Privacy Policy for www.sproutingzen.com 

updated 5/25/18

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Overview:

At www.sproutingzen.com ("we", "us", "website", or "Sprouting Zen")  we value the privacy of our visitors. This privacy policy outlines the type of information that is received and collected by www.sproutingzen.com, why it is collected, how it is used, and what your legal rights are.

This Privacy Policy may change or be updated as time passes. The date in which the latest update/changes have occurred will be posted up above. We encourage you to visit this page from time to time.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us via email at Info@sproutingzen.com

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

When you access and/or browse through this website, we may collect personal information from you such as your name, email address, and IP address. Below we break down the areas in which this information may be collected and why.

Information you voluntarily submit to the website:

Email E-Newsletter Subscription: We collect your name and email address when you sign up to receive our e-newsletter in order to contact you via email with weekly round ups of recipes and posts, as well as, updates and news regarding sproutingzen.com.

We use MailChimp as our email automation service provider. When you sign up for our email newsletter and you opt-in by hitting the subscribe button, you also understand and accept that your information will be sent to MailChimp for processing in accordance with their Privacy Policy and Terms.

You can unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time by clicking the 'unsubscribe' button at the bottom of any newsletter email that you receive from us. You can also edit your information by contacting us directly at info@sproutingzen.com, contacting mailchimp directly, or by updating your preferences via an email received by us.

If you leave a comment: By leaving a comment and checking off the consent box, you are giving us permission to collect your name, email address, IP address, your website url, and any information that you voluntarily provide within your comment. A browser user agent string is also collected to help detect spam. This information is only collected and used purposes of responding back to you and for making improvements on our website. Your email address is never shared with the public, only your name, website url (if provided), and gravatar profile picture are shown. Please note that anything that you disclose of in the comment section is available to the public and we are not responsible for how they may use this information.

About Gravatar Profile Pictures:

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Akismet Anti Spam: At this time we use Akismet Anti Spam to help protect our website from spam comments. In order for this third party plug in to function, it has to collect some information when a user leaves a comment in this site. When a visitor leaves a comment on this site, this third party plug in collects that comment and other information that the user voluntarily provides such as the visitor's name and email address. To learn more about how Akismet Anti Spam protects your information, read their privacy notice.

Contact forms: If you ever have a question or concern and you contact us via the 'contact us' form, we will collect your name, email address and may also collect your IP address. We collect this information for purposes of responding back to you. We do not do anything else with this personal information. This information is kept indefinitely for customer service purposes. Upon your request - we can delete your information. Please send a request to info@sproutingzen.com

If you send us an email: If you send us an email at info@sproutingzen.com, we may be able to see your name and email address in that email and will use it to respond back to your inquiry/concern/questions. This information is kept indefinitely for customer service purposes.

Surveys and polls: We may at certain times offer surveys, opinion polls, or request feedback regarding your experience with our website. This information is used for purposes of improving our website and user experience, and is not shared with any third party services without your explicit written (or checked off through a box) consent.

Contests: We may also from time to time organize and host contests, sweepstakes, giveaways, prize draws or other promotions ("collectively contests") on our website or through the use of any of our social media channels where we may offer a prize. We may need to collect personal information for entry into these contests which may include your name, email address, and personal contact information such as your phone number and/or mailing address. This information is collected to contact the winner, and to send them the prize if applicable. These contests are completely voluntary, and you will always be asked for explicit consent for this personal contact information. This information will only be used for purposes of the contest.

Automatically Collected Information:

When you visit and/or browse our website (this includes moving around from page to page, leaving a comment, signing up for email newsletters, and/or contacting us in any form), we automatically receive and collect information which may in certain circumstances be considered personal information.  This type of collection is explained below:

web log files:

Just like many modern websites, www.sproutingzen.com uses web log files. Log files automatically record basic information about anyone who visits www.sproutingzen.com. The information in our log files helps us improve user experience by providing analytical information that will help us design a better website for you.

Web log information includes:

• your Internet Protocol (IP) address
• the type of browser and operating system that you use
• the date and time in which you used the website
• pages visited and links clicked
• how a user moves around our site
• referring pages (where a user came from into our site)
• exit pages (where a given user left our site from)

This information is used as research to study trends within our site, to see what content is working better than others, and to improve our website and user experience. When we know what IS working vs what is NOT working, then we can build a better experience for you.

MonsterInsights/ Google Analytics Tools:

We use analytics services by third parties (Monster Insights and Google Analytics) to collect information about the use of this website. Such information includes: number of visits to this website, what pages are visited, how a user moves around through the website, popularity of certain content, entry/exit pages, how much time is spent on the website or on certain pages. All IP addresses are anonymized and we do not collect any demographic or ethnic information at this time. We use this data to learn about how our website works and to improve user experience by continuing to build on what works, and change what doesn't. At this time, the information we receive via google analytics / Monster Insights is not shared with any other third-party service or company.

Google analytics uses cookies and pixels to collect this data - please visit our cookie policy page for more information on the cookies that we use. You can also visit Google Analytic's Privacy Policy for more information on their privacy practices.

You can opt out of google analytics by downloading this google browser extension.

Newsletter Analytics Reports:

All newsletters sent may contain tracking pixels. The pixel is embedded in emails and allows an analysis of the success of online marketing campaigns. Because of these tracking pixels, we may see if and when you open an email and which links within the email you click. Also, this allows the Website to adapt the content of future newsletters to the interests of the user. This behavior will not be passed on to third parties.

Instagram Feed Plug In By Smash Balloon:

We use an Instagram Feed plugin to display social media content on our website. As a result, our website makes requests to Instagram’s servers in order to get the data to populate the feed(s) and to display images and videos. These requests make your IP address visible to Instagram, who may use it in accordance with their data privacy policy: https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875

Web Hosting Company:

We use Siteground as our web hosting company, and for that reason the information collected in this website is stored in their servers. Siteground only processes this information for the purpose of delivering the hosting service and resolving technical inquiries. No other secondary functions are made using the information from this website. You can find their respective privacy policy here.

WordFence: We use Wordfence third party plug in to protect our site from hackers and attackers. Wordfence scans our website files to check for hacked files and vulnerabilities. This helps us keep our website safe for you, the user.

In order for Wordfence to function it has to collect and have access to certain information, some of which may be personal information that you have submitted to this site such as names, email addresses, and IP addresses.

To read more about what Wordfence plug in may collect and how it protects your information you can read their Data Processing Agreement.

Embedded content from other websites:

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Cookies:

This website uses cookies to improve user experience. Please see our cookie policy for more information.

Links To Other Sites:

We may at times include other website links in this website. We cannot guarantee the privacy practices of those websites. If you submit any personal information to those sites, it will be subject to their respective privacy policies.

Display Ads / Retargeting Ads:

At any given time, we may use a third party marketing agency to serve ads on our website. If this is the case, then this third party agency will have access to certain information from our website such as analytics information and what ads a user clicks. This is done to provide you with information that is of interest to you. Third parties uses cookies to track this information. You will always be notified when there are cookies on this website, and you can disable cookies using your browser at anytime.

Affiliate Marketing:

This website engages in affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is done by using embedded tracking links. If you click on a link that is labeled 'affiliate link' next to it, then a cookie will be placed on your browser for a given period of time in order to track any sales for purposes of commissions. The 'cookie' allows the merchant to know what website that sale came from in order to provide payment. This comes at no extra cost to you. You will not be paying a higher price for a product by clicking on an affiliate link. Our website simply gets a small commission from that sale.

For more information on cookies and how to disable them - you can visit our cookie policy page.

At this time we are currently enrolled in the following affiliate marketing programs:

• Amazon Affiliates - visit privacy policy page
• ShareASale - visit privacy policy page

 

Sensitive Personal Information:

At no time will this website request, nor should you submit to this website, any sensitive personal information such as your social security number, financial information, information regarding race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, or health information.

Minors:

This website is intended for use by adults 18 years and older. We do not intentionally, nor knowingly, collect personal information from minors without parental consent. If you are under the age of 18, you must cease use of this website immediately.

 

How this information may be used:

The information we collect on this website may be used in the following ways:

• To operate, maintain, and improve the design of our website
• To provide content that is of interest to the readers
• To study trends within our website using analytics
• To send you promotional/marketing information via email such as our newsletter. You can always unsubscribe.
• To respond to your comments and/or inquiries either via the comment section or if you contact us via email.
• To track and measure advertising on the Website;
• To keep the website safe and free from hackers, spam, and bots;
• To protect, investigate, and deter against unauthorized or illegal activity.

How this information may be shared:

• Mailchimp - When you subscribe to receive email newsletters from us, your information (email and name) is sent to MailChimp for purposes of email automation. You can read about their privacy practices in their privacy policy page.
• Comments - Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. At this time we are using Akismet Anti Spam - you can read more about what information gets collected by them by visiting their privacy notice page.
• When required by law - We will disclose Personal Information when we are required to do so by law for example in response to a court order or subpoena, or law enforcement agency's request.
• Business transfers - If there is ever a merger, sale of company assets, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company, then the information collected by this website will be transferred and acquired by the third party. If any of these events happens, we will take any reasonable steps to notify you and this Privacy Policy would continue to apply to your information and the party receiving your information shall continue to use your information, but only consistent with this Privacy Policy.
• With your explicit consent - We may share and disclose information, that you have authorized us to share, with third parties.

We will not sell, rent, share or otherwise disclose personally identifiable information in any way that is contrary to the commitments made in this Privacy Policy. We will take all reasonable steps to notify you when and what information might go to third parties and you will be able to choose whether to share it or not.

How long we retain your data:

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

If you sign up to receive email newsletters - your information is kept indefinitely for the purposes of sending you our email newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time by hitting the unsubscribe button which is found on the bottom of any email received by us.

For European Economic area residents:

Under certain circumstances, users may have the following rights to their information:

• Opt out of any further email communications; You can do this by unsubscribing from our email newsletter by clicking on the 'unsubscribe' button on the bottom of any email received from us. You can also contact us or mailchimp directly.
• Request to access a copy of any personal information which we may have collected about you;
• Withdraw your consent to using your personal information;
• Request to update or delete personal data which we hold about you;

All requests will be considered on an individual basis. Please note that certain personal information may be exempt from those requests in certain circumstances, which include a need to keep processing information for our legitimate interests or to comply with a legal obligation. If such an exception applies, we will notify you when responding to your request. Please note that we may ask you to provide us with information necessary to confirm your identity before responding in order to protect your privacy. Please send all requests to info@sproutingzen.com.

Contact Info:

If you have any questions or concerns regarding our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us via email at Info@sproutingzen.com

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