Wait, I need a Privacy Policy?
This is a topic of conversation with all of my clients and something I regularly notice missing from a very large number of business websites. Let’s dive into some high-level information and thoughts around the impact of not having a privacy policy and why you need one.
First up, the “fine print”—The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to constitute legal advice.
Chances are if you have a website, you are collecting information from site visitors as part of your customer journey. If you have a contact form or any sort of intake form, you are collecting personally identifiable information or PII that is legally protected by laws passed around the world.
A standard contact form could look similar to this →
Information like name and email are considered PII and disclosing what you do with this information is legally required.
To keep it interesting—of course the laws and regulations vary from state to state and country to country. California, for example, has very strict privacy laws and regulations. Termageddon has a great article sharing more details about PII and how it is defined in various states and countries. Read it here to learn more about PII and how it is monitored in various locations.
As a website designer, I work with clients all the time who have no idea they need a privacy policy. Some have had a website for years without one and are just hearing about it for the first time when we chat about a redesign. The most obvious reason you need one is because it is the law and having one in place can save you a lot of money in fines. Businesses can be fined for not properly disclosing their privacy policy with some states proposing fines as high as $5,000 per site visitor!
Another extremely important reason to have a privacy policy is to build trust with site visitors who are potential clients. People do business with people and trust is a huge component of choosing to work with one person over another. By not having a privacy policy, you are essentially telling site visitors you do not value you their personal information. We know in most cases this is unintentional and due to a lack of knowledge with the fact that you need one. This is an easy task to cross of your list as a business owner as there are many resources available to generate privacy policies for your website. Having one shows potential clients that you are professional and take your business seriously building trust right out of the gate.
A privacy policy will also keep your customers informed. Most site visitors are aware they are being tracked on some level through the use of cookies (not chocolate chip) and google analytics. Telling those visitors how you use this data is important to most consumers with the growing rise of cyber crime and security breaches.
Having a privacy policy can also benefit SEO (search engine optimization). Search engines are looking for experts to prioritize and rank website pages for SEO. Meaning if you want your site to show at the top of Google search results, you should take this easy step to further position yourself as an expert. Privacy policies have been around long enough now that web crawlers have this piece of content prioritized as part of their algorithm.
A final and very simple reason to have a privacy policy is that it is the right thing to do. Up there with Accessibility (more on that topic at a later date), a privacy policy is easy enough to add and as a website designer I make sure I communicate this to every client I work with to ensure they are in the “know”. At the end of the day it is up to the client to make the decision about if they want to include a privacy policy, but you will always find a link in the footer on sites I design for a privacy policy and/or terms and conditions. The ownership of being legally compliant falls on the site owner in the end—again I am not an attorney and not advising clients on what to include in their policies or mandating they have one.
Where do I get a privacy policy?
I tell clients from the very beginning they must source and provide their own privacy policy. Every industry has different requirements and regulations. It is up to you as the business owner to source the appropriate policy for your business.
The best resource is always going to be an attorney. Especially if you are in a highly regulated industry with special circumstances. There are many privacy policy generators on the web as well but they must be vetted by the business owner or their attorney. If you are comfortable sourcing one on your own that is 100% your call.
The other challenge is a privacy policy is a moving target! Laws and regulations are always changing and evolving—especially in the fast paced world of technology. I don’t know about you but I struggle to keep up with it all and do not have the time to chase down updates and new information. I also want to make sure I stay legally compliant to the best of my ability.
For this reason, I chose Termageddon for my privacy policy. From the Termageddon website:
“Use Termageddon to help identify the privacy laws that apply to you, generate the disclosures required under these laws, and receive updates whenever these laws change (or when new ones go into effect).”
Termageddon will walk you through the entire process and generate a privacy policy based on your responses. There may be some questions you are unsure of how to answer so consulting a legal professional to help answer some of the questions is never a bad idea. Once you have walked through the process, Termageddon generates a privacy policy specific to your business and how you answered the questions. This policy is generated with a line of code that you can embed on your website that will update when laws change and the content is updated within Termageddon. This puts your privacy policy on autopilot until something changes within your business that requires a change to your policy. Code can seem scary if you are unsure how to add it to your site so definitely reach out to your web designer or check the help center of your website builder for a guide for how to embed content via code. It sounds scarier than it is, I promise!
If you are in need of a privacy policy and want to check out Termageddon, I have a discount code for 10% off your first year: NORTH8 where I do receive a small commission if you sign up for a plan. Or you can click this button for the code to be automatically applied when you purchase your privacy policy:
At the end of the day, you should source a privacy policy and add it to your website. The cost to having one in place is far less than the potential fines or lost business. I am happy to answer any questions you might have—again with the disclosure that I am in no way offering legal advice. Please feel free to send me an email, and I will do my best to point you in the right direction!
