This policy explains how Countrywide plc. (Company number 08340090) and its subsidiaries (also referred to throughout this policy as ‘Countrywide’, ‘we’, ‘us’, or ‘our’) use cookies on our websites. When you visit our websites, we or a third party service provider may collect technical and navigational information through the use of cookies on our websites (or applications).
Where we rely on affirmed consent, if you continue without disabling our cookies we will assume that you are happy with our use of them as outlined in this Policy and detailed in cookie banners. Our use of cookies complies with Data Protection law and regulation and the information detailed herein will ensure you are aware of your privacy rights when using our websites.
What are cookies?
Cookies are files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your device when you visit a website. Your web browser (like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari) then sends these cookies back to our website [or application] on each subsequent visit.
We and our third party service providers may use the information we get about you, through the use of cookies, for the following purposes:
- To recognise your device(s) when you visit our website;
- To remember if you’ve set any preferences on our website;
- To test new content and assess its performance;
- To improve our website’s usability;
- For functionality, necessity and performance of websites;
- To temporarily store data; this may be used as part of customer surveys;
- To remember if you’ve been informed of our Cookies Policy, Privacy Notice and other terms;
- To track you as you go through our website (we do this to track page usage, and see what paths have been used by visitors on our website; we may also track the use of our Internet banner advertisements and other links from our marketing partners’ websites);
- To allow you to share pages with social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, and to support social media components, like Facebook or Twitter (where our website uses a plugin from these third party platforms);
- To make sure you don’t miss information that’s relevant to you (we may target information to our users, such as website content, marketing campaigns, direct marketing emails, and Internet banner advertisements on our website and other websites);
- To analyse use of our website (we do this for statistical analysis and, sales and marketing research).
We may also combine this web usage data with other information we have collected about you, and we may store this information so we can have a better and more specific understanding of the way people are using our website, and their preferences and interests. The data is stored for a limited time period in line with our Group Data Retention and Destruction Policy.
Cookies may be either 'persistent' cookies or 'session' cookies, depending on how long they are used. To stop us setting these cookies you will need to set up your browser to reject all cookies.
Persistent cookies: These cookies stay on your device after you have closed your browser, and allow a website to remember your actions and preferences. They are activated every time you visit the website where the cookie was generated. Sometimes persistent cookies are used by websites to provide targeted advertising based on your browsing history. They are stored by the browser and remain valid until their set expiry date (unless you delete the cookie before its expiry date).
Session cookies: These only last as long as you’re on the website, and they’re deleted when you close your browser. They help us keep track of things like how a particular device is navigating from page to page. This supports the website’s security or basic functionality.
Many of the cookies we use are session cookies. They help us to ensure that your session is secure, and allow you to stay signed in while you move between pages.
Cookies we collect
Whether a cookie is a first or third party cookie depends on which website the cookie comes from. First party cookies are set by (or on behalf of) the website you’re visiting. All other cookies are third party cookies. We use cookies as set out below.
- Third party cookies: In some cases, third parties manage some of our cookies for us, but we never allow them to use the cookies for any purpose other than those listed in this Policy.
- Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are required for our website to operate. For example, they may include cookies that let you log into secure areas of our website.
- Performance cookies: These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to our site, and to see how they move around our website when they are using it. This helps us improve the way our website works, for example, ensuring users can easily find what they are looking for.
- Functionality cookies: These cookies are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This lets us personalise our content for you, greet you by name, and remember your preferences, for example, your choice of language or region.
- Analytics cookies: In order to keep our products and services easy to use and up-to-date, we use web analytics services to help us understand how people use our website. For example, we can see which parts of our services are most popular, identify when errors occur, and test different versions of a feature to see which one works best. These web analytics services may be designed and operated by other companies on our behalf. The data collected is anonymous and does not contain or collect any information that identifies you.
- Targeting cookies: These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited, and the links you have followed. We use this information to make sure what you see is more relevant to your interests, from pages on our website to advertising you may be interested in. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.
What personal identifiable information is contained in the cookies we collect?
Most of our cookies don't store personal data or sensitive information, such as your name, address or payment details, they simply hold the 'key' that, once you're signed in, is associated with this information; therefore the information collected is anonymous. We only collect personal identifiable information through cookies with your consent, for example, you will always have to provide your consent by an affirmed action before personal data is processed by a cookie for any reason not included in this Policy.
Third party cookies
When you visit the Countrywide’s web pages you may notice some cookies that aren't related to us. This is because if you go on to a web page that contains embedded content, for example from YouTube, you may be sent cookies from these websites. We don't control the setting of these cookies, so we suggest you check the third-party websites for more information about their cookies and how to manage them.
Third party service providers
Third party service providers may set cookies on our site, such as:
- Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager: These are third party cookies used to track visitors, and collect information about how visitors use our website. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the website. No personally identifiable information is stored. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the website, how visitors got to the website, and the pages they visited.
- AddThis: This is the world's largest social infrastructure and data platform. The company creates easy ways for users to share content and enjoy more personal experiences across the web while providing increased traffic, engagement and data for web publishers. (Formerly known as Clearspring Technologies).
- ScoreCardResearch: Full Circle Studies is a leader in the Internet market research industry. Companies across a wide variety of industries turn to Full Circle Studies to conduct research to better understand the likes and dislikes of consumers. The reports that are compiled from these projects help these companies to improve their products and services.
- Investis: This is a company specialising in digital Infrared (IR) and corporate communications for public companies.
Sharing from Countrywide sites
If you take the opportunity to 'share' countrywide.co.uk content through social networks – such as Facebook and Twitter - you may be sent cookies from these websites. We don't control the setting of these cookies, so please check the third-party websites for more information about their cookies and how to manage them.
Blocking cookies
In most browsers, you can choose to reject cookies and/or turn off tracking features. Instructions on how to do this is found below. However, please note that by doing so, parts of our website may no longer function as expected. For example, if you delete cookies, any preferences they record will be lost. This includes where you have opted out from cookies, as this requires an opt-out cookie to be set.
However, if you'd prefer to change your cookie preferences, restrict, block or delete cookies from Countrywide.co.uk, or any other of our websites, you can use your browser to do this. Each browser is different, so check the 'Help' menu of your particular browser (or your mobile phone's handset manual).
If you need assistance to do this, please visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org, where you will find further information for many browsers.
Enabling cookies
If you're not sure of the type and version of web browser you use to access the Internet:
- For PC: click on 'Help' at the top of your browser window and select the 'About' option.
- For Mac: with the browser window open, click on the Apple menu and select the 'About' option.
How to check cookies are enabled for PCs?
If you wish to stop your browser from accepting cookies, see the following pages:
Banner advertising
This type of advertising is designed to provide you with a selection of products, based on what you're viewing on Countrywide.co.uk or any of our other websites, which are presented to you by us when you visit other selected websites. The technology behind these adverts is based on cookies. Find out more about cookies, and why and how we use them, via the 'What are cookies' section.
Please be assured the data contained in the cookie used in these adverts is completely anonymous and doesn't contain any of your personal details.
Disabling banner adverts
We would like to continue to display content that's relevant to you, but you can choose to opt out of this type of advertising permanently.
Please note that, if you delete your cookies, we'll no longer know that you've opted out, so the banners may re-appear when you visit other selected websites.
Contact us
Should you have any queries regarding this Cookie Policy, or our privacy practices, please contact us as at privacy@countrywide.co.uk
DPC001 V1 2019
