Gathering customers' information has become an important step in shaping Magento marketing strategies. It helps you to learn more about your customers behaviour and improve their experience. But only if you keep the Magento GDPR compliance in mind. Why?
If any customer data is compromised, you lose not only your reputation and customers' trust. You may even deal with legal consequences.
Here, we'll explain what Magento GDPR compliance is and why it is important for your store. We'll also cover how to make your store compliant, especially in areas like cookies, analytics, and user consent.
So let's go!
Understanding GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, is a set of EU rules that require you to collect and process data of EU residents in a transparent and secure manner.
Due to the GDPR, EU customers have full control over their personal information. They have the right to know:
- what kind of data is being gathered
- why the data is being collected
- how the data is collected
- how long it will be stored and used
- whether it will be shared with others.
Moreover, the GDPR gives EU customers the right to access, correct, or even delete personal information whenever they want.
Therefore, if your customers are from the EU, you have to offer them clear privacy policies, get their consent before collecting any data, and allow them to manage their personal data.
But is there anything the GDPR gives in return? Let's see.
Why GDPR Matters for Magento Stores?
The GDPR has strict rules on how you should process personal data of EU customers. But, it's not just another regulation for you to follow. It can actually bring a lot of advantages to your Magento store.
Intrigued?
Avoid costly penalties
Not complying with GDPR, you can face legal problems and significant fines — up to €20 million or 4% of the annual turnover, which can be even higher. Therefore, meeting all GDPR standards helps you avoid such severe risks.
Earn customers' trust
Magento GDPR compliance is not just an EU legal obligation. It is a way to show your customers that you really care about their privacy. Consequently, when customers feel protected, they are more likely to trust your store and return.
Ensure data transparency
By complying with the GDPR, you promote the openness and honesty of your business. It reassures your customers that you have nothing to hide and that their rights are the main priority. Remember, transparent data collection builds confidence in your brand.
Simplify your data management
By following GDPR requirements, you only gather the data you need and keep it well organized. Therefore, it helps you avoid information overload, streamline your backend processes, and even reduce storage costs.
Meet global privacy expectations
As similar regulations are being adopted in other countries, your Magento GDPR compliance sets a strong foundation for meeting future international legal requirements.
Now let's see what you need to do to meet GDPR standards.
Magento GDPR Compliance Checklist
In order to become a Magento GDPR compliant store, you need to follow all the GDPR rules.
No matter if you are starting from scratch or reviewing your current setup, the following checklist will come in handy.
Add a GDPR-compliant privacy policy
Add a detailed and clear explanation of what type of data you collect, how you use, store, and share it. Make sure that your customers can access the privacy policy from every page of your store, generally from the footer.
Ask for cookie consent
If your store uses tracking cookies, e.g. for analytics, advertising, or social media, by default it violates the GDPR. So, for your Magento GDPR compliance, you must request explicit user consent first.
Note: if you plan to add Google Tag Manager to Magento for tracking purposes, you need to make sure the script doesn't load before customers have given their full consent.
Allow data requests
According to GDPR, your customers have the right to access, edit, and export their personal data. Your store should provide a simple way for them to do that or submit requests regarding their personal information.
Enable data removal or hiding
Make it simple for your customers to request the removal or anonymisation of their personal data kept in your store. According to the GDPR, you must respond to these requests within one calendar month.
Track and store consent logs
To meet GDPR requirements, you need to keep track of when and how your customers have given their cookie consent. These records should contain the exact date, time, and purpose of consent. It helps you prove you handle data lawfully if requested.
Review third-party extensions
Make sure that all your installed Magento extensions handle your customers' private data following the GDPR rules as well. Vendors that value their reputation always provide clear documentation on this matter.
Default Magento 2 GDPR Compliance
Magento doesn’t come fully GDPR-compliant out of the box. There are just a few default features that can help you support GDPR compliance.
First of all, if you go to Content > Elements > Pages, you can add the GDPR-compliant privacy policy to your store.
Another feature for GDPR compliance in Magento is the option to access and edit personal data through the customer account dashboard on the storefront.
Besides, you can manage your customers' information from the backend manually if they request any changes. For this, go to Customers > All Customers and press Edit next to the customer whose data you need to update.
Here you can also delete a customer account to support the right to account deletion.
Magento doesn't allow your customers to export their personal information from the frontend. They can only submit a request. Then, your admin has to manually collect the data from the backend and send it within the required 30-day period.
Finally, there is the built-in Magento cookies feature. However, the default cookie configurations are not enough for full Magento GDPR compliance.
They don't allow customers to choose between different types of cookies and don't store their consent, which are key GDPR requirements.
You need to use additional tools to fully meet GDPR standards.
How to Achieve Full GDPR Compliance in Magento?
Even though Magento isn't fully GDPR compliant by default, it provides the flexibility to integrate tools and features that help cover remaining requirements.
Among these, the most critical area to address is cookie consent. To meet GDPR standards, you need to define clear cookie categories (e.g. essential, analytics, marketing), allow your customers to choose which to accept, and store their consents.
This is where a Magento 2 GDPR cookie solution like the extension comes in handy.
In addition to managing cookie consents, it allows you to customise the Magento 2 GDPR cookie notice, including the banner's design and messaging.
Example of a cookie consent list visitors can review and customize when entering the website
The Difference Between GDPR and CCPA
Now that we have covered how to make your Magento store GDPR compliant, it's important to remember that the GDPR isn't the only privacy regulation you may need to follow.
If you serve U.S. customers as well, understanding how the CCPA (the California Consumer Privacy Act) differs is just as essential.
While both GDPR and CCPA are focused on protecting personal data, they have some key differences. Below is a comparison table to help you understand what each regulation means better.
If you are already GDPR-compliant, it means you have audited your data collection, defined a clear privacy policy, set up consent tracking, and created an easy way for users to access or delete data.
However, for the CCPA compliance, you still need to add a “Do Not Sell My Info” link and review how you classify data like household behaviour or inferences.
Magento GDPR Compliance Tips
Making your Magento store GDPR compliant means more than just setting things up once. It's important to keep everything up to date, from how you collect data to how you protect it.
Here are some practical tips to help you keep GDPR compliance and customers' trust over time.
- Make your cookie banner clear: Let your visitors know exactly what data you collect. Avoid blunt messages, like "We use cookies". Instead, apply "We use cookies to personalize your experience, show relevant ads, and analyze traffic."
- Run security checks regularly: You are responsible for protecting customer data and making your store a fortress beyond reach. The Magento security tips can help with that.
- Keep your privacy policy up to date: Review your privacy policy on a regular basis to specify any changes in how your store manages data.
- Train your team on GDPR standards: Make sure that your staff completely understand how to handle customers' data according to the GDPR requirements.
- Let customers manage their data from their account: For more convenience, make it easy for customers to export or delete personal data from their account dashboard.
Luckily, Magento is flexible enough. It enables you to add these features using different tools. They will help you gain Magento GDPR compliance, while improving and simplifying default Magento features.
However, don't forget that GDPR compliance starts with secure access to your store.
Use Magento user roles option to control who can view and manage customer data in your backend. This will minimize the risk of data breaches and ensure compliance with any data protection regulations.
