How to Use HubSpot: Enabling Cookies by Category for GDPR

What COVID-19 did to the world, GDPR did to the marketing world in 2018. It completely turned the marketing world upside down. Now, anytime you are capturing data from a contact in the European Union, you have to be transparent about what you're tracking, allow your contacts to opt-in or opt-out, and at their request, you have to be willing to delete all data you have on them. It's a pretty big deal for privacy.

Now, for a lot of companies, GDPR has no effect. If you don't sell to or work with anyone in the EU, then you don't necessarily have to follow GDPR. But — this isn't going to be the end of this kind of regulation. California has already rolled out the CCPA which is similar and we expect other states and countries to jump on this train sooner rather than later. One option that you can now enable for your GDPR (and general privacy) is cookies by category and give your website visitors access to choose which cookies they want to allow or disallow. Here's how.

This blog post is part of our How to Use HubSpot series focused on helping our readers get the most out of their HubSpot portals with tips and tricks on best practices within HubSpot. Some features and tools can be hidden or hard to find. We're uncovering those tools. Follow along and catch all of our HubSpot tips here.

GDPR is a messy topic and one that marketers honestly kind of hate. It restricts our access to information! But, in the grand scheme of things, it's a good thing. As restrictions and regulations continue to go into effect, it's better to get ahead of them and implement measures to give your website visitors control over their own data — even if you don't deal with the EU.

Now in Beta is the option to display cookies by category. This allows a user to pick and choose which cookies they will allow and which they will disallow your website to place. Here's how you can set it up:

• In your HubSpot account, click the settings icon settings in the main navigation bar (top right).
• In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Cookies policy under Account Setup.
• Under Cookie policies, look for your published policy or Default policy.
• Click on the name of your policy.
• In the next screen, toggle Display cookies by category on.
  
• Once you do this, new options will be added to the bottom of the window starting with Cookie settings button label *
• You will need to choose a label for the cookie settings button and you will see five new menus that need to be updated including Cookies introduction, Necessary cookies category, Analytics cookies category, Functionality cookies category, and Advertisement cookies category. Each category has default labels and descriptions that can be changed to fit your business and policies. You can open each and see the label and description by clicking on each of those titles.
  
• You will also need to set the button label for the Accept all button  and Save button label.
• Once you're satisfied, click the Publish button and your changes will be live!

By doing this, you'll give your website visitors true transparency and control over their data. While it's not necessary right now if you're not engaging with anyone from the EU, it is still a good practice to get into and we believe it will become mandatory sooner rather than later in the US.

Check back regularly to find other tips on how to use HubSpot! 

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