Optimizing your trackers requires an actual policy. Providing information to the user, obtaining consent… You have several actions to make your website compliant with GDPR. To achieve this, relying on dedicated tools with a modern approach. Let’s talk about it.
What is a cookie policy?
It’s a fact all websites operate using cookies.
What is a cookie? It’s simple.
When users log into your website, their browser sends requests to your server. These requests allow the site’s content to be loaded. Cookies may be deposited on this occasion.
Cookies are small text files that make it possible to activate certain features: share buttons on social networks, chat modules, etc.
A cookie policy allows you to manage the activation of tags that result in the deposit of cookies and to inform your users transparently about the site’s functioning. It includes:
- The installation of a consent management platform that allows you to request consent from your audience and to track authorizations and refusals;
- The drafting and display of notices and a cookie information section.
Two reasons to create a cookie policy on your website
Why set up a cookie policy on your website? First, to comply with your legal obligations. Then, because it has become a concern of your audience.
Regulations require you to manage your cookies.
Cookies are not new. As early as 2002, a European ePrivacy directive regulated website trackers.
Cookies make collecting personal data (browsing data, origin page, etc.) possible. This explains why the legislator became interested in them.
The legal framework was strengthened in 2018 with the entry into force of the GDPR. Even the deposit of cookies not necessary for the site’s functioning (advertising, video, etc.) must now be the subject of prior consent from visitors.
Since then, many national data regulators in Europe have issued or updated guidelines framing these issues. This is the case, for example, with:
- The CNIL in France;
- The APD in Belgium;
- Or the Garante in Italy.
After setting the game’s rules, these authorities ensure they are respected. An increasing number of publishers are subject to checks and, if necessary, sanctions. Therefore, the first challenge is to respect your legal obligations and optimize your GDPR compliance.
Your audience wants to know what cookies are being deposited
The media coverage of certain scandals, such as the Cambridge Analytica affair or the discovery of major data leaks, has had a real impact. More and more end users are concerned about their data.
What does the audience want exactly? More complex to know. Because we want our data to be better protected… but we also wish for more personalization (which requires processing our data).
Nevertheless, two needs can be identified:
- Total transparency. Visitors want to know who collects their data, what data, who it is intended for, and what it is used for;
- More control. Users want to be able to block specific data processing and unsubscribe from your marketing databases whenever they want.
Therefore, a cookie management policy is also a marketing and UX design matter. It is a matter of responding to an identified demand from your audience by offering privacy management functionalities. Consent becomes one of them; it is consent as Consent-as-a-service.
How to create a cookie policy on your website?
Which Consent Management Platform should you choose? Should you write a cookie information section?
The best approach is to rely on a CMP that:
- ensures 100% GDPR-compliant management of your cookies;
- offers practical features and a high-quality user experience for managing privacy.
As much as possible, avoid purely informative banners, aggressive pop-ups, and cookie walls that force you to accept cookies or pay.
Instead, an ergonomic CMP will allow you to transparently, pedagogically, and funnily explain what cookies you use and why. Visitors can make an informed and free choice they can change anytime.
For example, Axeptio has developed a CMP appreciated for its fun spirit and ability to demystify and create interest around a technical and austere subject.
Such a CMP provides all the necessary information, so you won’t need to write a specific cookie section. However, you will need a privacy policy.
The technical operation of your site becomes a real communication issue. Your audience expects clear and sincere communication on this subject from you. Rather than a list of trackers deployed on the site, you highlight the following:
- your ethics;
- the care you take in building a relevant experience;
- and the respect you have for your audience’s privacy.
Conclusion: Deploy a GDPR-compliant and user-friendly cookie policy
GDPR compliance for all your activities is now a significant challenge for you. To comply with legal obligations, preserve your e-reputation, and strengthen the trust relationship with your audience.
This requires practical work on your website, starting with cookies and, more generally, all trackers.
Transparency and control will be the keywords of your cookie policy. But don’t worry, you can rely on dedicated solutions that are easy to install and configure and that allow you to:
- Manage the activation of tags and cookie deposits depending on whether the user authorizes them or not;
- Offer a fundamental cookie management feature for your visitors. More than a privacy setting, this CMP will allow visitors to build the experience they want when navigating the website.
