The short answer is that you need a cookie banner if your website stores non-essential information on the user’s device. It could be something as simple as storing a colour preference. The best way to know if you need a cookie banner is to go through every page and functionality on your website and look for cookies. While this may be easy for small websites with few pages and limited functionalities, for bigger websites, this is a tough task.
What Is A Cookie Consent Banner?
A cookie consent banner or a pop-up tells visitors on your website how you collect and use their data. The purpose of the cookie consent banner is to ask for the user’s permission before using their personal data. It can also give users more control over their data, as some cookie banners offer more than just yes and no options and let users customise their preferences.
Why Do I Need A Cookie Consent Banner?
You need a cookie consent banner to comply with global data privacy laws. Almost every country now has some law regarding cookies. There’s GDPR (EU), CCPA/CPRA (California), DPA (UK), PIPEDA (Canada), The Privacy Act (Australia), and many more. Even if your business is not located in a region with strict privacy laws, if you intend on having a global audience for your website and it collects any non-essential data, you need to add a cookie consent banner to your website, or you may get fined. So, it’s always a good idea to be on the safer side.Â
If you’re unsure whether your website is fully compliant with UK GDPR cookie rules, you can easily check for free using a compliance scanner tool: Cookie Compliance Scanner Tool – Free Check Here
However, compliance and avoiding fines are not the only reasons for having a cookie consent banner. These laws are made to protect user privacy. So, compliance with these laws and having a proper cookie consent banner, privacy policy, and cookie policy helps build trust and transparency with the visitors and users.
Do I Need a Cookie Consent Banner If I Only Collect Essential Cookies?
Most laws waive the requirement for a consent banner if your website only uses essential cookies that are required for it to function properly. However, most cookies required for analytics and advertising need explicit consent to run. However, some laws only require an opt-out button.
Just because you don’t need a cookie consent banner does not mean you’re off the hook. Even the most basic website collects personal information to function properly. For example, your Virtual Private Server (VPS) always processes the IP address of the end-user device as a consequence of how the internet is designed. So, you need to include that in a privacy policy. This means that while there are some cases where a cookie consent banner may not be essential, a privacy policy is always necessary.
How To Add A Cookie Consent Banner to My Website?
The easiest way to add a cookie consent banner to your website is by using a consent management platform (CMP) as a plugin for your website. CMPs automate the consent management process and do most of the heavy lifting for you. So, you don’t need to go through all the pages to check for cookies manually; they will scan and categorise them for you. More importantly, for websites with global audiences, these CMPs come with geo-targeting so that your cookie banner remains compliant with different laws based on the location of the visitors.
Most modern consent management platforms like CookieYes, CookieFirst, and Cookiebot work with all popular content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, and more. Check out our Top 5 Best Consent Management Platforms in 2024 to learn more about them.Â
Wrapping Up
While cookie compliance and consent banners sound like complex issues, they help a lot. Not only for compliance reasons. Having a consent banner signals to your audience that you respect their privacy and put transparency first. Consent management platforms can help with this a lot. If you maintain a small website, you will likely be fine with a free tier of any popular CMP. And given how effortlessly they automate this complex process, it’s best to run a scan and get a consent banner for your website as soon as possible.