Privacy at Phindings.
Phindings provides tools for planning, running, and analyzing customer research. This notice explains the information we handle when you visit our website, use Phindings as a customer, or participate in research powered by Phindings.
Participant answers are collected for research. We do not treat taking part in a study as permission to add someone to a Phindings marketing list.
Information customers provide
Customers may provide account details, project and research content, audience descriptions, survey questions, uploaded materials, and support messages. Payment information should be handled by the payment provider rather than stored directly by Phindings where practical.
Research planner analytics
If you use the research planner without signing in, Phindings may keep a limited, de-identified analytics record to improve recommendations and understand how the planner is used. This record is separate from customer workspace data and does not include an account ID, email address, IP address, user agent, or the full planner conversation.
The limited record may include a locally redacted version of the first question you entered, a broad question category, recommended research methods, and whether you reached a completed plan. The redacted question text is configured for removal after 90 days and is cleared immediately if that planner session is later converted into a signed-in customer decision. Aggregate funnel fields may be retained longer to understand product usage.
Research participant information
We may process survey answers, screener responses, study completion records, consent records, and technical information needed to operate and protect a study. A study sponsor may provide additional participant notice about its own role and use of the research.
Contact lists and identity
Where a customer uses its own audience, Phindings is designed to minimize contact information and keep identity separate from research analysis where practical. Customer contact lists are not Phindings marketing lists. Current public study flows do not collect respondent email addresses unless a future study flow explicitly says otherwise.
How we use information
- Operate accounts, projects, surveys, reports, and support.
- Protect the service, prevent abuse, and troubleshoot failures.
- Recruit or administer research when that service is requested.
- Analyze research and generate customer-facing explanations.
- Process transactions and meet legal obligations.
AI-assisted features
Phindings may use OpenAI services to assist with research planning, screeners, optional interview follow-ups, transcription, and draft interpretation. We use product safeguards to reduce common identifying details before text is sent to AI where those safeguards apply, and provider requests disable response storage where supported. Pattern filtering is not a guarantee of anonymization, so customers and participants should avoid including unnecessary identifying or sensitive information.
AI output can be wrong. Phindings separates observed research evidence from AI-generated interpretation and requires human judgment for material or flagged conclusions.
Service providers
We may use infrastructure, database, AI, email, payment, analytics, error-monitoring, and participant-recruitment providers to operate Phindings. Providers receive only the information reasonably needed for their role, subject to their applicable agreements and controls.
Retention and deletion
We aim to keep personal information only as long as it is reasonably needed for the research, customer account, security, contractual, and legal purposes for which it was collected. Research projects and responses may remain available to the study owner until deletion or the applicable retention period. Deletion requests are subject to legal, security, fraud-prevention, backup, and recordkeeping requirements.
We are continuing to formalize automated deletion periods across production systems. Until those controls are fully verified, Phindings will not claim a fixed deletion period that the product cannot reliably enforce.
Your choices and requests
You may contact us to ask about access, correction, deletion, or other privacy rights that apply to you. We may need to verify a request before acting on it. For research responses, the study sponsor may also be responsible for the request.
Children and vulnerable participants
General-release Phindings studies do not support research directed to participants under 18 or populations requiring specialist consent or duty-of-care safeguards. Those studies require a separately reviewed workflow before they can be supported.
Security
We use technical and organizational safeguards intended to protect information, including access controls, secure transport, validation, and service-provider protections. No service can guarantee absolute security.
International processing
Our service providers may process information in countries other than the participant or customer location. Before Phindings expands materially into jurisdictions requiring additional transfer mechanisms or contractual terms, we will implement those requirements for the applicable service.
Contact
Privacy questions and requests can be sent to hello@phindings.com or through our contact page.