Did you know that 56% of site visitors ignore opt-in cookie banners? For marketers, that number could be better for business. It’s akin to a high bounce rate in a competitive industry. Likewise, this figure shows you’re losing valuable insights from over half of your website visitors who failed to opt in.
Imagine how insightful your analysis could be if you had double the data from your website visitors. You could conduct more informative A/B tests, determine what channels drive more traffic, assess your audience’s interests, and do much more.
Fortunately, you can increase your website’s opt-in rates and traffic. And that entails using a robust consent management platform like Axeptio.
This guide will explore consent management in detail, including best practices for implementing a consent management platform, and share real-world examples of successful CMP implementations.
Understanding the Importance of Consent Management for Website Traffic
Consent management has become crucial in today’s data-centric world.
Due to the growing privacy concern, many laws have been enacted that require businesses and websites to obtain consent from the users to collect their data through cookies.
Consent management is a process that allows consumers to determine what they want to share with an organization. It’s a process that informs users how organizations will collect their data and how the data will be processed, stored, and shared.
Businesses are responsible for collecting customer data and ensuring it is used only for its intended purpose. Consent Management enforces transparency in data collection. It also provides organizations are abiding by the governing data protection laws.
Data privacy laws control how organizations can collect and use personal data. Some of the general data privacy laws include the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (LGPD).
Importance of User Consent Management for Website Traffic
Consent management is not only crucial for compliance purposes; it’s good for your business in many ways. For one, data transparency builds public trust.
Industry reports show consumer data breaches have eroded customers’ trust in companies and their ability to handle sensitive personal data.
This report has been corroborated by a recent McKinsey study which revealed that 87% of consumers would stop buying from a company that gives away sensitive customer data without the customer’s permission.
Despite the growing privacy concerns, Salesforce found that most customers (58%, to be precise) are comfortable with their data being used transparently and beneficially. Hence, being honest and transparent with collecting and using customer data can build trust, leading to more traffic and repeat purchases.
Another importance of consent management is that it allows businesses to remain compliant with the governing privacy and data protection laws.
As data privacy and protection regulations evolve, businesses have a better chance of staying compliant by investing in consent management platforms. Failure to comply with the governing privacy laws can lead to penalties and loss of public trust.
Best Practices for Implementing a Consent Management Platform (CMP)
A consent management platform, CMP, is a tool used by publishers for requesting, receiving, and storing user consent. It’s simply a solution for businesses to protect their users’ data privacy and stay compliant with the prevailing data privacy laws, such as GDRP, CCPA, etc.
As mentioned, noncompliance with the prevailing privacy laws can lead to fines and penalties. Take GDRP, for instance. Noncompliance can result in data processing injunctions and penalties of up to €20 million.
So, how do you stay compliant? One way is to follow the consent management platform best practices discussed below
1. Know the Data You Hold
Getting ready for the EU’s GDPR or California’s CCPA means you’ll need to know what personal data you hold, who has access to it, and where it’s stored. The following questions can help you determine whether you’re GDPR compliant.
- What type of data do you hold?
- Does the data include sensitive information? If Yes, how do you store it?
- Where is this data stored?
- Who has access to this data?
- Do third parties have access to this data?
- How have you retained consent for processing and sharing this data?
2. Secure Your Website
In an age of increasing cyber threats, you want to pay attention to cybersecurity. As a website owner, you must ensure the collected data and website are secure. This helps ensure sensitive customer data stays in the right hands.
Here are a few things you can do to secure your website and safeguard customers’ sensitive data.
- Install an SSL certificate
- Use antivirus software to protect your systems from malicious programs
- Encourage the use of strong passwords
- Don’t collect more data than you need from users
- Discard any data that you no longer need from your website
- Protect your website from DDoS attacks by using a CDN provider
3. Add a Cookie Banner
If your site uses non-necessary cookies, you should use a non-cookie banner to get user cookie consent.
The primary purpose of a cookie banner is to inform site visitors about how the website uses cookies and what information it collects. It also tells them of their right to request data and revoke permissions.
According to the GDPR, the language used in cookie banners should be clear and informative. Website owners should include an opt-in option for those who want to grant consent and an opt-out option for those who wish to block cookies from their websites.
4. Update the Privacy Policy
Your privacy policy must be updated and readily accessible on every webpage. Whenever an update is made, customers must be updated with the new changes, either via email or any other communication channel.
A privacy policy should clearly outline how the collected data will be used. You may need legal counsel when creating a privacy policy that’s GDPR compliant.
5. Appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO)
Article 37 of the GDPR requires controllers to appoint a data protection officer (DPO) to oversee the data protection strategy. If you plan to conduct business in the EU or are based in the region, you may need to appoint DPO as per the GDPR mandate.
However, not all businesses need to appoint a DPO. According to the GDPR, organizations are required to appoint a data protection officer if the following conditions are met.
- If the collected data is processed at a large scale
- If a public authority processes the data
- If special categories of data are collected, i.e., data related to race, religion, health, ethnicity, or political affiliation.
Case Study: How Axeptio Helped PrestaShop Become GDPR and CNIL Compliant
PrestaShop, a fast-growing open-source e-commerce platform with over 270,000 online stores in 195 countries, was looking for a new CMP solution that would enable them to stay compliant with the new CNIL recommendations.
After scouring the internet for a “perfect fit” solution with no luck, they logged in to their GDPR project management platform. They discovered that one of their suppliers, Data Legal Drives, used Axeptio. Read on to learn from Marine Dizol, legal manager at PrestaShop, about what made them switch to Axeptio.
Challenges in Finding a New CMP Solution
As a European company, PrestaShop is subject to the recommendations and requirements of the GDPR and the CNIL.
At that time, the company used a homemade tool that had become obsolete concerning GDPR and the new CNIL recommendations. The company could have developed a compliant version in-house but had other priorities.
So, they looked for alternatives online and met with several publishers but needed help finding a perfect fit for their site. In addition, they wanted a solution that was snappy and quick to implement.
Why They Switched to Axeptio
Marine and the team had specific UI/UX requirements, and Axeptio’s design perfectly fit their preferred design language. They didn’t want a big banner. Instead, they wanted something small and discreet that didn’t fill the entire page.
“It doesn’t look like a big block,” said Marine.
Axeptio’s widget is small and fits nicely on most sites. You can easily change the colors, and it doesn’t interfere with readings on the page, which was a huge plus. More importantly, the module is user-friendly and allows for clear reading, which aligns with the GDPR mandate.
A Successful Partnership with Axeptio
Axeptio’s small module and user-friendly interface impressed Marine and her team. Additionally, the accessibility of the module on all pages and the fact that you can easily access the Privacy Policy made them switch to Axeptio. Today, PrestaShop’s famous puffin uses Axeptio’s solution to manage its website cookies.
Axeptio Helps Businesses Remain Compliant with Privacy Laws
Axeptio is a fully featured compliance management software that allows businesses to collect consent from customers online through a simplified and automated process.
By automating the consent process, businesses can ensure users know what they agree to, per the GDPR and other data protection laws. Our platform is 100% GDPR, CCPA, and ePrivacy compliant, so by partnering with us, you’ll always find yourself on the right side of the leading privacy and data protection laws. Furthermore, we help businesses optimize their performances thanks to analytics tools and A/B testing features our platform provides. Contact us to learn how we can make your company GDPR compliant, or try it out for free here.
