Your privacy is important to us. We take great care in protecting your privacy and the information you provide whilst participating in surveys hosted on our website.
We are committed to meeting the requirements of the following laws and codes:
It is not our aim to sell or promote anything. We conduct market research surveys on behalf of our clients and your responses will be treated as confidential unless you consent to being identified.
We will not mislead you about the nature of the research or how the data will be used. If you are invited to take part in research, it will be because:
If you have been contacted by Cobalt Sky and you do not believe you have given your permission, or you simply wish for your name to be removed from the database, let us know and we will remove you from the contact list for that particular research project and inform the relevant organisation who supplied your details.
We never knowingly invite children under the age of 16 to participate in research studies without taking measures to ensure appropriate consent from a responsible adult.
We will collect your information when you take part in research with us.
The information we collect can include your personal opinions as well as personal information such as name, address, postcode, gender, occupation, age, date of birth, email address and telephone number, though we aim to limit the collection of such data unless strictly necessary for the survey. We may occasionally collect special category data, such as political opinions or health information, where this is relevant to the research and appropriate safeguards are in place. You are not required to give any of the information asked for, though if you do not complete the whole survey you may not be eligible for any offered incentive or entry into a prize draw. Any personal information we hold is logged, separated and encrypted, and is deleted as soon as reasonably possible once the survey is complete and any incentive has been fulfilled.
Where relevant to the research being undertaken, we may collect business contact information, such as company name, job title and department.
In addition, we will record your IP address, the type of browser and device you are using, your screen size and other basic technical metrics needed to deliver the survey correctly.
We do not carry out any hidden or invisible processing of data from your computer or device. We will only collect and use personal information in accordance with this policy to the extent reasonably necessary for our legitimate business purposes, and we maintain appropriate safeguards to protect the security, integrity, accuracy and privacy of the information you provide.
Cobalt Sky makes reasonable efforts to keep the personal information it holds accurate, complete, current and relevant, based on the most recent information available to us. We rely on you to help us do this by answering our questions honestly.
Personal information collected for a project is retained for no longer than is necessary for that project and any associated quality control, and in any event for no longer than 24 months from project completion, after which it is securely deleted or anonymised. Where a project's aggregated, anonymised results are retained for longer for record-keeping or client reporting purposes, this data no longer identifies you personally.
Use of AI and automated tools
We may use artificial intelligence or other automated tools to help us process research data - for example, to assist with coding open-ended responses, data cleaning, or quality checks. Any such use is governed by Cobalt Sky's internal AI Acceptable Use Policy and AI Data Policy, is subject to human review, and does not involve any tool being given access to your personal information beyond what is necessary and permitted under this policy. We do not use AI to make decisions about you that have a legal or similarly significant effect.
The personal information we collect is combined with the responses, views and opinions of others who took part in the same research, and reported back to the client that commissioned the study anonymously and in aggregate.
If you are a member of a survey panel, we never receive your personal information and your data is held anonymously by us. Your personal information is held only by your panel company. They will have their own privacy policy and will inform you about how your personal information is controlled and processed.
All of your survey responses are treated as confidential. We will never intentionally disclose your personal information or individual survey responses to the client that commissioned the study, or to any third party, unless:
We will not sell your personal information to third parties. From time to time we may use other companies or individuals to perform functions on our behalf, such as hosting or data processing. They will only have access to the personal information needed to perform their function, will not use it for any other purpose, and must process it in accordance with this Privacy Policy, our sub-processor agreements, and UK data protection law.
By taking part in our research you consent to us transferring your personally identifiable data to other companies, including outside the UK, only for the purposes described above and only where appropriate safeguards (such as UK-approved international transfer mechanisms) are in place.
Processing of prizes or incentives may result in your contact details being passed to a third party, such as a gift card or retail provider, purely so that the prize or incentive can be sent to you. This will not result in any marketing or follow-up contact.
A cookie is a small text file that may be placed on your device (computer, mobile phone or tablet) when you complete one of our surveys. To complete a survey with us we use a session cookie. This is a temporary cookie that is removed when you close your browser and allows us to give your visit to our website, or a third-party partner's website, a unique identifier so you can complete the survey. You can configure your browser to notify you when cookies are being placed on your device, and you can turn cookies off or delete them at any time via your browser settings.
Cobalt Sky maintains appropriate technical, administrative and physical safeguards to protect personal information received or collected by us. We review, monitor and evaluate our privacy practices and protection systems on a regular basis. Only employees who need access for data analysis and quality control purposes are granted it. Cobalt Sky is not responsible for errors made by individuals in submitting personally identifiable information to us.
Your participation in any Cobalt Sky survey is voluntary at all times, and we are always thankful for your help. Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
Wherever reasonable and practical, we will action such requests. To exercise any of these rights, please write to us at info@cobalt-sky.com.
If you have any queries about this policy, our website or our research, or would like to make a Subject Access Request, please email info@cobalt-sky.com.
If you have concerns about how your personal information has been processed by Cobalt Sky or our clients, you can raise a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):
This policy may be updated periodically. The latest version will always be available on the Cobalt Sky website and at the point of taking part in online research.
Cobalt Sky Survey Respondent Privacy Policy - last reviewed January 2026.
Respondent Privacy Policy