Honch & GDPR
All data on Honch is processed under Legitimate Interest, which is one of the 6 lawful bases for processing personal data under GDPR.
How do we collect our data?
At Honch we have our own in-house product team that's made up of researchers and data scientists. We use a combination of manual processes and proprietary technology to build our product.
This is done in a number of steps:
- Track new decision-makers - Our researchers monitor hundreds of sources to identify senior decision-makers in companies and new appointments.
- Match to official company records - We have a partnership with Creditsafe which gives us live access to all UK Companies House records. Our in-house software matches contacts to official company records, supplementing with address and financial data where available.
- Build email addresses - Our systems build email addresses based on historical patterns of
structures and domains used in companies. These are then verified against 4 external verification tools to provide maximum accuracy. - Inform decision-makers - Before any contact is added to Honch we email every decision-maker a minimum of 24 hours beforehand. We detail the exact data we hold on them, and the types of clients that use Honch, provide an option to be removed if they so wish, and also include details of the ICO in case they'd ever like to log an issue.
- Regular reminders - Every decision-maker is reminded about their inclusion every 6 months, again including clear instructions of how to be removed if they so wish.
How often do we clean our data?
Data at Honch goes through 4 cleaning processes at different intervals:
- Daily email checks – Email addresses are pinged daily to ensure email boxes still exist.
- Monthly electronic verification – LinkedIn URLs are searched for via an API where we pull
back search results with company names and positions, to ensure they still match what is in
our system. - Quarterly manual verification – Every contact is manually re-verified every 3 months
- Semiannually GDPR email reminders – Every contact is emailed every 6 months, reminding them of their inclusion on Honch.
How is our data so accurate?
Data accuracy and transparency is the single most important thing to Honch. Most B2B data
providers only offer email validation via verification tools, however, these can only offer accuracy up to 60% because of how B2B email addresses are set up on company servers.
While we employ lots of data cleansing and verification processes, the single most important
technique for ensuring data accuracy is our ongoing communication with the decision-makers in our platform. If emails aren’t delivered at this stage, they are not included in the product.
What to do if you get queries when using our data
All clients are provided with an email address on day 1 of their subscription to share with prospects if ever queried on where you got their data. At this point, we take over the conversation with them. Here is a copy of the information provided in the first email:
Please be aware that our data is fully GDPR-compliant, and everyone on the system has a) been informed about being included and b) is reminded regularly of their inclusion. However at times you will be asked where you got a decision-maker’s details. If this ever happens please inform them that you’re a client of Honch Data Limited’s and ask them to get in touch with us at info@honch.co if there is an issue.
We advise clients to list Honch as a data supplier on their Privacy Policy and always be as transparent as possible.