Privacy Policy

Who is responsible

Paul Coombes, trading as Competitor Intelligence, is the controller responsible for the personal information described here. Contact hello@competitorintel.ai with privacy questions or requests.

Establishment address: 27 The Hawthorns, Cam, Dursley, Gloucestershire, GL11 5LJ, United Kingdom.

Website visitors

This public website has no accounts, contact forms, analytics or advertising trackers and does not set cookies. Following an email link opens your own email application.

Once the site is deployed on Vercel, Vercel will process the technical information needed to deliver and secure it, such as IP addresses, request information and associated logs. Sending us an email creates correspondence, as described below.

Business research and outreach

We research publicly available business information, including company websites, public registers and other business sources. This may include names, roles, business contact details, company identity, services and public statements. Public availability does not remove our responsibility to handle personal information fairly.

We use this information to identify relevant businesses, check corporate subscriber identity and contact eligibility, prepare competitor reviews and make relevant business enquiries. B2B outreach is subject to eligibility and suppression controls; a public email address alone does not establish permission to contact someone.

Correspondence

When you contact us, or we correspond with a business, we may hold contact details, message content, dates, delivery information and relevant message identifiers and headers. We use these to respond, keep a record of our correspondence, associate replies with earlier messages, recognise objections and avoid unwanted further contact.

Relevant inbound reply content may be processed by OpenAI to assist classification, such as identifying a reply or an opt-out. Classification supports our correspondence workflow.

Google API and Gmail data

Google OAuth access is for Competitor Intelligence’s own authorised operational Google Workspace mailboxes. We do not offer a customer Gmail integration or access customers’ Gmail accounts.

Inbound access uses read-only Gmail permissions. Outbound functionality uses permissions to send correspondence and identify our own sent messages. Message identifiers, headers and relevant content are used to send correspondence, link replies to prior correspondence and classify inbound responses.

Relevant reply content may be provided to OpenAI for classification, and correspondence records may be held in Supabase. Google data therefore does not remain entirely within Google. Access is limited to operating our own correspondence workflow.

Google user data is not sold, and access is not offered to advertisers. This section describes our operational use; it is not a certification of compliance with Google’s Limited Use requirements.

Purposes and lawful bases

Under UK data protection law, we rely on legitimate interests where appropriate for proportionate business research, relevant corporate B2B correspondence, record keeping, security and honouring opt-outs. We consider the purpose, necessity and impact on the people concerned. This does not override applicable electronic marketing rules.

Where we handle an individual’s information to take steps they request before a contract, or to perform a contract with them, we may rely on that basis. Legal obligations may require some records to be kept. Where consent is required, we must obtain it and it can be withdrawn.

Service providers and international processing

Relevant providers include Google Workspace/Gmail for correspondence, Supabase for Outreach records and OpenAI for relevant processing, including assisted reply classification. Resend has been used for email delivery, so historical correspondence or delivery records may involve that provider. Vercel will host this public website once deployed.

We share information needed for the relevant service. Providers may process information outside the UK. Where required, we use applicable UK adequacy arrangements or appropriate contractual safeguards for international transfers. Contact us for information about safeguards relevant to your data.

Retention and security

We retain information only for as long as reasonably necessary for its purpose, taking account of correspondence, service delivery, security and applicable record-keeping requirements. We do not yet specify fixed retention periods for every category.

Limited suppression records may be retained longer so we can honour a request not to contact you again. Deleting every trace of an opt-out could allow unwanted contact to resume.

We use access controls and appropriate technical measures to protect information. No system can guarantee absolute security.

Your rights and direct marketing objections

Depending on the circumstances, you may ask to access, correct or erase your personal information, restrict processing, object to processing, or receive portable information where that right applies. You can withdraw consent where we rely on it.

You can object to direct marketing at any time by replying to our correspondence or emailing hello@competitorintel.ai. We will stop direct marketing to you and retain the limited information needed to honour that objection.

You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk. We would welcome the opportunity to address your concern first.

Policy updates

We may update this policy as the service or its processing changes. The date above identifies the latest version. Contact us if you need clarification about how we use your information.