Privacy Policy

Last updated: 28 October 2026

At Hanmade Studio, we believe in keeping things human, including how we handle your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it and the choices you have.

We are committed to handling your personal information responsibly and in accordance with applicable UK data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

1. Who we are

Hanmade Studio is a sole-trader business providing social media management, content planning, social media strategy and digital marketing services.

For data protection purposes, the data controller is [insert your full legal name], trading as Hanmade Studio. This means we are responsible for deciding how and why your personal information is used.

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your information, you can contact us at:

Email: hello@hanmadestudio.co.uk

WhatsApp Business: You can also contact us through our WhatsApp Business account.

2. What information we collect

The information we collect depends on how you interact with Hanmade Studio.

This may include:

  • Contact information: Your name, email address, telephone number, business name and business address.

  • Enquiry information: Details you provide through our contact forms, intro call bookings, emails or WhatsApp messages.

  • Marketing preferences: Whether you have opted in to receive emails from us and your communication preferences.

  • Client information: Your contact details, project briefs, contracts, invoices, payment records, marketing plans, content and other files you share with us.

  • Social media information: Account details, permissions and access needed to manage your social media channels.

  • Customer and audience information: Information relating to your customers or social media audiences that you provide to us as part of a project.

  • Website usage information: Information about how visitors use our website, including device information, pages visited, traffic sources and interactions, where collected through analytics or tracking technologies.

Please do not send us sensitive personal information unless it is necessary for the service and we have agreed how it will be handled.

3. How we collect your information

We may collect personal information when you:

  • Complete a contact or enquiry form on our website.

  • Book a 15-minute intro call.

  • Sign up to hear about our courses, resources or email updates.

  • Contact us by email or WhatsApp Business.

  • Purchase or enquire about our services.

  • Work with us and provide information needed to deliver your project.

  • Visit our website, where permitted cookies and similar technologies collect information about your visit.

  • Interact with our social media content or advertising.

We may also receive information from third-party platforms you authorise us to access, or from publicly available business sources where relevant to our work.

4. How and why we use your information

We use your personal information for specific business purposes and only where we have an appropriate lawful basis under data protection law.

Responding to enquiries and arranging intro calls

We use your contact details and enquiry information to respond to your questions, discuss your requirements and arrange introductory calls. Our lawful basis is taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, or our legitimate interests in responding to relevant business enquiries.

Providing our services and managing client projects

We use your information to deliver social media management, content planning, strategy and other agreed services. This may include managing project communications, accessing authorised social media accounts and working with files you provide. Our lawful basis is performing our contract with you.

Managing invoices and payments

We process relevant contact, transaction and financial information to issue invoices, receive payments and maintain accurate financial records. Our lawful basis is performing our contract and complying with legal obligations.

Sending marketing emails and course updates

Where permitted, we use your email address to send information about Hanmade Studio, our services, courses, resources and relevant updates. We rely on your consent where required, or another lawful basis permitted under applicable electronic marketing rules.

Improving our website

We use website analytics to understand how visitors interact with our website and identify opportunities to improve it. Where analytics cookies or similar technologies require consent, we will only use them once the required consent has been obtained.

Measuring advertising performance

We may use Google Ads conversion tracking and Meta Pixel to understand how our advertising performs and whether visitors take actions such as submitting an enquiry. Where required, these technologies will only operate after the appropriate consent has been obtained.

Maintaining business records and resolving disputes

We may retain and use relevant information to comply with legal obligations, maintain appropriate business records, protect our legitimate business interests and establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Communicating with clients

We use email and WhatsApp Business to communicate about enquiries, projects and our services. Depending on the circumstances, our lawful basis will be contractual necessity or our legitimate interests in managing client relationships and delivering our services.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider whether our interests are balanced against your rights and freedoms. Where consent is required, you can withdraw it at any time.

5. Email marketing and course updates

If you sign up to our email list, we may send you information about Hanmade Studio, our services, courses, resources and relevant updates.

We will only send direct marketing emails where we have the appropriate permission or another valid basis under applicable law.

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link included in our emails. You can also email hello@hanmadestudio.co.uk to ask us to stop.

Unsubscribing will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdrew your consent. We may retain a limited record of your unsubscribe request to ensure we respect your preferences.

We use Squarespace Email Campaigns to manage email communications. Your information may be processed by Squarespace and its relevant service providers to deliver these emails.

6. Cookies, analytics and advertising

Our website uses Squarespace and may use third-party technologies to understand website traffic and measure advertising performance.

These may include:

  • Squarespace Analytics: To understand website traffic and how visitors interact with our website.

  • Google Analytics: To measure website usage and understand visitor behaviour.

  • Meta Pixel: To measure advertising performance and, where permitted, help deliver relevant advertising on Meta platforms.

  • Google Ads conversion tracking: To understand whether advertising leads to actions such as enquiries or other website conversions.

These technologies may collect information such as your device, browser, pages visited, interactions and information about how you arrived at our website. Depending on the technology and your settings, information may be associated with online identifiers.

Your cookie choices

Strictly necessary cookies may be used to make our website function properly. Non-essential analytics and advertising cookies or similar technologies will only be used where the required consent has been obtained.

You can manage your preferences through our website's cookie settings, where available, and through your browser settings. You can also withdraw or change your consent.

Blocking certain cookies may affect how parts of the website function.

For further information about the cookies used on our website, including their purposes and retention periods, please refer to our cookie settings or cookie information.

7. WhatsApp Business

You can contact Hanmade Studio through WhatsApp Business.

If you do, we will use the information you share to respond to your message, manage enquiries and communicate with you about our services or projects.

WhatsApp is operated by Meta, which may process certain information in accordance with its own privacy terms. Depending on how the service is used, information may include your telephone number, profile information, messages and associated technical data.

Please avoid sending passwords, payment card details or unnecessary sensitive information through WhatsApp. Where possible, we will use appropriate alternative methods for sharing confidential project information or granting account access.

8. Who we share your information with

We do not sell your personal information.

We may share relevant information with trusted service providers where necessary to operate our business or deliver our services. These may include:

  • Squarespace: Website hosting, website forms, analytics and email campaigns.

  • Google: Analytics and advertising measurement services.

  • Meta: Advertising measurement and WhatsApp Business services.

  • Booking and form providers: To manage enquiries and intro call bookings.

  • CRM and project management providers: To manage client relationships, projects and communications.

  • Payment providers and accountants: To process payments and maintain financial records.

  • Social media platforms: To publish content, manage accounts and access relevant platform information.

  • Professional advisers or authorities: Where necessary to comply with legal obligations or protect our legal rights.

We only share information where appropriate for the relevant purpose. Service providers may process information on our behalf under applicable contractual arrangements, or act as independent controllers for their own purposes.

We may also disclose information where required by law or where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

9. International transfers

Some of the service providers we use may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take the steps required by applicable data protection law. Depending on the circumstances, these may include relying on an applicable adequacy regulation or decision, or putting appropriate safeguards in place.

If you would like further information about international transfers relevant to your information, please contact hello@hanmadestudio.co.uk.

10. How long we keep your information

We only keep personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including to meet legal, accounting and reporting requirements.

Our intended retention periods are:

  • General enquiries: Up to 12 months after our last meaningful contact, unless the enquiry develops into a client relationship or needs to be retained for another legitimate reason.

  • Unsuccessful sales enquiries and prospective clients: Up to 12 months after our last meaningful contact, unless you ask us to delete your information sooner and we have no reason to retain it.

  • Client project records: For the duration of the relationship and, where appropriate, up to six years after the end of the relevant contract or financial year, depending on the type of record and any legal requirements.

  • Invoices and financial records: In line with applicable tax and accounting requirements, generally at least six years for relevant business records.

  • Email marketing information: Until you unsubscribe or withdraw consent, subject to retaining a limited suppression record where needed.

  • Analytics and advertising data: In accordance with the applicable platform settings, cookie choices and retention periods.

  • Social media account access: Only for as long as required to deliver the agreed service, with access removed when no longer needed or when the engagement ends.

These are intended retention periods, not a guarantee that every record will be kept for exactly that length of time. We may retain information for longer where legally required or necessary to resolve a dispute, and securely delete or anonymise it when it is no longer needed.

11. How we protect your information

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure.

Depending on the information and service involved, these measures may include restricting access to authorised people, using secure platforms and managing account permissions appropriately.

No method of electronic storage or transmission is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, but we take reasonable steps to protect the information we hold.

If you give us access to social media accounts or other business systems, we will use that access only as needed for the agreed services.

12. Your rights

Under applicable data protection law, you may have the right to:

  • Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.

  • Rectification: Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.

  • Erasure: Ask us to delete your personal information in certain circumstances.

  • Restriction: Ask us to restrict how we use your information in certain circumstances.

  • Data portability: Request certain information in a reusable format where the legal conditions apply.

  • Object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests and to direct marketing.

  • Withdraw consent: Withdraw consent where we rely on it.

These rights are subject to applicable legal conditions and exceptions. For example, we may need to retain certain financial records to meet our legal obligations.

To exercise your rights, email hello@hanmadestudio.co.uk. We may need to verify your identity before responding.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator, if you are concerned about how your personal information is being handled.

You can find information about making a complaint at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/.

13. Information relating to your customers and audience

As part of our social media management and digital marketing services, clients may provide information relating to their customers, followers or audiences.

Where we process this information solely on a client's instructions to deliver agreed services, the client will generally be responsible for deciding why and how that information is used, and Hanmade Studio will act as a data processor for that processing.

In these circumstances, we will handle the information in accordance with our agreement with the client and applicable data protection requirements. We will use appropriate safeguards and will not use client customer data for our own unrelated purposes.

Clients are responsible for ensuring they have the appropriate rights, permissions and lawful basis to share information with us. Where required, we will agree additional data processing terms before handling personal information on a client's behalf.

Where Hanmade Studio determines its own purposes for using personal information, we will act as a data controller for that processing.

14. Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to third-party websites or services. These websites have their own privacy policies and practices, which we do not control.

We recommend reviewing their privacy information before providing personal details.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, the tools we use or applicable legal requirements.

The latest version will be published on our website, with the updated date shown at the top of this page.

If we make a material change to how we use your personal information, we will provide additional information where required by law.

16. Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, your personal information or how we handle your data, please get in touch.

Hanmade Studio

Email: hello@hanmadestudio.co.uk

You can also contact us through our WhatsApp Business account.

We are happy to explain how your information is used and help you exercise your data protection rights.