Definition
Legitimate interest
The GDPR legal basis most B2B cold-email senders rely on: processing justified by a real business need, balanced against the recipient.
Legitimate interest is one of the six lawful bases for processing personal data under the GDPR (Article 6(1)(f)). It applies when you have a genuine interest in processing, the processing is necessary for it, and that interest is not overridden by the rights and expectations of the person concerned. Unlike consent, it does not require the person to agree in advance; it requires you to have done the balancing honestly and to be able to show your reasoning.
It matters because B2B cold email almost never has consent, so legitimate interest is what most senders rely on. The balance is easier to justify when you write to a person in their professional role, about something relevant to that role, at a work address, with a clear way to object, and when you stop the moment they do. It is harder to justify when you write to private addresses, ignore opt-outs or contact people whose job has nothing to do with your offer. National rules on electronic marketing sit on top of the GDPR and differ between EU countries, so check the ones that apply to your recipients.
Seegnals supports the mechanics: an unsubscribe link and one-click unsubscribe headers in every message, and a suppression list by address and domain. The judgement about your interest remains yours; you are the data controller.