The Reason Every Small Business Needs a Privacy Policy

Let’s cover one of the simplest yet surprisingly potent legal defences you can set up to protect you and your business: having a privacy policy!

Last year Monica and I went on an overnight backpacking trip with some good friends of ours. For days we planned our hiking route, our camping spot, and the food we’d eat. We felt prepared. We were so excited and anxious to go! 

One thing we didn’t plan well however was the weight distribution of our gear in our backpacks. My friend ended up carrying about 20+ pounds more than the rest of us. When we got to our camping spot, he was dehydrated, fatigued, and couldn’t keep down fluids (well… anything really 🤮). Our challenge at that point was having to decide if and how to bring him back down the mountain in the dark to seek medical attention! 

Preparing for a backpacking trip is kind of like running your small business. You research best practices, plan your route, and execute. It’s an uphill climb, but it sure is a fun journey! But there are always unforeseen accidents and events, and just like my friend needed to protect himself against dehydration and fatigue, you need to protect your business against legal problems such as fines or lawsuits. 

The legal nitty gritty can be easily left to the sidelines when running a small business. Just like the technical ins and outs of a website, it can feel complex and overwhelming. So let us break it down for you.

To start, you need a privacy policy! To break it down further, in this article we will cover:

• What privacy laws and policies are
• Why you need one in your small business
• How to go about getting one! 

Let’s get started!

What are privacy laws and policies?

Privacy laws are, you guessed it, laws that protect people’s privacy. They safeguard the personal information of people who live in certain places. Examples of personal information include:

• Info gathered from contact forms (such as name and email address)
• Credit card or bank information collected through online payment methods
• Using website analytic tools such as Google Analytics. 

In the United States, there is no singular federal law that protects the privacy data of individuals. However, many states have adopted individual privacy laws (there are currently 23 data privacy laws), with more and more states proposing privacy laws every year. 

Citizens could sue businesses if they have a contact form without an updated Privacy Policy, according to several of these proposals. Several of these state bills declare that businesses of any size and location must comply or face fines (which can reach $2,500-$7,500 per website visitor) or legal action. Yikes!!  

The European Union has their own privacy law as well, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. That means that if at any time someone from the EU is viewing your website and you DON’T have a privacy policy you could be subject to fines for breaking their law.

But Austin… Do these laws really apply to my small business?

You may be asking yourself, “Do I really need a privacy policy? My company is so small, these laws are really targeting the big guys, like Google or Facebook”. 

Short answer: Most likely. 

Less short answer: The truth is, any business of any size should comply with privacy laws and could potentially face fines or legal action for not doing so. If you are collecting ANY personal information from your website visitors, even through a simple contact form, you should have a privacy policy.

You’ll need one too if you are utilizing Google Analytics to track website traffic and usage. Do you remember the GDPR we talked about earlier? This protects the personal information of EU residents and requires that all companies handling their information (both EU companies and foreign companies…psst that’s you Americans) have a privacy policy.

Take a look at the GDPR Enforcement Tracker for example. You’ll find that even individual people and single person companies are being fined.

Because we gather names and email addresses on our contact forms, we have a privacy policy of our own. 

How do I get protected?

Okay, so hopefully by now you’re convinced you need a privacy policy on your website. You may be thinking “Where do I even start? Do I hire an attorney? Should I start searching on Google? Can I even afford an attorney? Probably not… maybe I know someone who can do it for me pretty cheap…”

Woah, slow down! I’m here to tell you, it’s easier than you think! In fact, some of our friends have made it super easy, barely an inconvenience. 

We’ve teamed up with Termadeggon, a Privacy Policy generator, to be proactive about this issue. A privacy policy is a legal agreement stating what information you gather from website visitors, how you use this information, and how you keep it safe. Termageddon will create privacy policies specific to your website and company, then automatically update your website policies when the laws change. This way you can keep your company protected and focus on more important things. And the best part is they do it at a fraction of the cost of a privacy attorney! 

If Termageddon sounds like a good fit for you, the license costs $99/year. We are charging a one-time setup fee of $100 to help you create the policy pages, insert/test the code, and ensure your policies stay up to date with the changes to the law. 

If you use our code AANDM at checkout, you’ll get 10% off your license! We, and Termageddon, will work closely with you to get your policy created and embedded onto your website! And you get to sit back and watch your company be protected from incoming privacy laws! 

So…what’s the moral here?

You may be wondering about my friend from our backpacking trip. We decided it was too dangerous to head back down the mountain that night. With lots of prayers and forced water intake, our friend was okay and we made it back down the mountain the next day. 

Without having legal protection in place, your company may go through some very hard times. So plan ahead, prepare for what you know is coming, and get your privacy policies in place on your website! 

And as always, if you have any questions about your business or website, please reach out to us! We love to talk about that kind of stuff and love to help out other business owners!