Does my website need a cookie banner and a privacy policy
A privacy policy is required whenever you collect any data at all, even through a contact form. A consent banner becomes necessary only once you use tracking tools, for example analytics or advertising pixels.
Plenty of sites have this the wrong way round: the banner asks for consent while the analytics scripts load before anyone clicks anything. That is worse than having no banner, because it documents the breach. If there is going to be a banner, it has to genuinely block scripts until consent is given and let people refuse as easily as they accept.
On top of that come a few things that get forgotten: information about the data controller next to every form, the purpose of processing, the retention period and a list of the parties you pass the data to, meaning hosting, mail and the newsletter system.
If you do not need detailed tracking of individual people, there is a convenient way out: cookieless analytics that does not identify the user. You lose part of the data about returning visitors, you gain peace of mind and a site with no window in the way on arrival.
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