We had a few people recently asking why they need their full mailing address as part of the SVA Approved process… There’s quite a few legal obligations which mean you MUST have a contact mailing address on your website:
Why virtual assistants NEED a proper mailing address
- https://www.gov.uk/online-and-distance-selling-for-businesses – so if you are selling products/services from your website (even if it’s just an Amazon affiliate link rather than blocks of hours being bought) you need to display a full address
- GDPR requires a contact address for Privacy Policy unsubscribes etc.
- PECR also requires a contact address on any email marketing you do https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1551/direct-marketing-checklist.pdf
Office address alternatives
So yup – you need an address which you can use – and yeah, putting your home address all over your website probably isn’t smart (I don’t have mine on there!!). But there are a few ways you can get round this:
- Use an alternative mailing address – mbe.co.uk, your acountant, local co-working space, a client’s offices etc. (NB: If you are a limited co, you should already have a registered office which displays your company name externally too which you can use)
- Disguise your address – Flat 2, 123 Star St becomes Suite 2, The Rock Building, 123 Star St… Admittedly with Google Streetview, this isn’t ideal, but it’ll put off the passively curious.
- Only put the address on your privacy policy (main contact pages have just phone/email) – you will still have to include full address on your mailings and the privacy policy but people looking generally won’t find it.