalization uses subscriber data—like their name, interests, or past behavior—to create highly relevant and targeted email campaigns.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) uses software bots to mimic human actions and automate repetitive, rules-based tasks on digital systems.
Sales enablement content refers to the materials and tools that empower your sales team to engage prospects and close deals more efficiently.
Data-driven lead generation is the process of using data insights to identify, attract, and convert high-quality leads into customers.
Account match rate is the percentage of target accounts successfully identified and matched against a specific database or data provider.
Revenue Operations (RevOps) is a business function that aligns a company's sales, marketing, and customer service teams to drive predictable revenue.
Learn about bounce rate, including understanding bounce rate implications, key factors affecting bounce rate, & reducing your bounce rate effectively.
CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is the code that styles a website. It controls the colors, fonts, layout, and overall look of a web page.
Cohort analysis is a behavioral analytics tool that groups users with common traits to track their actions and engagement over time.
A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is an action plan that outlines how a company will reach target customers and achieve a competitive advantage.
Demand is the economic principle describing a consumer's desire and willingness to purchase a specific good or service at a particular price.
An inside sales rep sells products or services remotely from an office, using digital tools like phone and email to connect with customers.
A sales territory is a specific group of customers or a geographic area that a salesperson or sales team is responsible for managing.
A Proof of Concept (PoC) is a small exercise to test whether a business idea or project is technically feasible and has real-world potential.
Agile methodology is an iterative approach to project management and software development, focusing on delivering value in small, incremental steps.
Learn about break-even, including calculating your break-even point, importance of break-even analysis, & break-even analysis vs. profit margins.
NoSQL ("Not only SQL") databases offer a flexible alternative to relational models, excelling at managing large and unstructured data sets.
Upselling is a sales tactic encouraging customers to purchase a higher-end version of a product or related add-ons to boost revenue.
A marketing play is a repeatable tactic used to achieve a specific marketing goal, like generating leads or driving engagement.
Product recommendations are a marketing strategy that uses customer data to suggest relevant products, boosting sales and customer engagement.
Freemium is a business model offering a product's basic features for free, while charging for advanced or supplemental features.
Data mining is the process of discovering patterns, trends, and useful information from large datasets to make better business decisions.
The customer lifecycle is the journey a person takes from first becoming aware of your brand to becoming a loyal, repeat customer.
A firewall is a digital barrier that protects a network by monitoring and controlling traffic, blocking unauthorized access and malicious content.
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The Challenger Sales Model is a sales approach where reps challenge a customer's thinking by teaching, tailoring, and taking control of the sale.
XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a markup language for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable.
Inside sales metrics are quantifiable measures used to track the performance, activities, and effectiveness of an internal sales team.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.
Sales automation uses software to streamline and automate repetitive, manual sales tasks, freeing up reps to focus on selling.
Logo retention is a key B2B metric that measures a company's ability to retain its customers, or 'logos,' over a specific period.
Site retargeting is a marketing strategy that shows ads to people who have previously visited your website but left without converting.
Marketing metrics are quantifiable values that marketing teams use to measure and track the performance of their campaigns and efforts.
Outbound leads are potential customers a business proactively contacts through outreach like cold calls, emails, or social media.
An enterprise is a large-scale organization, often a corporation, defined by its complex structure and substantial number of employees.
Fault tolerance is a system's ability to continue operating without interruption when one or more of its components fail.
Sales acceleration refers to strategies and technologies designed to speed up the sales cycle, enabling reps to close more deals, faster.
CCPA compliance is adhering to the California Consumer Privacy Act, a law that grants consumers more control over their personal data.
Compliance testing ensures a product or system adheres to specific regulations, standards, or policies set by governing bodies or organizations.
Microservices is an architecture where apps are built as a collection of small, independent services that communicate with each other over APIs.
Mobile compatibility ensures your site or app works flawlessly on mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, for a seamless user experience.
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A weighted sales pipeline forecasts revenue by assigning a closing probability to each deal, giving a more accurate picture of potential income.
Triggers are predefined conditions that, when met, automatically launch a workflow or action, ensuring timely and relevant outreach.
Reverse logistics is the process for goods moving from the customer back to the seller, covering returns, repairs, recycling, and disposal.
Precision targeting is a marketing strategy that uses data to identify and reach a highly specific audience most likely to convert.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a system of integrated software that businesses use to manage and automate their core day-to-day processes.
Lead enrichment software adds crucial data to your leads, like contact info and firmographics, to help you better understand and engage them.
Conversational intelligence (CI) is AI technology that analyzes customer conversations to find insights that help sales and support teams improve.
Touches are the individual interactions you have with a prospect throughout the sales process, from emails and calls to social media messages.
Content curation involves gathering, organizing, and sharing the most relevant online content on a specific topic for a particular audience.
Sales and marketing alignment means both teams work in sync, sharing goals and data to boost lead quality, conversions, and company revenue.
Product-Led Growth (PLG) is a business strategy where the product itself drives user acquisition, conversion, and expansion.
A sales pitch is a persuasive presentation of a product or service, aimed at convincing a potential customer to make a purchase.
Retargeting marketing is a digital advertising strategy that targets users who have previously interacted with your website or brand online.
The consideration buying stage is where potential customers have defined their problem and are now actively researching and evaluating solutions.
Copyright compliance is adhering to laws that protect creative works. It involves legally using content by obtaining permission or licenses.
Competitive intelligence (CI) is the ethical gathering and analysis of market data to inform strategic business decisions and gain an advantage.
A sales strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines how a business will sell its products or services to achieve its revenue goals.
A version control system (VCS) tracks changes to files over time, allowing you to recall specific versions and collaborate without conflicts.
Page views count the total number of times a page on your website is loaded. This metric is a key indicator of your site's overall traffic.
A sales enablement platform centralizes content, training, and analytics to help sales teams engage buyers and effectively close deals.
Demand capture is the strategy of engaging potential customers who are already actively looking for a solution that your company provides.
A Master Service Agreement (MSA) is a foundational contract that sets the general terms for an ongoing business relationship between two parties.
A persona map visually outlines a target customer, detailing their goals, behaviors, and pain points to help your team build genuine empathy.
Digital analytics is the analysis of data from digital channels to understand user behavior and optimize online experiences for business goals.
Real-time data processing is the method of analyzing data the instant it's generated, enabling immediate actions and decision-making.
A weighted pipeline forecasts sales revenue by assigning a closing probability to each deal based on its stage in the sales funnel.
Sales conversion rate is the percentage of prospects who take a desired action, like making a purchase, turning them into customers.
A lead list is a curated database of potential customers (leads) with contact information and other key data for sales and marketing outreach.
Chatbots are AI-powered programs that simulate human conversation. They interact with users via text or voice, typically for customer support.
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Programmatic advertising uses AI and real-time bidding to automate the buying and selling of digital ad space, targeting specific audiences.
A freemium model offers a product's basic features for free, enticing users to upgrade to a paid version for more advanced capabilities.
Competitive analysis means identifying your rivals and assessing their strategies to pinpoint your own business's strengths and weaknesses.
A Marketing Qualified Account (MQA) is a target company that has shown significant engagement, indicating it's ready for the sales team to pursue.
A closed question is a type of query that elicits a simple, often one-word answer like 'yes' or 'no,' or a specific, factual response.
Outbound sales is when reps proactively contact potential customers through cold calls or emails to generate leads and build a sales pipeline.
A Sales Director leads a sales team, develops strategies, and is responsible for meeting a company's revenue targets.
A sales kickoff (SKO) is an annual event for a sales team to celebrate wins, align on goals, and get motivated for the upcoming year.
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a metric measuring customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend your company or product to others.
Learn about big data, including understanding big data characteristics, benefits of leveraging big data, & challenges in managing big data.
Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) measures the mean annual growth of an investment over a specified period of time longer than one year.
Serviceable Available Market (SAM) is the segment of the total market that your business can realistically serve within its geographical reach.
Account-based advertising is a hyper-focused B2B strategy that targets key accounts with personalized ads across multiple channels.
Workflow automation uses rule-based logic to run a sequence of tasks that would otherwise require manual human effort to complete.
Predictive Customer Lifetime Value (pCLV) is a forecast of the total net profit a single customer is expected to generate for your business.
A Statement of Work (SoW) is a document that outlines a project's scope, deliverables, and timeline. It acts as a contract between parties.
A trusted advisor is an expert who builds a deep client relationship by consistently prioritizing their best interests over any single transaction.
Gamification applies game mechanics like points, badges, and leaderboards to non-game activities to boost engagement and motivate users.
Email verification is the process of confirming that an email address is valid and deliverable, which helps improve campaign performance.
Lightning Components is a UI framework for building dynamic web apps for mobile and desktop devices on the Salesforce Lightning Platform.
An objection is an explicit expression by a prospect that presents a barrier to moving forward in the sales process.