The easiest way to comply ( did we mention you should consult a lawyer ?) is to set up a Privacy Policy on your website , and then require your subscribers and customers to agree to it when you are collecting their information .
For your customer ’ s agreement to stand up legally , it is advised that you use a ‘ click wrap .’ You ’ ve seen these and you ’ ve even clicked them yourself .
A click wrap method is where your customer clicks ‘ I Agree ’ to your Privacy Policy before hitting submit . You can add this directly to your autoresponder form when they join your mailing list , as well as adding it to the checkout process when they purchase a product .
Is it possible this could lower your conversion rate ? Maybe . We haven ’ t seen this tested one way or the other . But if you enjoy sleeping at night , we recommend taking this extra step . Data Transmission and Storage You ’ ve got the customer ’ s data and their agreement to your privacy policy – you ’ re good to go , right ?
Well , maybe not .
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How and where are you storing that data ? It ’ s vital that you can reassure your customers that you are able to keep their data secure . Think of the breaches companies like Target have experienced , and you ’ ll realize you cannot take this lightly , even if you ’ re only collecting email addresses .
Take a look at how Google lists their data protection mechanisms : Information security We work hard to protect Google and our users from unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration , disclosure or destruction of information we hold . In particular :
• We encrypt many of our services using SSL .
• We offer you two step verification when you access your Google Account , and a Safe Browsing feature in Google Chrome .
• We review our information collection , storage and processing practices , including physical security measures , to guard against unauthorized access to systems .
• We restrict access to personal information to Google employees , contractors and agents who need to know that information in order to process it for us , and who are subject to strict contractual confidentiality obligations and may be disciplined or terminated if they fail to meet these obligations .
Source : https :// www . google . co . uk / intl / en-US / policies / privacy /# infosecurity