5. Analysis tools and advertising
Google Tag Manager
We use the Google Tag Manager. The provider is Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland
The Google Tag Manager is a tool that allows us to integrate tracking or statistical tools and other technologies on our website. The Google Tag Manager itself does not create any user profiles, does not store cookies, and does not carry out any independent analyses. It only manages and runs the tools integrated via it. However, the Google Tag Manager does collect your IP address, which may also be transferred to Google’s parent company in the United States.
The Google Tag Manager is used on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the quick and uncomplicated integration and administration of various tools on his website. If appropriate consent has been obtained, the processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and § 25 (1) TTDSG, insofar the consent includes the storage of cookies or the access to information in the user’s end device (e.g., device fingerprinting) within the meaning of the TTDSG. This consent can be revoked at any time.
The company is certified in accordance with the “EU-US Data Privacy Framework” (DPF). The DPF is an agreement between the European Union and the US, which is intended to ensure compliance with European data protection standards for data processing in the US. Every company certified under the DPF is obliged to comply with these data protection standards. For more information, please contact the provider under the following link:
https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/participant-search/participant- detail?contact=true&id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active
Google Analytics
This website uses functions of the web analysis service Google Analytics. The provider of this service is Google Ireland Limited (“Google”), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Google Analytics enables the website operator to analyze the behavior patterns of website visitors. To that end, the website operator receives a variety of user data, such as pages accessed, time spent on the page, the utilized operating system and the user’s origin. This data is summarized in a user-ID and assigned to the respective end device of the website visitor.
Furthermore, Google Analytics allows us to record your mouse and scroll movements and clicks, among other things. Google Analytics uses various modeling approaches to augment the collected data sets and uses machine learning technologies in data analysis.
Google Analytics uses technologies that make the recognition of the user for the purpose of analyzing the user behavior patterns (e.g., cookies or device fingerprinting). The website use information recorded by Google is, as a rule transferred to a Google server in the United States, where it is stored.
The use of these services occurs on the basis of your consent pursuant to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and § 25(1) TTDSG. You may revoke your consent at any time.
Data transmission to the US is based on the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) of the European Commission. Details can be found here: https://privacy.google.com/businesses/controllerterms/mccs/.
The company is certified in accordance with the “EU-US Data Privacy Framework” (DPF). The DPF is an agreement between the European Union and the US, which is intended to ensure compliance with European data protection standards for data processing in the US. Every company certified under the DPF is obliged to comply with these data protection standards. For more information, please contact the provider under the following link:
https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/participant-search/participant- detail?contact=true&id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active
IP anonymization
Google Analytics IP anonymization is active. As a result, your IP address will be abbreviated by Google within the member states of the European Union or in other states that have ratified the Convention on the European Economic Area prior to its transmission to the United States. The full IP address will be transmitted to one of Google’s servers in the United States and abbreviated there only in exceptional cases. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google shall use this information to analyze your use of this website to generate reports on website activities and to render other services to the operator of this website that are related to the use of the website and the Internet. The IP address transmitted in conjunction with Google Analytics from your browser shall not be merged with other data in Google’s possession.
Browser plug-in
You can prevent the recording and processing of your data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plugin available under the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.
For more information about the handling of user data by Google Analytics, please consult Google’s Data Privacy Declaration at:
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en.
Google Signals
We use Google Signals. Whenever you visit our website, Google Analytics records, among other things, your location, the progression of your search and YouTube progression as well as demographic data (site visitor data). This data may be used for customized advertising with the assistance of Google Signal. If you have a Google account, your site visitor information will be linked to your Google account by Google Signal and used to send you customized promotional messages. The data is also used to compile anonymized statistics of our users’ online patterns.
Contract data processing
We have executed a contract data processing agreement with Google and are implementing the stringent provisions of the German data protection agencies to the fullest when using Google Analytics.
Google Analytics E-Commerce-Tracking
This website uses the “E-Commerce Tracking” function of Google Analytics. With the assistance of E- Commerce Tracking, the website operator is in a position to analyze the purchasing patterns of website visitors with the aim of improving the operator’s online marketing campaigns. In this context, information, such as the orders placed, the average order values, shipping costs and the time from viewing the product to making the purchasing decision are tracked. These data may be consolidated by Google under a transaction ID, which is allocated to the respective user or the user’s device.
Hotjar
This website utilizes Hotjar. The provider is Hotjar Ltd., Level 2, St Julians Business Centre, 3, Elia Zammit Street, St Julians STJ 1000, Malta, Europe (website:
https://www.hotjar.com).
Hotjar is a tool used to analyze your user patterns on this website. Hotjar allows us to for instance record your mouse and scroll movements as well as your click. During this process, Hotjar also has the capability to determine how long your cursor remained in a certain position. Based on this information, Hotjar compiles so-called Heatmaps, that make possible to determine which parts of the website the website visitor reviews with preference.
We are also able to determine how long you have stayed on a page of this website and when you left. We can also determine at which point you suspended making entries into a contact form (so-called conversion funnels).
Furthermore, Hotjar can be deployed to obtain direct feedback from website visitors. This function aims at the improvement of the website offerings of the website operator.
Hotjar uses technologies that make it possible to recognize the user for the purpose of analyzing the user patterns (e.g., cookies or the deployment of device fingerprinting).
If your approval (consent) has been obtained the use of the abovementioned service shall occur on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and § 25 TTDSG (German Telecommunications Act). Such consent may be revoked at any time. If your consent was not obtained, the use of the service will occur on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR; the website operator has a legitimate interest in the analysis of user patterns to optimize both, the web presentation and the operator’s advertising activities.
Deactivation of Hotjar
If you would like to deactivate the recording of data by Hotjar, please click on the link below and follow the instructions provided under the link:
https://www.hotjar.com/policies/do-not-track/.
Please keep in mind that you will have to separately deactivate Hotjar for every browser and every device.
For more detailed information about Hotjar and the data to be recorded, please consult the Data Privacy Declaration of Hotjar under the following link:
https://www.hotjar.com/privacy.
Data processing
We have concluded a data processing agreement (DPA) for the use of the above-mentioned service. This is a contract mandated by data privacy laws that guarantees that they process personal data of our website visitors only based on our instructions and in compliance with the GDPR.
Google Ads
The website operator uses Google Ads. Google Ads is an online promotional program of Google Ireland Limited (“Google”), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Google Ads enables us to display ads in the Google search engine or on third-party websites, if the user enters certain search terms into Google (keyword targeting). It is also possible to place targeted ads based on the user data Google has in its possession (e.g., location data and interests; target group targeting). As the website operator, we can analyze these data quantitatively, for instance by analyzing which search terms resulted in the display of our ads and how many ads led to respective clicks.
The use of these services occurs on the basis of your consent pursuant to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and § 25(1) TTDSG. You may revoke your consent at any time.
Data transmission to the US is based on the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) of the European Commission. Details can be found here:
https://policies.google.com/privacy/frameworks and https://privacy.google.com/businesses/controllerterms/mccs/.
The company is certified in accordance with the “EU-US Data Privacy Framework” (DPF). The DPF is an agreement between the European Union and the US, which is intended to ensure compliance with European data protection standards for data processing in the US. Every company certified under the DPF is obliged to comply with these data protection standards. For more information, please contact the provider under the following link:
https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/participant-search/participant- detail?contact=true&id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active
Google Ads Remarketing
This website uses the functions of Google Ads Remarketing. The provider of these solutions is Google Ireland Limited (“Google”), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.
With Google Ads Remarketing, we can assign people who interact with our online offering to specific target groups in order to subsequently display interest-based advertising to them in the Google advertising network (remarketing or retargeting).
Moreover, it is possible to link the advertising target groups generated with Google Ads Remarketing to device encompassing functions of Google. This makes it possible to display interest-based customized advertising messages, depending on your prior usage and browsing patterns on a device (e.g., cell phone) in a manner tailored to you as well as on any of your devices (e.g., tablet or PC).
If you have a Google account, you have the option to object to personalized advertising under the following link:
https://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb/.
The use of these services occurs on the basis of your consent pursuant to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and § 25(1) TTDSG. You may revoke your consent at any time.
For further information and the pertinent data protection regulations, please consult the Data Privacy Policies of Google at:
https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads?hl=en.
The company is certified in accordance with the “EU-US Data Privacy Framework” (DPF). The DPF is an agreement between the European Union and the US, which is intended to ensure compliance with European data protection standards for data processing in the US. Every company certified under the DPF is obliged to comply with these data protection standards. For more information, please contact the provider under the following link:
https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/participant-search/participant- detail?contact=true&id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active
Formation of Target Groups with Customer Reconciliation
For the formation of target groups, we use, among other things, the Google Ads Remarketing customer reconciliation feature. To achieve this, we transfer certain customer data (e.g., email addresses) from our customer lists to Google. If the respective customers are Google users and are logged into their Google accounts, matching advertising messages within the Google network (e.g., YouTube, Gmail or in a search engine) are displayed for them to view.
Google Conversion-Tracking
This website uses Google Conversion Tracking. The provider of this service is Google Ireland Limited (“Google”), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.
With the assistance of Google Conversion Tracking, we are in a position to recognize whether the user has completed certain actions. For instance, we can analyze the how frequently which buttons on our website have been clicked and which products are reviewed or purchased with particular frequency. The purpose of this information is to compile conversion statistics. We learn how many users have clicked on our ads and which actions they have completed. We do not receive any information that would allow us to personally identify the users. Google as such uses cookies or comparable recognition technologies for identification purposes.
The use of these services occurs on the basis of your consent pursuant to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and § 25(1) TTDSG. You may revoke your consent at any time.
For more information about Google Conversion Tracking, please review Google’s data protection policy at:
https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en
The company is certified in accordance with the “EU-US Data Privacy Framework” (DPF). The DPF is an agreement between the European Union and the US, which is intended to ensure compliance with European data protection standards for data processing in the US. Every company certified under the DPF is obliged to comply with these data protection standards. For more information, please contact the provider under the following link:
https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/participant-search/participant- detail?contact=true&id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active
Meta Pixel (formerly Facebook Pixel)
To measure conversion rates, this website uses the visitor activity pixel of Facebook/Meta. The provider of this service is Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland. According to Facebook’s statement the collected data will be transferred to the USA and other third-party countries too.
This tool allows the tracking of page visitors after they have been linked to the website of the provider after clicking on a Facebook ad. This makes it possible to analyze the effectiveness of Facebook ads for statistical and market research purposes and to optimize future advertising campaigns.
For us as the operators of this website, the collected data is anonymous. We are not in a position to arrive at any conclusions as to the identity of users. However, Facebook archives the information and processes it, so that it is possible to make a connection to the respective user profile and Facebook is in a position to use the data for its own promotional purposes in compliance with the Facebook Data Usage Policy ( https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/). This enables Facebook to display ads on Facebook pages as well as in locations outside of Facebook. We as the operator of this website have no control over the use of such data.
The use of these services occurs on the basis of your consent pursuant to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and § 25(1) TTDSG. You may revoke your consent at any time.
Within the meta pixel, we are using the expanded alignment function.
The expanded alignment allows us to transfer to Meta (Facebook) different types of data (e.g., place of residence, federal state, zip code, hashed email addresses, names, gender, date of birth or phone number) of our customers and prospects we collect through our website. As a result of this activation, we can tailor the offers presented in our advertising campaigns on Facebook to individuals interested in what we offer even more precisely. Moreover, this expanded alignment optimizes the allocation of website conversions and expands custom audiences.
Insofar as personal data is collected on our website with the help of the tool described here and forwarded to Facebook, we and Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland are jointly responsible for this data processing (Art. 26 DSGVO). The joint responsibility is limited exclusively to the collection of the data and its forwarding to Facebook. The processing by Facebook that takes place after the onward transfer is not part of the joint responsibility. The obligations incumbent on us jointly have been set out in a joint processing agreement. The wording of the agreement can be found under: https://www.facebook.com/legal/controller_addendum. According to this agreement, we are responsible for providing the privacy information when using the Facebook tool and for the privacy-secure implementation of the tool on our website. Facebook is responsible for the data security of Facebook products. You can assert data subject rights (e.g., requests for information) regarding data processed by Facebook directly with Facebook. If you assert the data subject rights with us, we are obliged to forward them to Facebook.
Data transmission to the US is based on the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) of the European Commission. Details can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/legal/EU_data_transfer_addendum and https://de-de.facebook.com/help/566994660333381.
In Facebook’s Data Privacy Policies, you will find additional information about the protection of your privacy at:
https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/.
You also have the option to deactivate the remarketing function “Custom Audiences” in the ad settings section under
https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. To do this, you first have to log into Facebook.
If you do not have a Facebook account, you can deactivate any user-based advertising by Facebook on the website of the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance: http://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/.
The company is certified in accordance with the “EU-US Data Privacy Framework” (DPF). The DPF is an agreement between the European Union and the US, which is intended to ensure compliance with European data protection standards for data processing in the US. Every company certified under the DPF is obliged to comply with these data protection standards. For more information, please contact the provider under the following link:
https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/participant-search/participant- detail?contact=true&id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC&status=Active
Facebook Conversion API
We have integrated Facebook Conversion API into this website. The provider of this service is Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland. However, based on the information provided by Facebook, the recorded data is also transmitted to the United States and other Non-EU and Non- EEZ countries.
Facebook Conversion API enables us to record the interactions of our website visitors with our website and to share this information with Facebook to improve the promotional performance with Facebook.
To do this, in particular the time you accessed the site, the website you accessed, your IP address and your user agent, as well as, if applicable, other specific data (e.g., purchased products, value of the shopping cart and currency) are tracked. For a complete overview of the tracked data, please visit: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/marketing-api/conversions-api/parameters.
The use of this service occurs on the basis of your consent pursuant to Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. a GDPR and § 25 Sect. 1 TTDSG. You may revoke your consent at any time.
If personal data is collected on our website with the assistance of the tool described herein and if it is shared with Facebook, we and Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland shall be jointly responsible for the processing of your data, i.e., we are the data controllers (Art. 26 GDPR). This shared responsibility is limited exclusively to the recording of your data and its sharing with Facebook. The processing that occurs after the data has been shared with Facebook is not part of this shared responsibility. The obligations we share responsibility for have been documented in an agreement on joint processing. The concrete wording of this agreement can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/legal/controller_addendum. According to this agreement, we are responsible for the provision of the data protection information when using the Facebook tool and for the data protection law compliant secure implementation of the tool on our website. Facebook is liable for the data security of Facebook products. You may request information on your rights as a data subject (e.g., request for information) related to the data processed by Facebook directly from Facebook. If you claim any data subject rights with us, we are required to forward your request to Facebook.
The transfer of data to the United States is based on the standard contract clauses of the EU commission. For details please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/legal/EU_data_transfer_addendum and https://de-de.facebook.com/help/566994660333381.
In Facebook’s data privacy policy, you will find additional information pertaining to the protection of your privacy:
https://de-de.facebook.com/about/privacy/.
The company is certified in accordance with the “EU-US Data Privacy Framework” (DPF). The DPF is an agreement between the European Union and the US, which is intended to ensure compliance with European data protection standards for data processing in the US. Every company certified under the DPF is obliged to comply with these data protection standards. For more information, please contact the provider under the following link:
https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/participant-search/participant- detail?contact=true&id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC&status=Active
Data processing
We have concluded a data processing agreement (DPA) for the use of the above-mentioned service. This is a contract mandated by data privacy laws that guarantees that they process personal data of our website visitors only based on our instructions and in compliance with the GDPR.
Facebook Custom Audiences
We use Facebook Custom Audiences. The provider of this service is Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Whenever you visit or use our website and apps, utilize our portfolio (e.g., participation in sweepstakes), transfer data to us or interact with the Facebook content of our company, we record related personal data. In the event that you have given us your consent to the use of Facebook Custom Audiences, we will share these data with Facebook to put Facebook in a position to send you compatible ads. These data may also be used to defined target audiences (Lookalike Audiences).
Facebook processes these data as our contract processor. For details, please consult the user agreement of Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/customaudience.
The use of these services occurs on the basis of your consent pursuant to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and § 25(1) TTDSG. You may revoke your consent at any time.
The transfer of date to the USA is based on the standard contract clauses of the EU Commission. For details please see:
https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/customaudience and https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/dataprocessing.
The company is certified in accordance with the “EU-US Data Privacy Framework” (DPF). The DPF is an agreement between the European Union and the US, which is intended to ensure compliance with European data protection standards for data processing in the US. Every company certified under the DPF is obliged to comply with these data protection standards. For more information, please contact the provider under the following link:
https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/participant-search/participant- detail?contact=true&id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC&status=Active