Epsilon International and Abacus Direct (UK), a division of Epsilon International Consumer Opt-Out Information
Last Revised: 22 May 2012
Advertising and Consumer Choice
Epsilon International and Abacus Direct (UK) Ltd, a division of Epsilon International, provide marketers the tools to bring relevant and targeted offers to consumers. As a consumer, you have choices that govern how Epsilon International will handle your personal information and we believe in giving you the ability to opt-out of any advertising that we enable. You can choose not to receive targeted advertising by following the steps below. Opting-out of Epsilon International services will stop the delivery of some targeted advertising, but will not eliminate all targeted offers. Only you can decide what works best for you.
Direct Mail – UK Consumers
Abacus Direct (UK) Ltd, a division of Epsilon International, receives personally identifiable information through the Abacus "Alliances." Abacus Direct (UK) Ltd maintains a cooperative database to which members of the Abacus B2B (Business to Business) or B2C (Business to Consumer) Alliances (mostly catalogue, retail, and B2B companies), contribute information about their consumers in exchange for information about other consumers that may be interested in their products. Members of the Abacus Alliances contribute names, addresses, and general purchase information (such as the amount of a transaction or general types of purchases, like "home furnishings"). This information is maintained at the household level, not the individual level.
Epsilon International respects your choice not to receive direct mail advertising. Methods to opt-out of direct mail from our database are provided below.
Opting-Out of all Direct Mail Advertising
The most effective way to receive less advertising mail at home is to use the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA's) Mailing Preference Service. Through this service, you can choose to stop all future direct mail entirely. As a DMA member, Epsilon International subscribes to and suppresses any name and address on the DMA's Mailing Preference Service file from its direct mail marketing lists.
The simplest way to register is online at www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/ or call 0845 703 4599 to request an application form.
Contacting Epsilon International
You may also contact Epsilon International directly to be suppressed from Epsilon International's Abacus Cooperative Database via:
- full name (including middle initial)
- current address
- previous address if you have been at your current address fewer than six months
2. Phone: 0208 943 8049 and provide the above information.
3. Mail: Mail the above information to the below address:
Epsilon International
Attention: Consumer Services
Teddington House
67 Broad Street, Teddington
Middlesex TW11 8QZ, UK
By opting-out of the Abacus Cooperative Database, you may stop receiving catalogues that you enjoy receiving.
Because not all direct catalogue marketers are members of Abacus Direct (UK) Ltd, opting out of Abacus Direct (UK) Ltd does not mean that you will never receive any catalogues again. It does mean that other Abacus Direct (UK) Ltd members will not receive your name from Abacus Direct (UK) Ltd for marketing purposes.
Stop Mail Being Sent to a Deceased Individual in the UK
We understand that receiving direct mail addressed to a deceased individual is very distressing. There are a number of ways that you can stop this mail.
The Bereavement Register is a free service specifically designed to remove the names and addresses from databases and mailing files of people who have died. You can find out about the service and register details online at www.the-bereavement-register.com.
You can also register the individual with the Direct Marketing Association's Mailing Preference Service (MPS). This will reduce unsolicited personally addressed mailings received under their name. For more information and to register please visit www.mpsonline.org.uk.
If there are companies that the individual had dealings with, we recommend you contact those companies directly and inform them of the change of circumstance.
You may also contact us directly at 0208 943 8049 with the following information and we will remove the individual from our database: full name, address and date of death.
Information on Opt-Out Processing
Please be aware of the following:
1. After completing any of the above opt-out options for direct mail, it may take up to 4 months for your name to clear entirely from our database. We process opt-out requests promptly upon receipt, but due to marketing campaigns already underway, you may receive marketing materials for up to 4 months after you opt-out. We appreciate your patience in giving us time to carry out your request.
2. If you move, you will need to opt-out again with your new address.
Opting-out of Email
Epsilon International Corporate Communications
You may opt-out of Epsilon International corporate communications for the EMEA region at any time by setting your preferences via the preference setting link within the email you receive, or by following these links in the relevant language: French, German and English. You will still receive transactional email, such as registration confirmation, product updates and responses to direct requests you have made.
Email from Clients of Epsilon International
Epsilon is an opt-in email service provider. To perform email services on behalf of our clients, our clients provide their customer email addresses to us, and we deploy emails on their behalf. Epsilon does not in any way own this data and is therefore unable and unauthorised to remove you from a client's email list. If you are a customer of an Epsilon client and would like to be removed from a client's email list, you may use the unsubscribe mechanism within the email you receive, or you may contact the client directly and request that your email be removed. Please be aware that you may do business with several companies that are clients of Epsilon and you must contact each to be removed from their email lists.
Epsilon in no way sells or shares your email address with any company without your consent.
Online Targeted Advertising
As you browse the internet, you may see advertisements on the web pages you visit. Epsilon International delivers, and works with advertising partners to enable the delivery of, relevant messages to the right consumers, while protecting consumer privacy and offering choices about participating in such activities. This is called Targeted Advertising and may be based on a variety of factors, such as websites you visit, perceived interests, and demographic information. Targeted Advertising does not result in you seeing more ads, rather the ads you see will be more relevant to you.
Epsilon's Involvement in Targeted Advertising
Epsilon International assists our clients in displaying targeted ads that are more relevant to you. You may receive an ad from Epsilon International or an Epsilon International advertising partner because your perceived interests seem to match the ad's target audience.
Epsilon International also assists our clients with facilitating a form of targeted advertising called Retargeting. Retargeting is a method of re-engaging consumers with web display ads who previously opened an email (email retargeting) or re-engaging consumers with web display ads based on a consumer's website visit (site retargeting).
To facilitate these various targeted advertising efforts, Epsilon International and our third party service providers utilise cookies and other web technologies.
Cookies and Web Technologies
Cookies are small text files that are stored by your web browser and store data to make your browsing experience easier and faster. These technologies do not store any personally identifiable information; they store anonymous data, such as your site behavior, browser information and your perceived interests. Cookies are the technology that enables us and our advertising partners to display relevant ads to you.
- Email Retargeting: Epsilon International, or our partner companies, may place a web beacon within an email message that is sent from Epsilon International or our partner companies. This enables us or our partner companies to later display an ad to you if you have opened the email. These technologies allow us to know if you have received and opened the email, and therefore, display a relevant ad to you.
- Site Retargeting: Epsilon International, or our partner companies, may place a cookie or web beacon on a website registration page (e.g. an Epsilon registration page or a partner registration page). This enables us or our partner companies to later display a relevant ad to you as you browse the internet based on your perceived interests.
As part of the targeted ads you may receive, we may partner with companies to evaluate your interactions with our web based and email advertisements to measure the effectiveness of the advertising. Certain non-personally identifiable information may be collected and shared with these partners, including what ad you received and when, and whether you clicked on the ad.
Your Choices
You can modify your browser settings at any time, including setting your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, giving you the choice to decide whether or not to accept it. Below are links to information on managing your cookie preferences with common browsers:
- Google Chrome: http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95647
- Mozilla Firefox: http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Enabling%20and%20disabling%20cookies
- Microsoft Internet Explorer: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/196955
- Safari: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Safari/3.0/en/9277.html
Learn More
For general information about targeted advertising and cookies, please visit www.iab.net/privacymatters and http://www.iabeurope.eu/cookies-faq.aspx.
For any questions related to our web technologies, you may always contact us via email at emeaprivacy@epsilon.com.
To manage your online profile and your opt-out status, you may utilise the Your Online Choices opt-out tool.
Questions
To ask questions about Epsilon International's Consumer Opt-Out, email emeaprivacy@epsilon.com or send correspondence to:
Epsilon International
Attention: Consumer Services
Teddington House
67 Broad Street, Teddington
Middlesex TW11 8QZ, UK