Most organisations capture personal information about their customers as part of their everyday operations.  But do they all need a privacy policy? The short answer is that only some businesses are legally required to have a privacy policy, but many others choose to have one anyway because there are many potential benefits in having one – including more sales!

Here are our top four reasons why your business needs a privacy policy.

1.     It’s the law

If your business collects and handles personal information, it may have to have a privacy policy under the Australian Privacy Laws (or overseas laws, like the GDPR). 

It is important that you as a business owner know what all of your business’ obligations are under any applicable privacy laws – this includes whether the business has to have a privacy policy in place.  There are significant consequences for breaching privacy laws, including large fines.

If your business must have a privacy policy at law, you should ensure that the policy contains all the information it has to contain at law, and that the content is accurate and current.  You may need legal advice or assistance to get it right. 

You should not copy another organisation’s privacy policy, even if you think the business is similar to yours.  There are many reasons why this is a bad idea, for example:

• Their policy might be non-compliant.  It’s hard to spot this unless you’re a privacy lawyer and know how their internal operations work.

• Their business may have different legal requirements to yours.  That means your policy may need to have different or additional content to what is in their policy.

• Their business may do things differently to yours.  Your policy has to reflect what happens in your organisation, not theirs. 

2.     It’s good branding

A privacy policy is a simple and effective way of demonstrating leadership and best practice in your business.  It shows that your business holds itself to the highest standards in collecting, managing and protecting personal information.  It also gives potential customers peace of mind that your business understands the importance of keeping their personal information secure and explains to them all the steps that are taken behind the scenes to do just that, for their benefit.  

This can be an important way to help your business stand out from the competition, especially if discretion or data security are important elements of your offering (e.g. professional services, health services, IT products and services, virtual/cloud-based services).

3.     It’s a precondition to your advertising campaign

Do you plan to use a major online advertising platform (such as Google Adsense and Facebook Lead Ads) to promote your business or sell a product or service?  Check the terms and conditions for using those platforms.  Many of them require the advertiser to have a privacy policy before they can launch their advertisements. 

4.     It’s what your customers want

People care about their privacy and the security of their personal information.  We have never been more aware of how valuable our information is and how it can be misused.  Your potential customers will want to know what your business does with their personal information and how it is stored and protected before they complete important parts of the buying journey (like handing over their credit card).  A privacy policy may be the difference between a potential customer buying from you or buying from your competitor.   

“Okay - I’m Convinced.  How Do I Get A Privacy Policy?”

We are often asked to prepare privacy policies for our business clients.  We can do this for your business fast and at an affordable fixed fee.  If you’d like to find out more, click here to book in your free consultation or call us on 02 9199 4563.

Or, if you’d prefer a DIY solution, you can build your own website privacy policy in minutes here using our automated online service. All you need to do is answer some interview questions, and our online service will instantly generate a privacy policy tailored to the answers you gave. All that is left to do then is add the privacy policy to your website!  Click the here to create your website privacy policy now.

This blog post does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. It is a general commentary on matters that may be of interest to you. Formal legal or other professional advice should be sought before acting or relying on any matter arising from this communication.