Privacy Policy

Who we are

Studio Smirk is a small digital growth studio for owner-run small businesses, and a SmirkLabs initiative. This policy covers the website at studiosmirk.com and the enquiry form on it. If you are already a client, the work we do inside your own accounts is covered by our agreement with you, not by this page.

For anything to do with your data, email hello@studiosmirk.com. A real person reads it.

What we collect

Details you send us

If you fill in the free look form on our contact page, we receive the details you type into it: your name, and optionally your business name, website address, phone number, email address, and whatever you write in the message box. Only your name and email are required. Nothing on that form is sensitive, and we ask you not to send us passwords, card details, or account logins through it.

We use those details to do your free look and to reply to you. That is the whole purpose. We do not sell them, rent them, or add you to a marketing list you did not ask for.

Details collected automatically

Like most websites, this one records basic technical information when you visit: the pages you look at, roughly where in the world you are, the type of device and browser you use, and the site or advert that sent you here. This comes from the analytics and advertising tools listed below, and it is used to understand how the site performs, not to identify you personally.

Cookies and tracking tools

Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser. We use them for measurement and advertising. Here is every tool that runs on this site and what it does.

Google Analytics 4. Tells us how many people visit, which pages they read, and which ones they leave from. Provided by Google. It sets cookies in your browser and sends usage data to Google.

Google Ads. Lets us see which adverts led to an enquiry, and lets us show adverts to people who have already visited the site (this is called remarketing or retargeting). Provided by Google.

Meta Pixel and Conversions API. Does the same job for adverts on Facebook and Instagram: it tells us which adverts led to an enquiry and lets us build audiences of people who have visited the site. The Conversions API sends the same information from our server rather than your browser, because browser tracking is increasingly blocked. Provided by Meta.

When we send an enquiry event to Meta, contact details such as your email address and phone number are converted into an irreversible code (a hash) before they leave our server. Meta uses that code to check whether it matches an existing account. It cannot be turned back into your email address.

We do not run cookies that read your browsing history on other sites beyond what these advertising tools do, and we do not run session recording or heatmap tools.

How to opt out

You are not stuck with any of this. Any of these will work, and none of them will break the site:

Block or delete cookies in your browser settings, or use private browsing.
Use a content blocker or a tracking-protection setting. We do not try to defeat one.
Turn off personalised Google adverts at myadcenter.google.com, or install Google's Analytics opt-out add-on.
Adjust what Meta shows you in the Ad Preferences section of your Facebook or Instagram account settings.

If you have already sent us the form and want us to delete what you sent, email us and we will, no questions asked.

Who your details are shared with

A short list, and it stays short. We share information only with the services that make this site and our reply to you work:

Our hosting and form processing. The site runs on Vercel, which handles the enquiry form submission on its servers.

Our email and lead tools. Your enquiry is passed into the system we use to keep track of enquiries so nothing gets lost, and we reply to you by email.

Google and Meta. Measurement and advertising data, as described above. Where enquiry events are involved, contact details are hashed first.

We do not sell your personal information to anyone, and we do not pass it to unrelated third parties. These providers operate internationally, so your information may be processed outside the country you live in.

How long we keep it

Enquiry details are kept for as long as it takes to do your free look and follow up, and then for up to two years in case you come back to us, unless you ask us to delete them sooner. Analytics and advertising data is kept for as long as Google and Meta retain it under their own settings and policies.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, or to object to us using it for advertising. We will honour any of those requests regardless of where you live. Email hello@studiosmirk.com and we will deal with it within 30 days.

Keeping it safe

The site is served over HTTPS, and enquiry details travel encrypted. We keep access to enquiry data limited to the people who need it, which in a studio this size is a very short list. No system is perfect, and we will not pretend otherwise, but we do not hold payment details or account credentials on this site at all.

Children

This site is for business owners. It is not aimed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has sent us details, email us and we will delete them.

Links to other sites

Our guides link out to other websites, including Google's own documentation. Once you follow a link, you are on someone else's site and their privacy policy applies, not ours.

Changes to this policy

If we add or remove a tool, or change what we do with your details, we will update this page and change the date at the top. There is no version history to dig through: what is on this page is what we do today.

Contact

Questions, corrections, or a deletion request: hello@studiosmirk.com. See also our terms of use.