Cookies and other similar technologies Policy

This cookie policy explains the different types of cookies and other technologies that we use in our services, why we use them, and your choices for managing data collected through our cookies.

We want your experience on comparethemarket.com to be quick, simple and easy. To ensure that you can make full use of comparethemarket.com's comparison service, your computer, tablet or mobile device will need to enable cookies and other similar technologies (including web beacons and pixels). If these aren't enabled on your device, it may limit your experience on our website and will mean that you will not be able to save and retrieve your quotes. In some instances, it may mean that you cannot access some of our services at all.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is deployed on your browser and is used by the website you are viewing to identify you as a user, which then enables information to be stored on the hard drive of your device. Cookies allow a device to be identified as corresponding to one that has accessed another website or visited a website previously. This allows us to recognise you as a unique customer and provides us with information about how you use our website. Cookies are commonly used on the Internet and do not harm your device system.

What are pixels and web beacons?

Pixels and tags are invisible images or scripts that are included on our website and app. When you interact with certain features on our website or app, the pixels and tags make calls to web servers that transfer information about your interactions with the website or the app. They are often used in combination with cookies and other technologies.

Further information can be found at https://www.allaboutcookies.org/faqs/beacons.html or at http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/

How we use cookies

We use five categories of cookie on our websites, four of these are based upon the International Chamber of Commerce UK Cookie Guide. We also use cookies to help administer our Rewards.

Strictly Necessary
Performance
Functionality
Marketing
Your Rewards

Some of these are 'Session Cookies', these only exist for the duration of your visit to our website and are deleted when you leave the website. Others are 'Persistent Cookies', these stay on your device until they expire or are deleted. Majority of cookies are managed and controlled by comparethemarket.com, these are first party cookies, however, cookies may also be placed by our approved business partners, these are known as 'third party cookies'. Third party cookies are typically placed when the website involves elements from other sites, such as images, social media activity or advertising. 

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookies are required for the operation of our website.

These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Without these, we cannot guarantee that you will be able to use our websites.

Our use of Strictly Necessary Cookies include: 

providing quotes and account information
authenticating and verifying web requests
ensuring the information entered on our website is secure and not subject to access from third parties

Performance Cookies

These cookies collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance, which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages.

These cookies do not collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how a website works. Some Performance Cookies are managed for us by third parties, further information on these third parties is provided within this policy.

Our use of Performance Cookies includes:

collating anonymous aggregated information that is used to manage and plan enhancements to our services
how you use our website and to assist us in tailoring the website to customer needs
measuring advertising effectiveness

Functionality cookies

These cookies are used to provide services (such as videos) or allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) to provide enhanced, more personal features.

Our use of Functionality Cookies includes:

remembering preferences you have chosen to customise your experience
providing live chat functionality

We do not use Functionality Cookies to target you with adverts on other websites.

Marketing Cookies

Marketing Cookies record your visit to our website, including the web pages you have visited, the links you have followed, when you visited the website and your IP address and device ID. We use carefully selected and approved advertising and marketing providers (as set out in the table below) to help us to serve our advertising to users. These providers will set targeting cookies on our websites and will use them to make sure that our advertising that they serve to you is relevant to your interests and needs. These cookies collect information about your web browsing activity and allow our providers to track you when you visit different websites, so that they can serve our advertisements to you on those websites. For example, if you visit our homepage but didn't obtain a quote, the cookie will collect this information and serve you an advertisement on a different website to encourage you to come back and get a quote. Our providers control these cookies and are responsible for how the cookies, and any information collected by the cookies, are used. None of the information collected by the cookies is shared with us.

Although these cookies do not collect information that you enter into forms on our website (such as your name and email address), we sometimes share your email address, IP address and information about whether or not you have purchased a policy or claimed a reward with our providers. Information is shared in an encrypted form and our providers can combine this information with the data that their cookies collect to serve our advertisements to audiences that we select. We may also pass on encrypted information to third-party partners in order to improve ad engagement as well as our ability to measure online activity.

We and our providers also use targeting cookies to:

improve our website, for example by enabling us to understand how our customers interact with our website;
evaluate the effectiveness of our advertising and promotions on third party websites, for example by tracking whether these advertisements are clicked on by customers and how many times;
inform the content of marketing emails that we send to you and trigger those emails, where we have your consent to send you these emails. For example, if you have looked at pet insurance quotes but not taken out a policy, these cookies may trigger an email to you to remind you of your quotes and encourage you to come back and take out a policy; and
trigger service support communications to you.

Your Rewards

These cookies enable us to administer our Rewards more efficiently. Our use of Rewards Cookies assists with speeding the approval of your purchase of a Qualifying Product. More information on our Rewards T&Cs can be found here.

How to stop or modify cookies and similar technologies

You can modify your preferences at any time using the link below:

You can also stop and delete cookies and similar technologies by configuring your browser not to accept them or opt-out. For more information on how to do these on popular browsers please use the links below:

Partners

The preferences you select will apply to your use of the comparethemarket.com website including where possible web pages relating to comparethemarket.com comparison services that are provided by our carefully selected partners.  Your  preferences will be shared with these partners for this purpose. You can find details of our partners in our privacy policy. Where it is not possible for your preferences to be applied to the web pages operated by our partners, our partners will provide you with separate options.    For more information on how these technologies are used by our Partners please see more information in their cookie policies below.

Howden Life & Health - Over 50's life, health and income protection insurance

Comparison Creator – Breakdown insurance

Bionic – Business energy, Business Broadband and Landline

Stickee – Broadband, phone, TV & mobile

Simply Business – Business insurance

iWonder – Caravan, Motorhome and Taxi Insurance

The Idol – Travel insurance

Swoop Funding – Business Finance

Key 3rd Party Providers

Google Analytics

Our websites use Google Analytics, which is a web analytics service provided by Google.

For more information please see: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/

Search Ads

Online advertising supplier, these are used to serve our internet advertisements on other sites. Some of our webpages may contain electronic images that help us see how customers interact on these pages. They may also provide Search Ads with information about the interaction.

For more information please see: https://support.google.com/dfp_premium/answer/2839090?hl=en&ref_topic=7395141

Yahoo

Our website uses Yahoo Code, a pixel provided by Yahoo, for the purposes of creating a more personalised experience. For more information please see:

http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/

Adobe Target

Our website uses Adobe Target, which enables us to provide our customers with more relevant and personalised experiences.

For more information please see: https://www.adobe.com/uk/privacy/cookies.html

Microsoft

Microsoft collects and receives information used for marketing purposes, as well as assisting us with tracking the performance of advertising we do via Microsoft’s services (Bing etc.).

More information on how Microsoft use this information please see: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacystatement

Amazon

Our website uses Amazon Code, a pixel provided by Amazon, for the purposes of creating a more personalised experience.

For more information please see:  https://youronlinechoices.eu/

Last updated: 20th August 2024