At this point, you are probably asking yourself: Do I really need a privacy policy for my website?
The short answer: If you’re starting any kind of business today, the answer is yes, you really do.
Starting a new business can be overwhelming (WE KNOW!) and there tends to be a lot of moving parts to manage all at once. And it's easy for something like your privacy policy to get overlooked (or completely forgotten) in the madness of setting up a business and a website. But with so many new data privacy regulations and lawsuits coming into practice and the constant changes made to the laws, skipping out on a privacy policy is just asking for trouble you don't want.
To give you an idea of what you're up against, here are a few examples of regulations that require a privacy policy:
Regulations around privacy policies don't just end at your website: any tool that collects information from your website, whether that be website analytics, online forms, or chat widgets will require a policy too. Google Analytics, the most popular web analytics tool out there, even has a privacy policy requirement in its terms of use.
But what exactly is a privacy policy?
A privacy policy informs your customers about the type of data you’re collecting, and what you’re doing with said data. It also provides information about how you’re collecting the data, whether it’s through a form, or cookies on your website. They also outline your policy for storing your customers' data. For example, it tells them how long you’re planning to store their data, whether you are storing their information in perpetuity, or you delete it after a certain amount of time. Privacy policies typically inform users how long their data will stay in your records.
Privacy policies also include information on who has access to the customer’s data. This can mean giving customers the right to request data if they want, and a process to do so. And it usually involves providing contact info if they have a question about the privacy policy. You may also want to provide an opt-out notice for users that don’t agree with the policy.
And finally, privacy policies often include the security policy you use to protect the data you’re collecting. This is an outline of the security measures taken to safeguard your customers' data by you, or the vendors you use.
Ultimately, privacy policies provide a safeguard for both you and your customers/ website visitors. If you’re collecting data from them, it’s recommended to tell them what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, and how it’s being safeguarded. To reiterate, having a website with as little as a contact form means that you are collecting personal data and should consider having a privacy policy with the necessary disclosures required by these laws. Penalties for non-compliance can be up to €20 million (about £18 million) or 4% of annual global turnover, whichever is greater.
So how do I get a privacy policy?
To be proactive when it comes to providing as many tools and resources as possible, we’ve partnered up with a privacy policy generator called Termageddon. They will automatically update your website policies when the laws change (as well as notify you when changes are coming), and they do it at a fraction of the cost of a privacy solicitor. With Termageddon, you can generate a set of policies for your website to help comply with GDPR, UK DPA, CCPA, CalOPPA, Nevada 603a, DOPPA, PIPEDA, and many more. Termageddon then monitors privacy laws, notifies you when new disclosures become required, and can even push updates to your policies, helping you stay compliant and avoid privacy-related fines and lawsuits. With Termageddon, available within the Avanty App Store, it is easier than ever to generate the policies you need to comply with privacy laws and protect your business. NOTE: this isn't your only option when it comes to privacy policies but we highly recommend this service as they strategise keeping all policies up to date.
How do I get Termageddon on my Avanty website?
You can add Termageddon to your website via the Avanty App Store and simply follow the instructions to create your website policy. If you have any questions regarding Termageddon and want to find the answers yourself, Termageddon has many resources accessible to you. For example, they have a Help Center and an impressive blog that will certainly be useful to you.
Once your policy is ready, open the widget panel, look for the Policy Content widget and drag it into your website. As always, you can customise the design and content to match your brand, just like any other Avanty widget.
