3. How we use the information

A. We will use your personal information for a number of purposes including:

• To manage our website (including your account);
• To provide you with a free trial (if requested);
• To process orders and provide our services, goods or online content, to provide you with information about them and to deal with your requests and queries;
• For administration purposes. This means we may contact you regarding goods or services ordered or online content you have signed up for, to let you know that a service or online site has been suspended for maintenance, if your subscription is about to expire to ask if you wish to renew it, or if an online account has become dormant to ask if you wish to retain the account before we close it;
• To provide advanced website features to you and others;
• (For IP addresses and device identifiers) to identify the location of users, to establish the number of visits from different countries, to limit/cap adverts of a certain type, and to personalise content and emails;
• To undertake analysis and research to improve our services and goods offered;
• To improve your search results;
• To tailor a certain amount of advertising to individual users based on viewing and/or purchase habits. This is a common practice known as online behavioural advertising;
• To show you relevant advertising on third party sites (e.g. Facebook, Google, and Twitter). Some third party sites allow you to request not to see messages from specific advertisers;
• To conduct surveys with you (where you have consented to us contacting you for such purpose);
• To provide personalised communications (more details below);
• To offer users a more relevant, tailored service, based on our analysis of personal information you provide and your activity on our (and other) services; and
• To undertake marketing and strategic development activities, where we will only use and disclose information in aggregate (so no individuals are identified).

i. User Profiles

We use the information you provided to create a user profile. It’s a great way to establish your presence on the Findmypast site. Sharing a little about yourself allows you to connect with other users.  Your User Profile allows other members to see if you are an active user before they send you a direct message through the trees.  Your User Profile cannot be viewed outside of Findmypast.  If your Family Tree is set to not ‘Share Deceased Ancestors’, your profile will not be discoverable to other users. 

The User Profile also allows you to add a photo or social media contact details.  You have full control of your profile and can edit and manage it through the My Account function.  

We create a username with the first 5 letters of your first name and the first 2 letters of your surname.  You can change your username through My Account. 

For more information about User Profiles, please review our User Profile FAQs.

B. Communications

i. Service messages

We send service emails to you to administer the service. Service emails include registration and payment confirmations and emails that provide useful information about how to use a service or feature when you sign up or start using it. We will also send you a service email if we make a fundamental change to the website, or to our terms & conditions that we think we need to make you aware of, or to let you know important information about your account.

ii. Marketing messages

We use your email address to update you on new products, services and subscription offers. We will only contact you with your consent. You are entitled to withhold this consent and refrain from receiving such communications by selecting the appropriate option on the web form that collects your details. You can also update these options at any time by logging into your account and adjusting your preferences, by contacting us by email at support@findmypast.com, by calling +44 (0)20 3326 6300 [UK, IE, AU] / +1 (855) 246-8234 [US] or by post to Findmypast, Clerk’s Court, 18-20 Farringdon Lane, London EC1R 3AU. We will always provide you with a way of opting out of receiving future marketing messages from us each time we send them to you.

iii. Tree hints and related records

Tree hints and record matching are part of the Findmypast service. As you build your family tree we will send you family tree hints and missions by email using the information you have provided and matching that against the records we hold in our historical records. We will also notify you of records related to the records you have recently viewed. You can use these valuable hints and records to add more information to your family tree. This is part of the Findmypast service, but if you wish to stop the hint emails you can change your preferences through the Communication Preferences centre available within your account.