Would you hit delete on all of your data?

Due to a data breach back in 2015 which highlighted some serious flaws in their data management, Wetherspoons has just deleted almost all of it’s customer data! It’s a brave move and one that I doubt many other organisations would be willing to take. But their logic for doing so isn’t a bad one – it significantly minimises their risk of a data breach and allows them to focus on other channels that are more successful for them.

This certainly isn’t a strategy for everyone and I would argue that B2B organisations are the least likely to adopt such drastic action. But for a large consumer brand who are targeting the millenial generation, I can see why this is less of an issue when they are more likely to be on Snapchat or Instagram rather than checking their emails.

Wetherspoons is effectively saying our email marketing strategy isn’t working and is susceptible to hackers, what’s the point in persisting with it? Why don’t we invest our energy into something less complicated?