If your small business website has a contact form, customer accounts, payments or analytics, you should publish a privacy policy and terms. This guide explains why and what they usually contain. It is general information, not legal advice; for your situation, talk to a qualified attorney.
Why you need them
- Laws and platform rules. Many places require you to tell people what you collect and why, and some services (such as Apple's App Store, Google sign-in and payment processors) ask for a policy.
- Trust. Visitors are more comfortable sending details to a business that explains how it handles them.
- Clarity. Terms set expectations about what you offer, how payment works and who is responsible for what.
What a privacy policy should cover
- What you collect: for example names, emails, phone numbers, messages, account details, billing information.
- Why you collect it and how you use it.
- Who you share it with: service providers such as your host, email provider or payment processor.
- How long you keep it, and how people can ask you to delete it.
- Cookies and tracking, including whether you use analytics or advertising.
- Security basics and how to report a problem.
- Children: a statement if your site is not meant for them.
- How to contact you.
- When it was last updated.
Be accurate. Your policy must describe what your site really does, so review it whenever you add a feature such as a new form, accounts or payments.
What terms of service should cover
- What you offer and that the website is information, not a binding quote, if that applies.
- Accounts: who is responsible for them and when you can close them.
- Payments: prices, billing, renewals, cancellation and refunds.
- Acceptable use of your site.
- Intellectual property: who owns the content and your work.
- Disclaimers and limits of liability.
- Governing law and how disputes are handled.
- How you will notify people of changes.
Common mistakes
- Copying a policy that describes things your site does not do.
- Forgetting to update it after adding accounts, payments or tracking.
- Hiding it. Link it from the footer of every page.
- Promising things you do not do, such as "we never share data" while using third-party services.
Where to publish them
A footer link on every page is standard, and links should also appear wherever you collect information, such as next to a form. Apps need a privacy policy URL in their store listing.
How we handle ours
You can read our own Privacy Notice and Terms of Service as examples of plain-language documents. We also publish privacy, terms and support documents for each of our apps in the documentation hub. If you need a site built with the right pages in place, get in touch.