PRIVACY POLICY

Personal Information

We may ask you for personal information, such as your name, email, address, contact details and payment details. We collect only the personal information relevant to providing you with a service, and use your information only to ensure the fulfilment of this service. You are free to refuse our request for your personal information, with the understanding that we may be unable to provide you with some of your desired services without this information.

We will only retain personal information for as long as necessary to provide you with a service.

Cookies

We use “cookies” to collect information about you and your activity across our site. A cookie is a small piece of data that our website stores on your computer, and accesses each time you visit so we can understand how you use our site and serve you content based on preferences you have specified.

If you do not wish to accept cookies from us, you should instruct your browser to refuse cookies from our website, with the understanding that we may be unable to provide you with some of your desired service without them. This policy covers only the use of cookies between your computer and our website; it does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers.

Google Analytics

Based on our legitimate interests (i.e. interests in the analysis, optimisation and efficient running of our website in accordance with point (f) of Article 6(1) GDPR), we use Google Analytics, a web analytics service from Google LLC. Google uses cookies. The information generated by the cookie regarding use of the website by users is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

Google is certified under the Privacy Shield framework and therefore guarantees that it complies with European data protection law (https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active).

Google uses this information on our behalf to analyse use of our website by users, to compile reports on activities within this website and to provide other services to us related to the use of this website and the Internet. As part of this process, pseudonymous usage profiles of users may be generated using the data processed.

We use Google Analytics so that the advertisements placed as part of Google’s advertising services and those of its partners are only displayed to users who have also showed interest in our online content or who exhibit certain features (e.g. interest in certain topics or products, based on the websites visited), which we transmit to Google (so-called “remarketing”, or “Google Analytics audiences”). Using the remarketing audiences, we also hope to ensure that our advertisements reflect users’ interests and are not annoying.

We only use Google Analytics with IP anonymisation activated. This means that users’ IP addresses are first truncated by Google within the Member States of the European Union or in other states that are party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be sent to a Google server in the USA and truncated there.

The IP address transmitted by your browser is not merged with other data by Google. You can prevent cookies being saved via the appropriate setting in your browser software. Users can also prevent Google obtaining and processing the data generated by the cookie related to their use of the website by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available via the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.

You can find further information on the use of data by Google and on configuration options and possibilities to object on Google’s website: https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/partners (“How Google uses data when you use our partners’ websites or apps”), https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads (“How data is used for advertising purposes”), https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated (“Manage the information that Google uses to show you ads”).

Google (re)marketing services

Based on our legitimate interests (i.e. interests in the analysis, optimisation and efficient running of our website in accordance with point (f) of Article 6(1) GDPR), we use the marketing and remarketing services (“Google Marketing Services”) provided by Google LLC (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA).

Google is certified under the Privacy Shield framework and therefore guarantees that it complies with European data protection law (https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active).

Google Marketing Services enable us to target the advertisements we display for and on our website so that we only display to users advertisements that potentially reflect their interests. For example, when a user is shown advertisements for products that they have shown an interest in our website, this is called “remarketing”. For this purpose, when the user visits our website and other websites on which Google Marketing Services are activated, Google immediately executes a code and so-called (re)marketing tags (transparent graphic images or codes, also called “web beacons”) are integrated into the website. In this way, an individual cookie, i.e. a small file, is saved on the user’s device (technology similar to cookies can also be used). Cookies can be used by various domains, including google.com, doubleclick.net, invitemedia.com, admeld.com, googlesyndication.com or googleadservices.com. This file records which websites you have visited, which content you are interested in and which content you have clicked on, as well as technical information on your browser and operating system, referrer websites, the time of your visit and other details of your use of the website. Your IP address is also recorded, although we state that within the context of Google Analytics, your IP address is first truncated within the Member States of the European Union or in other states that are party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area and only sent to a Google server in the USA and truncated there in exceptional cases. Your IP address is not merged with other data from you as part of other Google services. The aforementioned information can also be merged by Google with such information from other sources. If you have subsequently visited other websites, you may be shown customised advertisements based on your interests.

User data is processed pseudonymously in the context of Google Marketing Services. This means that Google does not save and process users’ names or email addresses, for example, but processes the relevant data based on cookies within pseudonymous user profiles instead. This means that from Google’s perspective, advertisements are not managed and displayed for a specifically identified person but for the cookie owner, regardless of who this cookie owner is. This does not apply if a user has given their explicit consent for Google to process the data without being pseudonymised. The information about users collected by Google Marketing Services is transferred to Google and stored on Google’s servers in the USA.

The Google Marketing Services we use include the online advertising service “Google AdWords”. In the case of Google AdWords, every AdWords customer is given a different “conversion cookie”. Therefore, cookies cannot be tracked via AdWords customers’ websites. The information obtained using cookies is used to generate conversion statistics for AdWords customers that have opted in to conversion tracking. AdWords customers are told the total number of users that have clicked on their advertisements and been redirected to a page with a conversion tracking tag. However, we do not obtain any information that enables us to identify users personally.

We may also use the “Google Optimizer” service. Google Optimizer enables us to see the effects of various changes to a website (e.g. changes to input fields, the design, etc.) in so-called “A/B tests”. Cookies are placed on users’ devices for the purpose of these tests. Only users’ pseudonymous data is used when doing so.

We also use “Google Tag Manager” to integrate Google’s analytics and marketing services into our website and to manage them.

You can find further information on how Google uses data for marketing purposes in this overview: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads. Google’s Privacy Policy is available at https://policies.google.com/privacy.

If you wish to object to interest-related advertising using Google Marketing Services, you can make use of the configuration and opt-out options provided by Google: https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.

Other Google services

External typefaces from Google, LLC., https://www.google.com/fonts (“Google Fonts”). Google Fonts are embedded by accessing a Google server (usually in the USA). Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy, Opt-out: https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.

Maps from the “Google Maps” service from the third-party provider Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Privacy Policy: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/, Opt-out: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/.

Hotjar

We use the Hotjar, analytics software from Hotjar Ltd. (Ireland), for our website. Hotjar enables user behaviour (clicks, mouse movements, scrolls, etc.) on our website to be measures and analysed. When doing so, information generated by the tracking code and cookies is transferred to the Hotjar server in Ireland and stored there. The tracking code enables device-related data recorded by the device used and the associated browser and log files, which are automatically generated by our server, to be recorded.

Hotjar uses this information to analyse your use of our website and to compile reports on use. To provide its service, Hotjar also makes use of services from third-party companies, such as Google Analytics and Optimizely. These third-party companies may store information that your browser transmits when you visit the website, such as cookies or IP requests. For more detailed information on how Google Analytics and Optimizely store and use data, please see their relevant privacy policies.

The cookies that Hotjar uses have various life spans: Some only remain valid during your current visit, others for up to 365 days.

You can prevent Hotjar collecting data by clicking on the following link and following the instructions there: https://www.hotjar.com/legal/compliance/opt-out

You can view Hotjar’s Privacy Policy here: https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy

Third-Party Services

We may employ third-party companies and individuals on our websites - for example, analytics providers and content partners. These third parties have access to your personal information only to perform specific tasks on our behalf, and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Security

We take security seriously, and do what we can within commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information from loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. That said, we advise that no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure, and cannot guarantee the absolute security of your data.

Links to Other Sites

Our website may link to external sites that are not operated by us. Please be aware that we have no control over the content and practices of these sites, and cannot assume responsibility for their treatment of your personal information. This privacy policy only covers our website and privacy practices.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

At our discretion, we may change our privacy policy from time to time. Your continued use of this site after any changes to this policy will be regarded as acceptance of our practices around privacy and personal information.

Business Transfers

If we or our assets are acquired, or in the unlikely event that we go out of business or enter bankruptcy, we would include user information among our assets transferred to or acquired by a third party. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any parties who acquire us may continue to use your personal information according to this policy.