4 Tips to Ensure Customer Data Privacy for Your Online Business

Online privacy is hard to come by these days, with companies using every opportunity possible to gather and use your private data. It is no surprise that customers are more concerned and cautious about their online privacy than ever before.

If you run an online business, you need to create a customer data privacy policy. A well-defined data privacy policy will protect both your business and its customers.

Here are our top tips for ensuring customer data privacy for your online business.

1- Conduct an Audit

You’ll find it easier to protect and ensure customer data privacy if you know your business data needs, what data your business is collecting, and how it aims to store that data safely.

Depending on the industry you operate in, your business may have legal obligations that you need to consider. That may especially be the case if you handle financial data as part of your daily operations.

Even if you think your online business is only collecting the data it needs from customers, any third-party software you’re using could be collecting customer data without your knowledge. Before signing up for any software, you should take a good look at their data privacy policy.

You should also be transparent about any third-party data collection, as you are responsible for it.

While you can identify a team member responsible for all the data your online business collects, you should also emphasize the importance of data security across your business.

2- Only Collect Necessary Data

Once you know what data your business needs to collect, you’ll find it much easier to scale back and collect only the necessary data. After all, the more data you collect, the more you are responsible for. So, when you limit your data collection, you minimize your risk.

The necessary data you should collect can include basic information such as name, gender, age, location, and contact information. An ecommerce business may also need addresses.

Even if you feel like you can safely collect and hold customer data, you should remember that you are responsible for any data lost or stolen by hackers.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that if your online business doesn’t collect credit card details, you’re not obtaining private information. Any personal information you receive from a customer could be valuable to scammers and identity fraudsters. These include birthdays, Social Security numbers, or health-related information,

Another way you can ensure customer data privacy is to limit the access to the data you collect. By limiting the access, you can reduce the risk associated with customer data collection and limit points of vulnerability.

3- Be Open with Your Privacy Policy

If your online business has a commercial website, by law, you are required to have your visible privacy policy. However, it isn’t enough to copy one from the Internet and post it on your website. You need to create a policy that is open and honest.

Remember, they’re considered legally binding agreements between companies and their customers.

The information you provide on your website regarding your customer data privacy policies is one of the most neglected areas of website development.

So, if you’re looking for ways to improve your company website, then start by ensuring that you have a privacy policy and that it is on the right side of the law.

Your privacy policy should inform your customers what data you’ll be collecting from them, how the data is being stored, and how you plan to use it. Failure to fully and honestly explain your customer data privacy policy on your website could result in legal complications later.

Remember that the more open and honest you are with your customers about your privacy policy, the more they trust you.

Building trust with your customers is crucial for the overall success of your business.

Alongside a privacy policy on your website, include an effective about us page. That allows you to show potential customers that your business is legitimate. It’s also a great marketing technique.  You can optimize the content within your about us page to find new potential customers.

4- Communicate with Your Customers

While many customers will not read your privacy policy, that does not diminish its importance to your online business. So, communicate the contents of the policy to your customers at every opportunity.

For example, if you’re putting additional software in place to help protect your customers, you should inform them about it. There are many different tools that you can add to your existing protocols to add an extra layer of protection.

Many online businesses use Gmail extensions to ensure that any communication between customers is encrypted. That is beneficial when sharing personal and private data via email.

In Closing

Customers trust your online business with their essential data every time they interact with you, from visiting your site to subscribing to your newsletter and making a purchase. Customers that use your online business and share their information with you expect that you have a procedure in place that will protect their data and keep it safe.

You have a lawful obligation to ensure that the data is safe. Customers could stop using your eStore altogether if you fall short of taking care of the data.

So, don’t ignore customer data privacy. If you want to protect your customer relationships and grow your business, pay attention to it in much the same way you pay attention to other aspects of your business.

Contributor: 

David Campbell is a digital marketing specialist at Ramp Ventures. He helps manage the content marketing team at Right Inbox. When he’s not working, he enjoys traveling and trying to learn Spanish.

 

Smart Hustle Resources 

3 in 5 Small Businesses Don’t Inform their Customers About Third-party Data Collection

How You Can Avoid Social Engineering Attacks On Your Business

Simplifying the Digital Security Of Your Business with Head of Cyber Security Alliance

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