​​​​​​​​​​Cookie policy

Who are we?

Growth Skills is a learning platform launched in September 2018, with the goal of helping people learn digital marketing to grow their careers and businesses. 

​In the spirit of who we are ( a learning platform) and our goal of growing your skills we will first cover some general definitions of cookies and other technology that is used to track your behavior online. We will then explain what technology we use and why we use it. So, have a good read.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small data files sent from a website to your web browser. They are stored in your web browser’s cache and allow a website or a third party to recognize your browser or mobile device. Mobile devices and browsers can be shared by a number of people, so cookies are not always wholly related to individuals.

In addition to cookies, there are other technologies which may be used by websites and apps to track your behavior and advertise to you.

What are the other technologies?

  • Pixel tags
  • HTTP headers
  • Statistical IDs
  • Web beacons
  • Social widgets
  • UTM codes

Pixel tags are small strings of code that provide a method for delivering a graphic image on a webpage or other document. They may also be used to obtain information about the computer being used to view that webpage or other document, including the IP address of the computer that the tag is sent to, the time it was sent, the user’s operating system and browser type, and other similar information (commonly known as the user agent string).

HTTP headers  arecomponents of the header section that are transmitted whenever a webpage is viewed, and contain technical information required for communication between a client (your computer or device) and a server (the webpage you visit). This information may include information about the client browser, the requested webpage, server and other information the third party knows about you, your computer or device. Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), or “HTTP Secure,” is an application-specific implementation that is a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) with the SSL/TLS. HTTPS is used to provide encrypted communication with and secure identification of a Web server. We use HTTPS to add a layer of security which protects your data.

​Note: Growth Skills do not use persistent identifiers like a carrier or a device ID 

Statistical IDs are IDs  created via an algorithm using information about your computer or device, including your operating system, user-agent string, IP address, Internet browser, installed fonts, and similar information.  These statistical IDs are not 100% accurate. Statistical IDs may be used for Publisher analytics and aggregate analytics. Sites collect this data to measure insights on the browsing and sharing activity from publisher websites.

Web beaconsare tiny graphics with a unique identifier that are used to understand browsing activity. Web beacons are invisible when you open a web page.

Social widgetsare buttons or icons provided by third-party social media providers that allow you to interact with those social media services when you view a web page or a mobile app screen. These social widgets may collect browsing data, which may be received by the third party that provided the widget, and are controlled by the third parties.

UTM codes are strings  that can appear in a web address when a user moves from one web page or website to another. The string can represent information about browsing, such as which advertisement or publisher sent the user to the receiving website.

What are the different types of cookies?​

First and third party cookies

First party cookies are cookies that belong to Growth Skills, while third-party cookies are cookies that another party places on a browsing device through our website. Both first party and third party cookies can be analytics, functionality and advertising cookies. Social media cookies will usually be set by a third party social media site like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Third parties setting cookies through our website will be providing a service to us or a function of the site but we do not control how third party cookies are used. Users should check the third party’s website for more information about how they use cookies.

Typologies of cookies

​The types of cookies used on most websites can generally be put into one of the following categories: strictly necessary; analytics; functionality, advertising and social media. In order to provide the best browsing experience, Growth Skills uses cookies from several of these categories. You can find out more about the cookies we use from each of the categories in the table below.​

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are essential to make our service work. Without these cookies, services that are necessary to be able to use our services can't be provided.

Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information about how people are using our website, for example which pages are visited the most often, how people are moving from one link to another and if they get error messages from certain pages.

Functionality Cookies

These cookies allow us to remember choices and tailor our website to provide enhanced features and content. For example, these cookies can be used to remember user name, language choice or country selection, they can also be used to recognize changes made to text size, font and other parts of pages.

Advertising Cookies

These cookies are used to deliver our advertisements. They are used to limit the number of times users see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They also recognize users who have visited a website. They are also used to deliver ads that are more relevant to you and your interests.

Social Media Cookies

In order to enhance internet experience and to make the sharing of content easier, some of the pages on our website or some of our ads contain tools or applications that are linked to third party social media service providers such as Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Referral Cookies

These cookies are placed on the device when users use one of our special referral pages to create a link to refer our service to their friends.

What do cookies do?

Cookies record your online identity and remember your online behavior and preferences. For example, cookies may capture the following information:

  • Browser information: browser type, language, and history;
  • Device information: IP address, device make, device model, device operating system/version, and data connection type;
  • Internet service provider information; and
  • Interaction information: domain name, referring website address, date/time of website visit, page view data, search keywords, referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, geolocation data, click data, types of ads viewed.

Cookies are used for a variety of purposes: to keep you logged in, to remember what is in your online shopping basket, to deliver you location specific information such as news and weather, to tailor advertising to your interests, and so on.  This improves your experience of a website.

What do we do with cookies?

We use cookies to provide you with a better experience across our digital platforms.  We do this by making our websites and apps functional, secure and convenient for you to use, and by showing you relevant and interesting content and advertising.

We use cookies to deliver the following services on our digital platforms:

  • To recognize your device so you don’t have to give the same information repeatedly;
  • To remember your username and password (if requested) so you don’t need to enter your details each time you visit the website;
  • To provide a smooth and secure experience if you are purchasing a product or service via our digital platforms;
  • To select and deliver content that is interesting and relevant to you;
  • To record what people like and don’t like on the website and the popularity of different sections of the website so that we can ensure it works properly at points of high usage;
  • To collect, measure and analyze statistical information about website traffic and use (for further information see “Analytics on our websites” section);
  • To detect and track fraudulent or illegal activity;
  • To select and deliver advertising that is interesting and relevant to you (for further information see “Advertising on our websites” section); and
  • To link you to other affiliate websites and services.

We use third parties to deliver some of these services to you, who will also drop their own cookies.

We also need to drop a cookie to record your permission for us to use cookies on our digital platforms (for more information, see “Your preferences” section).

We use Google Analytics and other providers, to provide us with statistical information about use and traffic on our websites, mobile apps and social media platforms.  These services use IP addresses and other information from cookies to tell us, for example, the number of page views, number of users, what browsers users are using, and location data of users, and they help us target and examine our audiences.

For analytics, we collect and process your information on the basis of our legitimate business and operational interest.

​​​​​​​​How do you manage your cookie preferences from this website?

Our Cookies (first party cookies): you can use the browser that you are viewing this website with to enable, disable or delete cookies. To do this, follow the instructions provided by your browser (usually located within the “Help”, “Tools” or “Edit” settings). Remember that if you set your browser to disable cookies, you may not be able to access certain secure parts of the site and other parts may not work properly.

Third Party Cookies: cookies that are placed on your browsing device by a third party can be managed through your browser (as described above) or by checking the third party’s website for more information about cookie management and how to “opt-out”.