Continuing the Cookie Compliance Story

Having previously written a couple of blogs which focused on Website Legalities for the small business owner, there are still a few questions that need to be answered. And in recent reviews of a couple of Wix websites, one of these questions is ‘How can I make my Wix Website cookie compliant?’ 

Intuitive

I’ll try and answer the Wix question and provide a little more background to it. Both of my clients’ websites were built using Wix ADI. This is a very simple website template which allows the non-technical business owner to design and manage their own website. And I admit, when I was updating their sites, it was very intuitive and easy to use. 

One of the issues highlighted in my website review report, that impacted both sites, was that they were not GDPR-compliant. (GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation). Apart from some missing mandatory business and activity details, there was no Cookie and Privacy Policy information. This might not sound very important, but if you own and publish a business website, or even a personal blog, then you have to adhere to EU regulations. The GDPR regulations are there to inform, and protect everyone’s personal data. The use, and misuse, of cookies on websites has always been contentious because some companies argue that the use of cookies helps improve the customer experience. This is true in some cases. When you visit a new website and accept the cookies, it means it is easier for you to log in next time you visit the same site. 

Sharing Data

The downside to that, is that to make the customer experience more personal you have to supply the website with certain personal and financial data. That is not to everybody’s liking, and certainly not mine. There have been instances where personal data has been shared to third parties, and people subsequently bombarded with spam and marketing emails. In some severe cases fraudulent payment transactions have occurred. And all this is from companies they have had no previous contact with. 

Marketing Purposes

So what does all this have to do with Wix and cookie compliance then? To protect personal data all websites have to inform their visitors about the cookies generated by their website, or by links to and from their website, for example to social media pages, and for analytical purposes. Some cookies are essential, others are non-essential and for marketing purposes.

If you want to quickly check how many cookies your website uses go to your browser and type in your website url. Click on the security padlock and you will see some site specific data displayed, including the number of cookies used by your site. 

CookieBot Report

One of the tools I use during my website reviews that specifically checks for cookie compliance is CookieBot. Simple to use, no sign-up and in less than an hour you receive an email containing a summary of your website’s cookie compliance and a report on the types of cookies being used on your website. 

If you are not compliant it will tell you the reasons why. In most instances it is because your site does not give the visitor options to accept, reject or manage the cookies. This is where your Cookie Banner comes in. 

Wix Cookie Plug-in

So the two sites I reviewed that were on Wix did not display a cookie banner. For my business website I use WordPress and there are multiple free applications, or plug-ins that you can add which generate a GDPR-compliant cookie banner. I actually use the CookieBot plug-in because it’s free and has great reviews. I assumed that Wix would have a similar app and checked their support pages for Cookie Compliance information. 

Surprisingly, although they have quite comprehensive information about preparing your Wix site for GDPR, unfortunately, the only Cookie banner add-on available is the Cookie Alert Pop-Up app.  Unfortunately? Yes indeed. The average review rating for this ‘Wix-recommended’ app is 1.7 out of 5. And the reviews are appalling.

CookieBot to the rescue (again!)

Trawled the internet to find out how to resolve this, because I did not want my clients at risk of being fined for non-compliance. I couldn’t find a solution, but to cut a long story short, Emma Lawrence from Languedoc121techcame back with the answer! 

CookieBot can be installed on your Wix site. Hurrah! But not on the Wix ADI version. Booo!

You have to switch to ‘Editor’ version, because to configure the cookie banner correctly you need to manually add in lines of code, and you cannot do this in Wix ADI. If you are not technical then do not try this at home.

Although the instructions are clear it is not something I would recommend anyone attempts if they are not tech-savvy. When I realised that I needed to switch to Editor version I had to ask my client’s permission. One client does not want to switch because she has only just mastered the ADI. So I have had to point out the risks and she accepts all responsibility. The other client accepted and the CookieBot plug-in has been successfully installed. Phew…

If when you check your Wix website you find it isn’t compliant do not load the Wix Cookie Alert. It is not EU compliant, and it cannot be uninstalled. Ask for help in installing a third party plug-in such as CookieBot. Preferably ask an experienced, professional web designer, such as Emma from Languedoc121tech.

Finally

So, along with my previous blog posts, with this one you should now have all the information at your finger tips to make your business website cookie compliant .

Fan-blooming-tastic!

And you have remembered to create and display your Cookie and Privacy Policy?

I hope this has helped. Yes, it’s long-winded, but I wanted to provide as much information as possible, but make it easy to read and understand. If I have missed anything, please let me know. Thank you for taking the time to read it.

Shirley Atkinson

Feel free to share – Sharing is Caring