When you have an online business selling products, there’s no way around collecting data from your customers. At the very least, you need their name, address, and payment information so they can place their order and you can send it to them successfully.
A privacy policy lets your customers know how you intend to store and use that data. For instance, you might only use it for order fulfillment purposes. However, your customers also have the right to know if you’ll use their data for current or future marketing purposes or for any other reason.
Your privacy policy should be clear and detailed to let your customers know what they can expect from the relationship between your business and their data. It should also include consenting information and instructions for removing or updating their data within your system.
How to Create a Privacy Policy for an eCommerce Website
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Fortunately, making a privacy policy isn’t as overwhelming as it may seem, especially when you use a privacy policy generator that walks you through each step. Here’s how to use the ShareThis privacy policy generator to create a privacy policy for your eCommerce website.
Step 1: Determine the Data You Collect
Your first task is to determine what data you collect, as you’ll need to include information about it in your privacy policy. The ShareThis privacy policy for an eCommerce website asks specific questions about the tools you use and activities your site engages in to help you include the right information in your privacy policy.
For instance, you might encourage customers to sign up for an account on your site to manage their customer profiles and orders. When they do this, your site collects and stores their data to allow them to sign in again and view their information. Your privacy policy will include this activity to let customers know how your site uses that data.
You should also take note of tools you use on your site that collect data, like Google Analytics, which you’ll need to also include in your privacy policy.
Step 2: Let the Generator Walk You Through Creating a Policy
Now, click the ‘Start Now’ button to create your free privacy policy with the ShareThis privacy policy generator. Answer each question honestly so that the generator can include the sections that pertain to your business.
Once the generator creates your policy, review it. You may need to add or modify sections to ensure that they align with your data collection processes and that it includes all necessary information. It’s also good to have an experienced attorney review your privacy policy.
Step 3: Keep Your Privacy Policy Updated
Any time you make changes to your website that could affect what data you collect or how you collect, store, and manage it, your privacy policy should reflect those changes. Make it a point to review your privacy policy every few months, regardless of whether you’ve made changes to your website.
When you do update or review your privacy policy, include the modification date at the top. This tells your visitors that the policy is up-to-date.
eCommerce Privacy Policy FAQs
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The following FAQs contain answers to common questions about a privacy policy for an eCommerce website.
Does my eCommerce site need a privacy policy?
Most eCommerce websites need a privacy policy because they collect information from their customers to fulfill orders. Your privacy policy tells customers what data you collect and why so they’ll always know how your business uses their data.
What should be included in a privacy policy for an eCommerce website?
An eCommerce privacy policy should explain the data you currently collect or plan to collect in the future. Additionally, it tells customers how your site and third-party apps or services your site uses to collect and store data and what they do with that data.
Can I write my own privacy policy?
Absolutely. However, privacy policies contain a lot of information, and it’s crucial not to leave out how you collect and use data. For that reason, we recommend using a privacy policy generator or consult with an attorney to guide you through the process.
Where can I find an eCommerce privacy policy template?
Try the ShareThis privacy policy generator to create a simple and free privacy policy for your eCommerce website. The template is entirely customizable to fit the needs of your business.
Creating Your eCommerce Privacy Policy
It’s free to create a privacy policy for your eCommerce business with the ShareThis privacy policy generator. Your final policy is ready to post on your website, download to your computer, or print for your files. Customize it whenever you’d like to suit your business and its data collection processes.
