When any terms of business change for ANY reason – either internal or external – a business is required to inform customers of the change.
Have your offerings changed since your website legals were last updated?
This could be a price increase, new products or services added to your range or a change in policy of how you handle certain situations.
Or – have legal obligations or policies changed since your website legals were last updated?
Consumer Law, Privacy Policy (eg GDPR), and other legal obligations that may apply to your business or corporation via federal, state or international law are regularly updated. It can be quite a challenge to keep up with these!
If your offerings have changed or you haven’t kept up with Consumer Law or Privacy Policies in your country (and the countries you deal with), then a revamp of your website legals is in order.
There is a lot at stake. A website’s legals are much more than a few paragraphs of legalese – they inform clients and visitors to your website about how you conduct business and what rules are to be followed. Legals help protect both your website and business.
The main concerns that website legals cover are:
– prevention of misuse of your website
– limiting liability
– managing accounts
– protecting website content
– jurisdiction (ie where issues are dealt with)
Keeping on top of the latest rules – whether it affects your website or your staff – can be a challenge particularly if you are a small business. Without a dedicated team member or department, the best solution is to outsource the preparation and review of your legal documents or HR policies and procedures to an expert in that space.
It is worth remembering that very often, your website is the face of your business. It can be the first impression that a consumer has of you. Keeping your legals up to date is part of ensuring that your business makes a positive and professional first impression.
Areas of your website legals that it is important to have up-to-date policies on include:
Privacy policy—check your privacy policy is compliant with privacy law in your country and the countries that you deal with, and is easily accessible on your website.
Website terms of use— this includes information on protecting your business ideas, disclaimers and rules applying to anyone who interacts with your website.
Terms and conditions— particularly if you sell products or services online, include terms and conditions outlining the process of –
Ø your business sales,
Ø payment options,
Ø cancellation policies,
Ø any consumer guarantees,
Ø return and refund policies,
Ø a disclaimer to limit liability,
Ø handling of customer complaints.
Any changes made to the way any of these operations or policies are to be carried out should be reflected on your website by updating your Terms and Conditions.
Client agreement—if you provide services online, include a client agreement. This is a powerful form of communication with your clients as it outlines the relationship between your business and your clients. It should include information about payment, expectations (both yours and your clients’), termination of the agreement, and details of how disputes will be handled.
Whether someone actually reads a website’s legals is on them. The most important aspect is that they are present and accessible. To ensure that a user acknowledges these terms, you might consider adding a ‘click’ feature to ‘accept’ the conditions.
In summary, when any terms of business change for ANY reason – either internal or external – a business is required to inform customers of the change.
Have you made updating your website’s legals part of that process?
Join the conversation!