Data, Privacy & Security FAQ

Answers to the questions merchants and their legal, CRM and data-protection teams most often ask about how Giftnote handles gift recipient data.

Written By Nick Kennedy

Last updated About 8 hours ago

What data does Giftnote collect about gift recipients?

Giftnote collects only what is needed to deliver the gift:

  • Recipient name

  • Recipient email address and/or mobile number

  • The gift message written by the sender

  • Delivery address, where the gift is a physical product

Nothing else is collected about the recipient. Giftnote does not enrich recipient records, append third-party data, or build profiles beyond what the sender provides at checkout.

How long is recipient data retained?

Recipient details are held against the order record for as long as the app is installed on your store. This keeps the record available for customer service enquiries, reconciliation and resends.

Data is removed in three ways:

  1. Automatically, via Shopify. Giftnote subscribes to Shopify's GDPR deletion webhooks. When a deletion request is raised through Shopify, it flows through to Giftnote and the matching records are redacted.

  2. On request. Any recipient or merchant can email support@giftnote.com to have a record removed.

  3. On offboarding. Under clause 9 of the Retailer Terms, Giftnote will return or securely delete all personal data within thirty days of your written request.

One limitation to be aware of: Giftnote does not create a Shopify customer record for a recipient who is not already a customer of your store. This means a deletion request for those recipients cannot be triggered from your Shopify admin — it needs to come to support@giftnote.com directly. We action it manually and confirm back to you.

Does Giftnote send marketing to gift recipients?

No.

The gift notification is a transactional message — the recipient needs to know that a gift has been sent to them, and by whom. It is classified and sent as transactional, and has been reviewed and approved as transactional by Klaviyo for UK GDPR compliance.

Giftnote does not send marketing communications to recipients on its own behalf. There is no Giftnote newsletter, no product marketing, and no retargeting of recipients.

If you want to market to gift recipients afterwards, that requires the recipient to opt in. That opt-in is captured and owned by you, in your own email platform or CRM. Giftnote's role ends at the transactional notification.

Is recipient data shared with other merchants?

No. Each store's data is fully isolated. There is no cross-merchant data sharing, no shared recipient graph, and no pooled dataset. A recipient of a gift from your store does not appear in any other merchant's Giftnote account.

Giftnote does not sell recipient data under any circumstances.

Where is recipient data physically stored?

Giftnote runs on Google Cloud, across our US and Australian regions.

Can our team see the content of gift messages?

Yes — gift message content is visible to your staff in the Giftnote dashboard and analytics.

Our position on this: viewing a gift message is analogous to reading a physical gift card that arrives with an order. The sender provides the message knowing it will be handled as part of fulfilling the gift, with no expectation that it is private from the retailer.

As a precaution, we recommend adding a single line to your own privacy policy noting that gift message content is processed in order to fulfil the gift.

What happens if there is a security incident?

Under clause 9.3 of the Retailer Terms, Giftnote will notify you without undue delay and in any event within seventy-two (72) hours of becoming aware of a security breach affecting your data.

What happens to our data if we uninstall the app?

Uninstalling stops all processing. To have the underlying data returned or deleted, email support@giftnote.com — under the Retailer Terms we will action this within thirty days of your request.

Where can we read the formal terms?

For anything your data protection team needs that isn't covered here, email hello@giftnote.com and we'll get you a direct answer.