What is a retention schedule and who enforces it?

A retention schedule is a documented policy specifying how long different categories of data should be kept before deletion or anonymization. For email marketing, this schedule defines retention periods for active subscriber data, unsubscribed contact information, consent records, engagement history, and other data categories. A well-designed retention schedule balances operational needs (keeping data useful for marketing and analysis) with compliance requirements (not keeping data longer than necessary) and risk management (minimizing exposure in case of breach).

Retention schedules should be specific and actionable. Rather than vague statements like "we keep data as long as necessary," specify concrete periods: "Active subscriber profile data: retained while subscription is active. Unsubscribed contacts: profile data deleted within 90 days, suppression record retained indefinitely. Consent records: retained 7 years after subscription ends. Engagement data: retained 3 years, then anonymized." These specific timeframes enable automation and provide clear guidance for anyone handling the data.

Enforcement responsibility typically falls across multiple roles. A Data Protection Officer (if you have one) or privacy/compliance team owns the policy and ensures it meets regulatory requirements. IT or engineering teams implement technical controls that automate retention enforcement-deletion scripts, database cleanup jobs, and system configurations. Marketing and operations teams follow the policy in their daily work, ensuring data handling aligns with defined periods. Regular audits verify that the schedule is being followed and that data isn't persisting beyond its defined lifespan. A retention schedule without enforcement is just a document. The uschedule defines what should happen, but people and systems must make it actually happen.