Verified Opinion Studies Privacy Policy
Last modified: May 29, 2024
Introduction
Verified Opinion Studies, LLC ("Company" or "We") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy.
Among other privacy practices further described below, Verified Opinion Studies collects data from and about consumers who agree to serve as our paid panelists, including personally-identifiable information, demographic information, opinions, and images of the direct mail our panelists receive. This data is then provided to our parent company, which generates insights using the data to inform its clients about trends in direct mail marketing and how different advertisements are perceived. Your participation as a panelist helps generate those insights and may help advertisers create more engaging and effective advertising and direct mail campaigns. Except as described herein, we do not share your personally-identifiable information with any third party, and our parent company does not share your personally-identifiable information with its clients. This policy describes the types of information we may collect from and about you or that you may provide when you visit the verifiedopinionstudies.com website, including any content, functionality, and services offered on, through or in connection with our verifiedopinionstudies.com website (our "Website") and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.
This policy applies to information we collect:
On the Website.
In email, text, and other electronic messages between you and the Website.
When you interact with our advertising and applications on third-party websites and services, if those applications or advertising include links to this policy.
When you upload data to us through third-party service providers we have selected, such as SurveyMonkey. Specifically, this policy applies to the information that you upload to us through such service providers. But, please be aware that such service providers have their own terms and privacy policies that apply to your use of their service, and your use of such service providers is also subject to their terms and privacy policies: please familiarize yourself with them.
It does not apply to information collected by:
Us offline or through any other means, including on any other website operated by Company or any third party (including our affiliates, parent company, and subsidiaries); or
Any third party (including our affiliates, parent company, and subsidiaries), including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or through the Website. Use of third-party services is subject to those third parties’ terms, conditions, and privacy policies.
Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Website. By accessing or using this Website, you agree to this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Policy). Your continued use of this Website after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.
Children Under the Age of 13
Our Website is available to adults only (users at least age 18). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children, including children under 13, and children may not use or provide any information to or through the Website. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at privacy@verifiedopinionstudies.com.
Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It
We collect several types of information from and about users of our Website, including information:
By which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, email address, and telephone number, and information that we will associate with your identity, such as date of birth, race, gender, voter registration status, voting history, party registration, political opinions, religious, philosophical and moral beliefs; union membership, sexual orientation, marital status, education information, income ranges, and the direct mailings you receive ("personal information");
About your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Website, and usage details.
We collect this information:
Directly from you when you provide it to us.
Automatically as you navigate through the site. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies.
From third parties, for example state-maintained voter files, third-party voter information providers, our parent company’s clients (who may provide us with information on their members, random samples from state-maintained voter files, or lists of prospective panelists), and from our third-party service providers who you may interact with (survey providers like SurveyMonkey, payment processors, and the like).
Information You Provide to Us
The information we collect on or through our Website may include:
Information that you provide by filling in forms on our Website, and/or via our third-party service providers such as SurveyMonkey. This includes information provided at the time of registering to use our Website, subscribing to our service, uploading your direct mail, answering survey questions, or providing other user contributions. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with our Website. We will request your financial information, so we can pay you.
Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us.
You also may provide information to be published or displayed (hereinafter, "posted") on public areas of the Website, or transmitted to other users of the Website or third parties (collectively, "User Contributions"). Your User Contributions include your survey responses and the direct mail you upload, and are posted and transmitted to others at your own risk.
Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies
As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:
Details of your visits to our Website, including traffic data, location data, logs. and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Website.
Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.
The information we collect automatically helps us to improve our Website and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:
Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Website according to your individual interests.
Recognize you when you return to our Website.
The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:
Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.
Web Beacons. Pages of our Website and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).
Third-Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
Some content or applications on the Website are served by third-parties, including Meta, advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers, and application providers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our website. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.
In addition to Meta (and the Meta Pixel), another third-party service we use is Google Analytics, which helps us understand the audience for our Website. You can learn more about Google Analytics’ privacy practices from the site “How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services", (located at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/).
We do not control these third parties' tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly. For information about how you can opt out of receiving targeted advertising from many providers, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.
How We Use Your Information
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:
To present our Website and its contents to you.
To provide to our parent company, which generates insights into direct mail campaigns, based on the mail you upload and the demographic information we’ve collected. These insights will be used to create data and reporting that our parent company will provide to its clients. Data and reporting that our parent company provides to its clients will not include your personal information, but will include non-identifiable information we’ve collected from and about you, in connection with the direct mail you’ve uploaded.
For marketing and opinion research for use in audience estimation and trend analysis.
To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us.
To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
To provide you with notices about your account, including expiration and renewal notices, and periodic reminders to participate in our surveys.
To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us.
To notify you about changes to our Website or any products or services we offer or provide though it.
To allow you to participate in interactive features on our Website.
In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
For any other purpose with your consent.
We may also use your information to contact you about goods and services that may be of interest to you. If you do not want us to use your information in this way, , you can click the “Unsubscribe” link in our promotional messages. For more information, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.
We may use the information we have collected from you to enable us to display advertisements to our advertisers' target audiences. Even though we do not disclose your personal information for these purposes without your consent, if you click on or otherwise interact with an advertisement, the advertiser may assume that you meet its target criteria.
Disclosure of Your Information
We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.
We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy policy:
To our subsidiaries and affiliates, and to our parent company, which generates insights using the data to inform its clients about trends in direct mail marketing and how different advertisements are perceived. Data and reporting that our parent company provides to its clients will not include your personal information, but will include non-identifiable information we’ve collected from and about you, in connection with the direct mail you’ve uploaded.
To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Verified Opinion Studies’ assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by Verified Opinion Studies about our Website users is among the assets transferred.
To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it.
For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
With your consent.
We may also disclose your personal information:
To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
To enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements.
If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Verified Opinion Studies, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information
We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:
Tracking Technologies and Advertising. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this site may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
Promotional Offers from the Company. If you do not wish to have your email address used by the Company to promote our own or third parties' products or services, you can opt-out by clicking the Unsubscribe link in any of our promotional messages. This opt out does not apply to non-promotional messages we need to send you, such as concerning your participation in a panel, payment for your participation, and the like.
We do not control third parties' collection or use of your information to serve interest-based advertising. However these third parties may provide you with ways to choose not to have your information collected or used in this way. You can opt out of receiving targeted ads from members of the Network Advertising Initiative ("NAI") on the NAI's website at https://thenai.org/opt-out/, and from the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) at https://optout.aboutads.info/.
Data Security
We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure.
The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Website. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website.
Changes to Our Privacy Policy
It is our policy to post any changes we make to our privacy policy on this page with a notice that the privacy policy has been updated on the Website home page. If we make material changes to how we treat our users' personal information, we will notify you by email or through a notice on the Website home page. The date the privacy policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting our Website and this privacy policy to check for any changes.
Contact Information
To ask questions or comment about this privacy policy and our privacy practices, contact us at: privacy@verifiedopinionstudies.com.