Issue link: https://nbm.uberflip.com/i/1488543
G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 • G R A P H I C S P R O 5 1 post your terms as any changes are more difficult to keep organized and increase the risk of having conflicting agreements in the public domain. is allows for the amendment and editing process to be more straightforward. As your business changes and goes through new experiences, you will likely need to make amendments to your Terms & Conditions. When making amend- ments it is critical you keep dated archives of each version. To be transparent, con- sider leaving a link in your updated term's agreement to an archive of previous ver- sions. Having your terms agreement posted allows you to easily link to assorted documents and communications. Most terms agreements require some level of documented assent to be both effective and valid, but what that means legally is complicated. To be an effective tool, your agreement should not only be easy to find, but also presented in a man- ner that highlights them early on in your customer's experience. If you are gathering new customer infor- mation electronically, that is a perfect time to collect your customer's assent stating to your Terms and Conditions. A customer should be presented with either your full Terms & Conditions agreement or a link to those terms and conditions with some type of button, check box, or click that requires a physical input to mark it or check it. In most cases you can require a customer to assent to your terms to complete your form, clearly stating that they have read, understood, and consented to your terms and conditions. is is not the time to try to hide information or confuse your customers. Doing so can make for a bad customer experience as well as potentially cause your terms agreement to be void, so do not use automatically checked boxes, tricky words, light colored fonts, or try to confuse your customer into agreeing to your terms. In addition to gaining assent through new customer forms, you can post a link to your term's agreement in plain text. To make your link even more user friendly consider adding a QR code link to spe- cific customer documents, but you should include the plain text link as well if you do add a QR code for people that aren't famil- iar with this type of technology. To help enforce your terms agreement use very clear wording that produces an assent. An example of this could be, "By submitting a purchase order to company X, you are agreeing that you have read, understood, and consented to our Terms & Conditions." When properly executed, this type of language is a form of assent. Consider adding links back to your terms on key documents like quotes, order approvals, design requests, and pricelists. As was previously mentioned, the agree- ments are not one size fits all, and neither is the implementation of them, so evalu- ate your business and how to make them work for you and your business processes. Wrap it up It is easy to see a Terms & Conditions agreement as a long list of legalese to be clicked or checked away never to be seen again, but it is much more than that. Making your Terms & Conditions an active part of your business can improve the direction of your business while driv- ing a better customer and employee expe- rience. e process to get started is simple, and while a fully developed and well-exe- cuted agreement is ideal, getting out even the most basic terms is far better than not having an agreement at all. In the spirit of transparency and clar- ity, I am stipulating that, for the most part, Terms & Conditions agreements are not legally required to operate a business in the United States; however, they are a legal contract, and it is recommended you consult an attorney to confirm all terms and the implementation of those terms is following all legal codes and best prac- tices in your governing body. Both your customers and your business are import- ant to you; protect them both before it is too late. GP Identify the moment a customer takes own- ership of product being shipped. If product is damaged or lost in transit, who is responsible?