It’s come to our attention that The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the UK’s Data Protection Authority (DPA) are going to start closely monitoring websites, with firms who fail to put clear “Reject All” buttons on their cookies bar risking enforcement. You can read more about these comments in the original MLex interview here (this is behind a paywall) and read further commentary (from Pinsent Masons) here.
So, what does your law firm need to know about this new update?
- Legally, law firms are required to have a cookie banner on their website, and this must now include the choice of a ‘Reject All’ button
- Users of your website now have a binary choice between accepting and rejecting cookies and accept and reject options must be equally conspicuous
- You could see a drop in what is being tracked by Google, not an actual drop in traffic to your site. We are closely monitoring the effects this change will have and so far, the drop in traffic being tracked seems minimal
If you are a Conscious website client, what do you need to do now?
We have been in contact with all our website clients regarding the next steps.
We have been working on an upgrade to our original cookies bar functionality that was offered to all clients previously. This includes replacing the “Settings” button with a clear “Reject All” button, implementing the associated functionality to register this choice and updating the cookie bar wording to reflect this change in options.
If you are a Conscious website client and would like to find out more about adding this functionality, please email support@conscious.co.uk.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files that track users. Necessary cookies must be enabled for a site to work properly, but analytics cookies are used in tracking user behaviour on a website through tools such as Google Analytics and can be rejected more easily with this new button.
Cookie banners are used to ask users if they consent your firm to use the more invasive types of cookies that track behaviour. By using the ‘Reject All’ function, users will be enabling only essential cookies to be used.
You can read more about the Information Commissioners Office’s guidance on the use of cookies here.
What is the effect of this update on Google Analytics tracking?
As users are now given a binary choice between accepting or rejecting cookies, we expect to see a drop in some of the Google Analytics statistics.
Please note this is NOT a drop in traffic to your website, just a drop in what is being tracked by Google Analytics because of some users either choosing not to allow cookies or ignoring the pop-up altogether and continuing to use the website.
If you use your website stats in management reports, please bear this in mind and perhaps annotate your reports accordingly the first time you report after making the change.
Need more support with your law firm’s website or cookies banner?
If you’d like to discuss your website, cookies banner or questions surrounding this change with our team, please give us a call on 0117 325 0200 or sales@conscious.co.uk.