Updated Policy - 12 April 2023.
We are Market Xcel Data Matrix Pvt Ltd, an integrated research and data collection agency ("We" "Our" "Us" or "MX”). Our corporate website as follow - https://www.market-xcel.com
MX is a comprehensive research and online data collection company with a primary objective of delivering superior market research data to clients across various industries. These include both global and corporate clients of different scales, as well as other market research agencies. We specialize in constructing and managing extensive online consumer panels that provide clients with immediate access to digital consumer insights through our cutting-edge market research surveys and analytics platforms.
The Market Xcel Data Matrix with whom you registered as a Member is the controller and responsible for your personal data.
Our organization has designated a Data Protection Officer (DPO) to manage inquiries related to this privacy notice. If you have any queries or requests to exercise your legal rights concerning this privacy notice, please reach out to the DPO at the following contact details: [Contact Us]
Please note that this privacy notice is not applicable if you have consented to participate in surveys conducted by third-party entities. In such cases, Market Xcel does not act as the survey sponsor and has no control over the technologies or media used in those surveys, as well as the survey data and results. The sponsor of those surveys holds the authority to manage them. We recommend that you refer to the relevant sponsor's privacy policy to obtain further information about their privacy practices.
At http://www.xcelglobalpanel.com (our "site") and/or via our Mobile app, we value your privacy and strive to safeguard your personal data. This privacy notice outlines our approach to collecting, using, sharing, and securing the personal data you provide when you join our global panel and take part in surveys and/or research studies ("surveys") that we perform on behalf of our clients. Additionally, it elucidates your privacy rights and how relevant laws protect you. This notice serves as a supplement to other privacy policies and notices, rather than superseding them.
This privacy notice governs the registration, utilization, and access to your Membership, as well as the use of our systems and media, collectively referred to as our "Services."
For ease of use, we have organized this privacy notice in a layered format, allowing you to click through to the specific sections outlined below. Additionally, we recommend utilizing the Glossary section to better comprehend the meaning of certain terms mentioned in this privacy notice. Please refer to our FAQ section.
Personal data refers to any information that pertains to an individual and enables their identification. Data that has been stripped of identifying characteristics (i.e. anonymous data) is not considered personal data.
We have categorized the various types of personal data we collect, use, store, and transfer about you as follows:
(1) Identifiable data - This category comprises of your name (including first, last, maiden, and married names), date of birth, marital status, gender, panelist ID, and username.
(2) Contactable data - The Contact data category covers your postal address, email address, and telephone number.
(3) Special categories of personal data refer to sensitive information about an individual, including but not limited to their ethnic/racial origin, health, genetics, political opinion, religion, sexual orientation, and sex life.
(4) Demographic/Profile data - This category encompasses your interests, preferences, feedback, and survey responses. It also includes, but is not limited to, information such as age, marital status, gender, birthday, household size, income, education, and employment status.
(5) Technical data - Technical data refers to internet protocol (IP) addresses, login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology used by the devices you utilize to access this website.
(6) Pseudonymized means the process of replacing direct identifiers of personal data with pseudonyms or artificial identifiers, so that the data subject's identity cannot be traced without additional information. Other synonyms for pseudonymized are de-identified, anonymized, or masked.
Upon agreeing to become a member of our panel ("Member"), you will gain access to participate in our surveys. To register as a member, we will request that you complete a registration form through our website, https://xcelglobalpanel.com, or through links displayed on our partners' websites. Additionally, you may also register as a member via our mobile app.
If you are not a registered member of our Xcel Global panel ("non-member"), but you participate in a survey with us and provide us with your personal data, we will only retain limited personal data such as your email address, gender, age information, full or partial zip/postal code, machine ID and IP address. The reasons for this are as follows:
• to contact you if you have won a prize or are entitled to an incentive, and in such cases, we will collect and maintain the necessary personal data to comply with any applicable law or regulation (e.g. for tax purposes, if applicable);
• to match your responses to the survey you are taking; and
• to enhance the user experience.
We will not contact you for any other reason.
Our website includes public blogs or forums that are accessible to all visitors. Please note that any information you share in these areas may be viewed, collected, and used by others who access them.
Additionally, we may display testimonials from satisfied customers on our site, along with their usernames, with their consent. If you wish to modify or delete your testimonial, you can contact us at [Contact Us].
Please be aware that any personal information you choose to share publicly on the site, such as in the Community area (including public messages on your wall, opinions, topics, battles, thumb ratings, or other public areas or forums) may be viewed, collected, stored, and/or used by other users, and may result in unsolicited messages being sent to you.
We advise against disclosing any of your personal data in any public forum or community area on the site, and we specifically caution against providing your Contact data or Identity data on a public community area, even if it's part of a survey. We cannot ensure that third parties with whom you share your personal data via those public forums or community areas will maintain their security or confidentiality. Please note that we are not accountable for the personal data you choose to provide or make public. Furthermore, we are not responsible for any content you post publicly on the site that can be found via web-based search engines.
In the table provided below, we outline in more detail how we use your personal data. When we engage third parties for analytical, data matching, or modelling purposes, please rest assured that such parties are not permitted to use your personal data for any other purpose than what we state in the table. We also enter into contracts with these third parties to ensure that your data is kept secure, confidential, and erased according to our data retention and destruction policies, as detailed in our Panelist Privacy Notice.
In many countries, we are required by law to explain the legal bases upon which we rely when processing your personal data. The following legal bases apply, and we may use more than one when processing your personal data:
Consent - In certain cases, we collect and process your personal data with your consent. For instance, when you participate in surveys, we will ask if you would like to take part.
Contractual Obligations - We may need to process your personal data in some situations to fulfill our contractual obligations, such as when we use your personal data to send you your rewards.
Legal Compliance - If required by law, we may need to collect and process your personal data in response to lawful requests from public authorities. We may also do so in good faith if we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others. We may also investigate fraud or breaches of our site terms, or to respond to a government request.
Legitimate Interest - We may process your personal data for our legitimate business interests, such as managing our business to provide you with the best possible service and secure experience. We consider and balance any potential impact on you, both positive and negative, and your rights before processing your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law).
In order to maintain our relationship with you, we will undertake the following actions:
Processing and delivering your Xcel points or rewards, converting your Xcel points to vouchers/coupons, and including you in prize draws/sweepstakes. This may involve sharing your personal data with trusted third-party vendors who will provide incentives on our behalf.
Informing you about any changes to our terms or privacy policy;
Requesting you to leave a review or inviting you to participate in a survey;
Undertaking any other action that is connected to your Membership.
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(d) Demographic/Profile
(e) Technical data
(f) Pseudonymized data (panelist ID)
Scientific research/Safety monitoring (Pharmacovigilance Adverse Events Reporting)
Mobile usage and app-based surveys
Panel Profiling
Ad-Effectiveness
Ad exposure and measurement
Legal/public authority disclosure
Fraudulent and quality checking
Personal data you provide to us may be accessed or used by any of our group members listed at https://market-xcel.com for the purposes set out in the table above or to carry out our regular business activities. This includes providing, maintaining and personalizing our sites and services, communicating with you, and accomplishing our legitimate business purposes under contractual safeguards.
Responses we collect from you via surveys may be provided to our clients in anonymized and aggregated form or in pseudonymized form. Anonymized and aggregated results include information about groups of individuals, while pseudonymized results are on an individual basis using unique identifiers such as your assigned panelist ID, but do not include your Identity data or Contact data.
Identity data or Contact data about you would only be provided to our clients in specific surveys for research purposes, and only with your consent and confirmation that their use complies with applicable law and market research codes of practice.
We may engage third parties to issue you with cheques or process the delivery of your rewards, or for data processing, analytics services, or to append data they previously collected about you. These third parties are not allowed to use your personal data for any other reason, and we enter into contracts with them to ensure your data is kept secure and erased in accordance with our data retention and destruction policies.
From time to time, we may use third-party software for email list management and distribution, or third-party list management providers to match our members to members of other lists or panels or to validate the accuracy of personal data you provide. These companies must abide by our data privacy and security requirements and are not allowed to use personal data they receive from us for any other purpose.
We may be required to disclose your personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including for national security or law enforcement requirements. We may also disclose your data as required by law, such as to comply with a subpoena or other legal process, when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety or the safety of others, to investigate fraud or breaches of our site terms, or to respond to a government request.
As a global company, Market Xcel may transfer your personal data to other members of Market Xcel and trusted service providers located in countries outside of your country of residence. It is important to note that the laws in these other countries may differ from the laws in your own country. You can find a list of all Market Xcel companies at https://www.market-xcel.com.
For individuals residing in the European Economic Area (EEA), Market Xcel has implemented measures to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and protect your data and your rights. This includes using standard data protection clauses for the transfer of personal data to third parties located in countries that do not have adequate data protection laws, as determined by the European Commission.
Our primary global hosting and backup service center is situated in the United States. Market Xcel USA Inc. is a constituent of the Market Xcel Data Matrix, with headquarters in India. As part of our operations, all data we use are transferred to Market Xcel USA. Market Xcel USA acknowledges the rigorous standards enforced by the European Economic Area (EEA) for the handling of personal data from the EEA, which include the provision of sufficient safeguards for personal data transmitted beyond the EEA. MX guarantees that it provides ample protection for the processing of certain EEA personal data pertaining to all individuals, including you.
Market Xcel USA is an active participant in and has certified its adherence to the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework. Our company is dedicated to complying with all applicable Principles of the Framework for all personal data received from member countries of the European Union (EU) that rely on the Privacy Shield. For additional information regarding the Privacy Shield Framework, please refer to the Privacy Shield List maintained by the U.S. Department of Commerce: [https://www.privacyshield.gov/list].
Market Xcel USA assumes responsibility for processing the personal data it receives under the Privacy Shield Framework, which it subsequently transfers to a third party acting as its agent (Iron Mountain). MX USA adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles for all onward transfers of personal data from the EU and Switzerland, inclusive of the onward transfer liability provisions. In the event of any inconsistency between the terms of this privacy notice and the Privacy Shield Principles, the latter shall prevail.
MX is accountable to the regulatory enforcement authorities of the US Federal Trade Commission concerning the personal data it receives or transfers pursuant to the Privacy Shield Framework. For additional information regarding the Privacy Shield, please consult the Privacy Shield website maintained by the US Department of Commerce, accessible at https://www.privacyshield.gov. In specific instances, we may be obligated to divulge personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, which may include fulfilling national security or law enforcement requirements.
In accordance with the Privacy Shield Principles, MX USA pledges to address concerns about the collection or utilization of your personal data. If you are an individual from the EEA and have inquiries or complaints regarding our Privacy Shield policy, please initiate contact with our Data Protection Officer by visiting our [Contact Us] page.
If you possess a privacy or data use concern that remains unresolved, and we have not satisfactorily addressed it, you may contact our U.S.-based third-party dispute resolution provider free of charge at feedback-form.truste.com/watchdog/request.
As described more fully on the Privacy Shield website at https://www.privacyshield.gov/article?id=How-to-Submit-a-Complaint, you may be eligible to initiate binding arbitration when alternative dispute resolution methods have been exhausted, subject to certain conditions.
In certain circumstances, you may have the option to elect binding arbitration to resolve your complaint, contingent on the following steps: (1) raising your complaint directly with Market Xcel and granting us the opportunity to address the matter; (2) utilizing the independent dispute resolution mechanism referenced under the "How do you ask a question or make a complaint?" section; and (3) submitting the issue to the relevant data protection authority and permitting the US Department of Commerce to attempt to resolve the complaint at no expense to you. For more information regarding binding arbitration, please refer to Annex 1 (Binding Arbitration) of the US Department of Commerce Privacy Shield Framework, which is available at https://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework.
What other ways can you become a member of our MX Global panel? – Our mobile app
By using our mobile application (app), you have the option to become a Member. Upon downloading and utilizing our mobile app, we automatically gather system and performance details pertaining to your device, including the type of device you use, operating system version, device identifier, and hardware usage statistics such as CPU, RAM, storage, and app version. The information we gather via our mobile app will be used in accordance with this privacy notice and the provisions outlined below.
To inform you about surveys and inquire if you would like to participate in certain marketing research studies in accordance with this privacy notice, we send push notifications to you periodically. If you prefer not to receive this type of communication, you may disable it at the device level. To ensure that you receive accurate notifications, we must collect specific information regarding your device, such as operating system and user identification information.
We offer an SMS Service that allows you to receive messages on your wireless device either directly or through third parties. By using this service, you agree that your mobile service provider may charge you for data and messaging rates, which will be billed and payable to your provider. We will collect your Identity data, Contact data, your provider's name, and the date, time, and content of your messages, and use this information in accordance with our privacy notice. If you are charged fees for the service, we may be required to provide your carrier with your Identity data and Contact data. Your wireless carrier and other service providers may also collect data about your device usage, and their practices are governed by their own policies. Please note that delivery of SMS messages is subject to effective transmission from your network operator, and we are not liable for any delays in the receipt of messages. The SMS Service is provided on an "as-is" basis, and we do not guarantee its privacy or security. You are responsible for taking precautions and providing security measures best suited for your situation and intended use of the SMS Service. To opt out of this service, you can go to your account page and uncheck the option "I agree to receive invitations to surveys by SMS" in the Personal Details tab. Alternatively, if available in your country, you may be able to opt out by text by following the instructions provided in the SMS messages we send you.
By using sign-in services like Facebook Connect or an Open ID provider, you have the option to log in to our site and become a Member. These services authenticate your identity and may allow you to share information about your activities on our site to your profile page for others within your network to see.
If you decide to use our referral service to inform a friend about our website, you can share your unique referral link with your friend. If your friend becomes a Member using your link, we will reward you with Market Xcel “Xcel” points.
To distinguish you from other users of our site and to estimate visits and click-throughs for specific campaigns, we use cookies on our site. These cookies expire when your browsing session ends. By continuing to browse our site, you consent to our use of cookies.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer, if you agree. This file contains information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.
For detailed information on the cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them, please refer to our cookie policy at: https://www.market-xcel.com/cookie-policy.
What other Tracking Technologies do we use for surveys you participate in and for other purposes?
Surveys - client cookie tracking, including for Ad effectiveness campaigns
We may provide our clients with your unique panellist ID (UID), which may be used to set or read cookies or gather other Technical data about you from various sources, including our own servers or systems. If you choose to participate, your UID will be associated with this Technical data to enable us and/or our clients to conduct online ad-effectiveness campaigns, track your website visits, create look-a-like segments using your Demographic/Profile data, and gain other online insights about you. If you have interacted with an online ad or promotion, our client may send your UID and a specific survey to us, and we may provide you with the opportunity to complete the survey.
Automated technologies or interactions.
As you use the site, we will automatically gather Technical data about your browsing patterns, equipment, and actions. This Technical data is obtained through the use of cookies, server logs, digital fingerprinting technologies, and other similar technologies. We may also receive Technical data about you if you visit other websites that use our cookies. For additional information, please refer to our cookie policy.
We may gather Technical data, including but not limited to Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and/or clickstream data. This information may be combined with other data collected about you to enhance our services, site functionality, and gather analytical insights.
Digital Fingerprinting technologies are designed to assign a unique identifier or "Machine-ID" to a user's computer to identify and track the device ("Technology"). This Technology analyzes publicly available information and data obtained from your computer's web browser and other publicly available data points, such as the technical settings of your computer, its characteristics, and its IP Address, to create a unique identifier assigned to your device. We use the Technology for quality control, validation, and fraud detection and prevention purposes, including assisting us in ensuring the integrity of survey results. Any responses captured using Third party solutions will not be considered in survey results.
To ensure that the Technology is safe, secure, and does not pose undue privacy or data security risks, we will implement appropriate technical and operational processes and procedures. We will use and distribute the Technology in a professional and ethical manner, consistent with (a) this privacy notice, (b) any other statements and disclosures made to you as a member of the community, and (c) applicable laws and market research codes of practice.
If we discover any unethical conduct in connection with the use of the Technology or if the Technology is being used in a manner that is inconsistent with this privacy notice, immediate action will be taken to prohibit such conduct and ensure proper administration of the Technology.
We collaborate with third-party companies to display advertisements on our site or manage our advertising on other websites. These partners may use cookies or similar technologies to collect information about your browsing activities and interests, both on their own sites and on other sites, to deliver targeted advertising based on your interests. If you are located in the EEA and do not