Privacy & Data Usage Policy

1. Who We Are

Bert is an online visibility scoring tool operated by Spotlight Marketing Solutions, LLC ("Spotlight," "we," "us," or "our"), a limited liability company organized and operating in the United States. Bert is a product of Spotlight Marketing Solutions, LLC and is offered as a free public service to help small businesses understand and improve their online presence.

For privacy inquiries, contact us at: [email protected]

2. Information We Collect

When you use Bert, we collect the following categories of information:

• Business Information: Business name, industry, city, state, website URL, Google Business Profile URL, and social media platforms.
• Contact Information: Your email address, used to deliver your dashboard link and score summary, and to send you relevant marketing tips or updates from Spotlight Marketing Solutions, LLC. You may opt out at any time.
• Questionnaire Responses: Your self-reported answers to the online visibility questionnaire (e.g., review count, posting frequency, website status). These answers are used solely to calculate and display your score.
• Usage Data: Standard web analytics including page views, referral source, browser type, and approximate geographic location (city/country level). No personally identifiable information is included in analytics data.
• Competitor Information: Any competitor names and website URLs you voluntarily enter in your Bert dashboard.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• To generate and display your online visibility score and personalized improvement tips.
• To send you your dashboard link and score summary via email.
• To send you relevant marketing tips, product updates, and educational content related to online visibility and digital marketing — only from Spotlight Marketing Solutions, LLC. You will never receive emails from third parties as a result of using Bert.
• To improve the accuracy and relevance of the Bert scoring algorithm.
• To allow Spotlight Marketing Solutions, LLC staff to follow up with you about your score results, offer free consultations, or provide additional resources.
• To maintain the security and integrity of the Bert platform.

4. What We Will Never Do

Spotlight Marketing Solutions, LLC makes the following unconditional commitments:

• We will never sell your data. Your personal information, business information, and contact details will never be sold, rented, or traded to any third party for any purpose, under any circumstances.
• We will never share your data with advertisers. Your information is not used for third-party advertising targeting, retargeting, or audience building on any external platform.
• We will never send spam. All communications from us are relevant to your use of Bert or your online business presence. You may unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time using the link in any email we send.
• We will never share your questionnaire answers publicly without your explicit consent. Your individual score data is private to you.

5. Data Sharing & Third Parties

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties except in the following limited circumstances:

• Service Providers: We use trusted service providers to operate the Bert platform, including cloud hosting, email delivery (Resend), and database services. These providers are contractually prohibited from using your data for any purpose other than providing services to us.
• Internal Business Records: Submission data is stored in a Google Sheets spreadsheet accessible only to authorized Spotlight Marketing Solutions, LLC staff for the purpose of follow-up and service improvement.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or government authority, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Spotlight Marketing Solutions, LLC, our users, or the public.

6. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your Bert dashboard is active and for a reasonable period thereafter for business records and service improvement purposes. You may request deletion of your data at any time by emailing [email protected]. We will process deletion requests within 30 days.

7. Public Score Pages & SEO

When you complete the Bert questionnaire, a public-facing score page is generated at a unique URL (e.g., /lite/score/your-business-name-city-state). This page displays your business name, city, state, industry, and overall score tier. It does not display your email address, exact score breakdown, or questionnaire answers. This page is publicly accessible and may be indexed by search engines. If you wish to have your public score page removed, contact us at [email protected].

8. Cookies & Tracking

Bert uses a session cookie to maintain your dashboard access across browser sessions. This cookie contains only a secure, randomly generated token — it does not contain your name, email, or any personally identifiable information. We do not use third-party tracking cookies, advertising pixels, or behavioral analytics tools.

9. Your Rights

You have the following rights with respect to your data:

• Access: Request a copy of the data we hold about you.
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate data.
• Deletion: Request deletion of your data at any time.
• Opt-Out: Unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time via the unsubscribe link in any email or by contacting us directly.
• Portability: Request your data in a portable format.

To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days.

10. Children's Privacy

Bert is intended for use by business owners and marketing professionals. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under the age of 13. If you believe a minor has submitted information through Bert, please contact us immediately at [email protected].

11. Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data, including encrypted data transmission (HTTPS/TLS), hashed session tokens, and access controls limiting data access to authorized personnel only. No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure; however, we take all reasonable precautions to protect your information.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy & Data Usage Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of Bert after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy & Data Usage Policy or our data practices, please contact: