Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

MerxTools is operated by Merx. We build free brand tools for small-business owners and marketers. This policy covers tools.hellomerx.com and the tools hosted there.

2. What we collect

We collect three categories of data:

• Uploaded images. When you run an audit, we receive the image you upload so we can score it and generate an optimized version.
• Lead-form details. When you request your high-resolution optimized avatar, we collect your name, work email, company, phone number, company website, and brand category. If you follow a gated revenue-forecaster link, the access form sends your first name, last name, email, company, and the page address directly to HubSpot before the calculator opens; private calculator parameters are removed from that address first. When you submit the form on the revenue forecaster to download your PDF report, we also receive the figures that forecast was built from — your channel metrics, average order value, currency and campaign frequency — together with the totals calculated from them.
• Anonymous usage analytics. Aggregate page views and goal completions via Plausible Analytics. Plausible does not set cookies and does not collect personal data — see Plausible’s data policy. We send it the address of the page you are on with the query string removed, apart from campaign tags such as utm_source. That matters on our calculators: the figures you enter can travel in a link’s query string (see section 5), and stripping it keeps them out of what we report. The event data alongside it records which tool was used and which control you changed, including the chosen value for settings like the currency picker and the campaign-frequency slider — but never the figures you type in.

3. How long we keep it

• Original uploads are retained for 30 days and then automatically deleted from our object storage.
• Processed / optimized images are retained indefinitely so the share link you receive keeps working.
• Lead-form details are retained for as long as the contact relationship is active, plus the period required by applicable law.

4. Who we share it with

Lead-form submissions are pushed to HubSpot, our CRM, so our team can follow up with you. A forecaster submission also sends your first-year forecast total, so the person who follows up knows what you were shown; the underlying channel metrics stay in our own database and are not sent to HubSpot. HubSpot processes this data on our behalf under their data-processing terms. We do not sell your data and we do not share it with advertisers.

5. Cookies, local storage, and shareable links

We do not use tracking cookies. Plausible Analytics is cookie-free, which is why you will not see a cookie banner on this site. The site uses a small number of strictly-necessary local cookies / storage entries for things like remembering form state and whether this browser has already completed the revenue forecaster’s lead form — these are not used for tracking. The lead-form flag expires after at most 180 days and contains no contact details; it only prevents the same browser from being asked for those details again at the calculator gate or when downloading a report.

The Merx popup widget, served from portal.hellomerx.com, is the one exception. When it is switched on it keeps a random visitor identifier in local storage and a session identifier in session storage so it can limit how often a popup is shown, and it reports to the Merx portal that a popup was eligible, shown, dismissed or clicked, together with those identifiers and the address of the page without its query string. The identifiers are random values that are not linked to your name, email or anything you type into the tools, and you can remove them by clearing site data for tools.hellomerx.com.

The revenue forecaster keeps your figures on your device. The subscriber counts, session volumes and order value you enter are saved in your browser’s local storage so a reload does not wipe your work. They stay there until you clear the site’s data. Using the calculator on its own sends them nowhere; they reach us only when you submit the form to download your forecast as a PDF report, which sends the figures together with your contact details. On a shared or borrowed computer, the next person to open the tool will see them.

A shareable link contains those figures. When you use “Copy shareable link”, the numbers you entered are written into the link itself so the person you send it to opens the same forecast. Anyone holding the link can read them, as can any service that handles it along the way — an email or chat provider generating a link preview, for example. Treat such a link as you would the figures themselves, and send it only to people you would share them with.

6. Your rights

You can request a copy of the data we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email [email protected] and we will respond within 30 days. If you are in the EEA / UK, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.

7. Contact

Questions about this policy can go to [email protected].