Twenty-twenty has been a year of biblical proportions on so many fronts. As our social and business interactions have been forced online by a global pandemic, the criticality of your organization’s website has increased exponentially. And with this increased website exposure will come increased visitor scrutiny, laws protecting personal privacy and access, and liability litigation.
On the flip side, organizations have the opportunity to build trust and brand equity as they become more transparent about their website’s use and protection of collected visitor data. They can also become more inclusive and gain new customers by accommodating an aging Boomer generation and those with disabilities.
You don’t want your website to be caught naked in 2021. Your organization needs a “fig leaf” strategy to understand the intricacies of policy and legal changes, take advantage of the opportunities to develop new customer relationships online, and cover your a** from any potential lawsuits from website visitors.
Your compliance and inclusion website strategy should include these components:
- Cookie policy and the ability for users to turn them off/on
- Privacy policy covering the type and use of information your website collects
- A website disclaimer covering the limitations of liability for using the website
- Terms of Use covering your service offerings and products
I’ll be covering each of these in more detail in follow-up newsletters as well as my recommendations.