Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Throughout this policy:

• "Elkwood Studios", "Elkwood", "we", "us", or "our" refers to Elkwood Ltd operating as Elkwood Studios.
• "you" or "user" refers to visitors to our website or customers using our services.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information in several different ways depending on how you interact with our website.

Homepage Demo Information

When you create a home page demo, we may ask for your business name, industry, service area, main services, website goals, email address and, if relevant, your current website. You can also select additional services you would like to discuss.

We use these details to generate your demo and record your enquiry. If you create a free account, your chosen direction and later consultation notes are saved so you and our team can review them. The demo is a visual example, not a finished or published website.

Client Account Information

If you create a client account we may collect:

• First name and last name
• Email address
• Password (stored securely in encrypted form)
• Business name
• Industry
• Target location
• Profile photo (optional)
• Community display name
• Messages sent within the client area

This information allows us to provide our services.

Consultation Information

During the website consultation process we may collect additional information such as:

• Business descriptions
• Services offered
• Logos or images
• Website preferences

We use this information to prepare, review, build and customise your website with you.

Optional We Are Elk Introduction

If you select an additional service and create a free account, we use your business name, email address and selected interests to arrange a separate follow-up with We Are Elk, our sister agency. These services are separate from the Elkwood £25/month website plan. We do not make this introduction unless you select an additional service.

Payment Information

Payments are processed securely by Stripe. Elkwood does not store your payment card details. Stripe may collect information necessary to process payments including:

• Billing name
• Billing address
• Payment card information

Stripe processes this data according to its own privacy policy.

Communications

If you contact us or use the client area messaging system, we may store:

• Messages sent to our team
• Support requests
• Communication history

This allows us to provide support and manage services.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Create and manage client accounts
• Build and deliver websites
• Communicate about your website project
• Arrange a separate We Are Elk conversation when you request an additional service
• Provide customer support
• Manage billing and subscriptions
• Operate the client community
• Improve our services
• Send service-related updates

4. Service Emails and Marketing

When you create a client account or purchase services from Elkwood, we may send you service-related emails including:

• Website build updates
• Responses to client messages
• Billing notifications
• Service announcements

We may occasionally send useful updates about:

• New Elkwood services
• Tools or resources for small businesses
• Blog articles or guides

You can opt out of marketing emails at any time using the unsubscribe link provided in the email. Service-related communications may still be sent where necessary to deliver the service.

5. Analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our website. Google Analytics may collect information such as:

• Pages visited
• Time spent on pages
• Device type
• Browser type
• Approximate geographic location

This information helps us improve our website and services. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect this data.

Microsoft Clarity session replays

For consenting visits we record approximate country, browser and device category, campaign source, visible-page time, scroll milestones and sections reached. We use a random visit reference to match these measurements to a Clarity session, not your name or email address. Our country lookup does not store your raw IP address or precise location in the visitor analytics records.

With your consent, we use Microsoft Clarity on our public landing pages to understand clicks, taps, scrolling and where visitors encounter difficulties. Clarity reconstructs these interactions as session replays and heatmaps; it does not record your camera or microphone. Our enquiry form, entered details and filenames are masked before they are sent to Clarity. We do not enable replay on account, admin, payment or private preview pages, or send contact details as replay identifiers.

Microsoft processes this usage data to provide the service. We keep Microsoft Ads sharing disabled for Clarity. You can decline recording by choosing Essential only, or withdraw consent using Change my cookie choices. For more information, see the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

6. Third-Party Service Providers

We use trusted third-party services to operate our platform. These may include:

These providers process data only as necessary to perform their services.

7. Data Storage and Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your information. These measures include:

• Secure hosting infrastructure
• Encrypted password storage
• Secure payment processing through Stripe
• Restricted access to internal systems

While we take steps to protect data, no online system can guarantee absolute security.

8. Data Retention

We retain personal data only as long as necessary to provide our services. Client account information may be retained while your account remains active. Some data may be retained longer where required for:

• Legal obligations
• Accounting purposes
• Resolving disputes

9. Your Data Protection Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have rights including:

• The right to access your personal data
• The right to correct inaccurate information
• The right to request deletion of your data
• The right to restrict processing
• The right to object to processing
• The right to request a copy of your data

To exercise these rights, please contact us at: info@elkwoodstudios.com

10. Cookies

Our website uses cookies to support functionality and analytics. For full details about cookies used on this website, please refer to our Cookie Policy.

11. Changes to This Policy

Elkwood may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, legal requirements, or operational practices.

When updates are made, the revised version will be published on the Elkwood Studios website with an updated revision date.

Where changes are significant, we may notify users through the website or by email.

Continued use of Elkwood services after changes have been published constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle personal data, please contact:

info@elkwoodstudios.com

You may also wish to review our Terms of Service, Cookie Policy, Refund & Cancellation Policy and Community Guidelines.