Cookie Policy

Cookies are small files a site stores in your browser. Local storage and session storage work similarly but are not sent back to the server; session storage is cleared when you close the tab. This page lists every entry this site sets, what it is for and how long it lasts, and how to switch the optional ones off.

Strictly necessary

These are required for the site to work. They cannot be switched off from within the site.

• Theme preference: a local storage entry named qelv-theme remembers whether you chose the light or dark theme. Without it the site follows your system setting. It stays in your browser and is never sent to us.
• Your cookie choice: a local storage entry named qelv-cookie-consent records which of the two categories below you allowed, and when. A session storage entry named qelv-cookie-banner-dismissed remembers that you closed the banner without choosing, for the current visit only. Neither is sent to us.

Forms and page conveniences

One session storage entry, when you use the estimator. Clicking through from the payback estimator stores the note it wrote, including the hours, headcount and hourly cost you set, under an entry named qelv-estimator-prefill, so the contact form opens with them already filled in. It is kept out of the web address deliberately, because analytics and advertising tags read the address. The form deletes it as soon as it reads it, and discards it unread if you arrive by any other link. It is never sent anywhere on its own: the figures reach us only if you submit the form. The site works without it, and if your browser blocks storage the form simply opens with its usual opening line.

One session storage entry, when you open a story from the work page. Opening a story from a card on the work page stores that card’s name under an entry named qelv-work-return, so that coming back lands you on the card you left rather than at the top of the list. The work page deletes it as soon as it reads it. It is never sent anywhere, and the page works without it.

One session storage entry, if you close the bar at the foot of a phone screen. Closing the small bar with the page’s ask, which appears on a phone once you have scrolled past the page’s own button, stores 1 under an entry named qelv-sticky-cta-hidden, so the bar stays closed until you close the browser tab. It is never sent anywhere.

One session storage entry, if you pick what you need on the home page. Picking one of the “What do you need?” buttons stores your pick under an entry named qelv-intent, so the buttons in the header and at the foot of a phone screen ask for that need until you close the tab; it is never sent anywhere.

One local storage entry, once you have sent the form. When the contact form delivers your message, this browser stores the date it was sent under an entry named qelv-lead-sent. It is used for one thing only: on later visits, the button in the header (and in the bar at the foot of a phone screen) on the home, work and FAQ pages offers “Book your call” instead of asking you to fill in the form again. It is never sent anywhere, and clearing this site’s data in your browser removes it.

Two tab-only entries while you use the form. Your unsent answers are kept under qelv-contact-draft, so they are still there if you read another page first, and deleted once the form sends. After it sends, your first name and email are kept under qelv-lead-echo, so the thank-you page can greet you and fill in the booking calendar, which receives them only when the calendar loads. Both go when you close the tab.

Forms set no cookies. Our forms post to this site’s own endpoint, which delivers your message to our mailbox as an email. That includes the short download forms on Resources for the case book, the sample automation plan and the Scoping Call Playbook: the link opens on the page and a copy is emailed to you. Once one sends, it stores the same two entries described above: the date sent, and your first name and email for this tab. What a submission carries is set out in our Privacy Policy.

Two optional categories, off until you choose

On your first visit a bar at the foot of the screen asks about two categories. Accept allows both, Decline allows neither, and Choices lets you pick one. The × closes the bar for this visit without a choice, and nothing runs. Nothing in either category loads before you say yes to it.

• Analytics: Google Analytics, and a note of how your visit started. Used to count visits and see which pages lead to an inquiry.
• Marketing: Apollo. Used to see which companies read which pages, and to add company details to an inquiry.

Turning a category off later stops its scripts, reloads the page so any that were running shut down, and deletes the cookies and entries listed under it below that were set on this site. Cookies a service sets on its own domain are out of our reach; your browser settings can clear those.

Analytics

How your visit started. With analytics on, a session storage entry named qelv-first-touch records how this visit began: the page you landed on, the referring site (host and path only), any campaign tags in the link and an ad click id if there was one, and the time. It is written once and never overwritten, is cleared when you close the tab, and reaches us only if you send a form in that tab, as a single line in your inquiry. No third party receives it.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics 4 sets cookies named _ga and _ga_ followed by our property id, which tell repeat visits apart and last up to two years. We use it to count visits, to see which pages are read and which lead to an inquiry, and to record the on-site actions the site defines. The analytics and marketing tags here all receive the same list, because one function sends them all: a request delivered through the form and the need, budget range and timing picked on it, the form being started, the kind of help picked on the form, the form failing to send and falling back to email, the booking calendar opened, a call booked in the calendar, the homepage tick-list sending your picks to the form, a call-to-action clicked, a work or labs card staying on screen long enough to have been read, a work or labs card opened, a pricing section opened, the payback estimator used, a client site opened, a walkthrough asked for on a work or labs page, which calculator was used (not the numbers in it), a demo opened on the tools page, and which document was sent to you by email. IP addresses are truncated before storage. Nothing you type as free text is sent to Google: the form answers named here are fixed options you pick from, and the estimator sends no figures.

Google processes this data under its own privacy policy (opens in a new tab), and offers a browser add-on (opens in a new tab) that blocks Analytics on every site.

Marketing

Apollo

With marketing on, two Apollo.io scripts run. The website tracker records the pages you visit, the referring site and any campaign tags, and uses your IP address to estimate which company a visit came from, the business directory equivalent of caller ID. It keeps its state in local storage rather than cookies:

• apolloAnonId: a random identifier for your browser. Kept until it is deleted.
• two entries named after our Apollo account id, ending in _eventQueue (page visits waiting to be sent) and _canTrack (whether tracking is allowed, kept one day)
• liveIntentData: kept one day, when the tracker uses LiveIntent (below)

The tracker can also load an identity script from LiveIntent, which may recognize your browser from other sites, sets its own cookies, and can pass Apollo a scrambled (hashed) form of an email address it links to your browser. The second script, Apollo Inbound, matches the email and company you type into our forms against Apollo’s business directory, so an inquiry arrives with company details, and may keep working entries in local storage. We use both to know which kinds of companies read which pages and to reply with less back and forth. Turning marketing off deletes the Apollo entries named above. Apollo processes this data under its own privacy policy (opens in a new tab). Our Privacy Policy explains how this may count as “sharing” under California law, and how to opt out.

What we do not use

• no third-party forms platform: our forms are our own
• no advertising or retargeting pixels
• no social media tracking widgets
• no optional script of any kind before you have allowed its category

Changing your choice

You can change your mind at any time. This opens the same choices the banner offers, set to what you chose last time:

Change your cookie choice

A change takes effect at once. Turning a category off reloads the page so its running scripts shut down, and deletes the entries listed under it. Forms keep working either way. See our Privacy Policy for what a form submission itself sends.

How to turn cookies off in your browser

Every major browser lets you block or delete cookies and site data for a specific site, under privacy or site settings. Blocking the optional ones will not stop you browsing the site or sending a form; we simply lose the visit context.

Browsers also offer a global “block third-party cookies” setting, and privacy extensions will block these scripts outright. We do not attempt to work around either.

Changes

If we add or remove a service that sets cookies, we will update this page and the date shown above. The list above is generated from the same configuration that loads the scripts, so a service cannot be added to the site without appearing here.