So, can I do cold email outreach and be compliant with GDPR?
When I say email outreach I mean finding an email for a business on their website and sending them a cold email asking if they would like my services. Could be an individual or a catch all email i.e. sam@example.com, info@example.com respectively
In short, yes you can send GDPR compliant cold email.
Here's a few articles that talks in more depth about how GDPR works and how email outreach can still fit regarding legitimate interests. For example, you can reach out to engineers about your product designed for engineers but not to their accountant.
https://blog.hunter.io/how-to-do-cold-emailing-after-the-gdpr-b6b2628a100f
https://blog.close.io/gdpr-for-b2b-sales
https://prospect.io/blog/cold-email-illegal/
GDPR is about how you collect, store and let people opt out of EU citizens' data. It's not about stopping email or marketing efforts. You should be able to answer how did you get my email and remove them if they ask.
Also, you can look at LinkedIn focused outreach with clear compliance since the data is sourced directly within the platform.
Thanks for this answer!
Yes it's possible. Keep in mind that individual countries can have their own laws on top of the GDPR, some of which are stricter than others. Germany, for example, has very strict laws around these things.