Cookie Policy

Effective date: July 30, 2019

Hey Helen! (“us”, “we”, or “our”) operates the https://hey-helen.com website (hereinafter referred to as the “Service”).

This page informs you of our policies regarding the use of cookies both on the website & social media and your rights in relation to them.

What are cookies?

A cookie is a small piece of data or text file that is downloaded onto your computer or mobile device when you access most websites today. You are often asked if you accept or not as soon as you arrive on the website.

Cookies do not harm your computer or device. Rather they help us to make sure we provide you with what you are looking for or may need. It helps us to understand what you were interested in, track any patterns of use which in turn enables us to develop & improve both our website and the services we offer in accordance with what you may want or need.

Cookies & visitor tracking on my site:  

Our website is built using WordPress. WordPress is one of the most popular ways of creating a website or blog.

On our website we have a blog page where visitors have the option to leave a comment – which we hope you will. This will set a cookie on your computer or mobile device. This means that you will not need to re-type all your information again the next time you want to leave a comment. Three cookies are set for those leaving comments. These are:

• comment_author_{HASH}
• comment_author_email_{HASH}
• comment_author_url_{HASH}

Theses commenter cookies are set to expire a little under one year from the time they’re set.

There are a couple of ways our website tracks you when you visit the website or social media platforms:

Google Analytics– this is in order that we can get real time stats about what you are visiting the most, which means we then know more about what you are really looking for and needing.  

Facebook Pixel– The Facebook Pixel means that we can see how people interact with our site and with Facebook adverts should we use them at any point which, again, means that we can show you things that are relevant to your interest. It is important to note that even if you’re not on Facebook the pixel is still tracking you. If you are not happy with this there are a number of Chrome extensions & Firefox plugins that claim to block Facebook widgets from loading, including the tried and tested Adblock Plus (ABP). But the bottom line is that the reason we are using visitor tracking is for the purposes of keeping our website as user friendly & relevant to you as possible & in order that we are able to serve you in the best way that we can.

Social Media

We use visitor tracking within our social media channels, if provided by the platform.  We do not have access to any of the data they hold, other than general trends and demographic.  To check what these platforms hold about you, you can check your terms and conditions within those platforms.

About the data we collect:

We collect and store only the information we need to provide you with the services you purchase from me. Occasionally we may market to you via Facebook adverts. We store the small amount of data we do only in order that we have a record of our working together, along with your contact details.  If at any point you would like this data removed from our system just let me know.  For tax purposes I intend to store your details for 5 years after the 31st January submission deadline of the relevant tax year.

The Opt-in newsletter email list:

The opt-in sign up to periodic news, tips & seasonal newsletter is hosted by MailerLite. The form is embedded which means that it does not have any cookies. However, it’s important to note that within the use of that form there are some important things to know:

1) You have a right to be forgotten. There is now an option called ‘Forget’ which, if you choose at any time, will completely & permanently wipe your data from the system, including reports, clicks, profile data, etc.

2) If you sign up it must be clear that you have chosen to opt-in. I have to prove that you took your own action to sign up. A part of that sign-up process is a clear explanation of how I will use your information.