How we use what you tell us.

Who we are

Proof Studio builds and hosts websites for small British businesses. The person who reads your messages is Richard. Write to richard@proofstudio.co.uk. hello@proofstudio.co.uk is an alias for the same inbox.

Proof Studio is not VAT registered. We do not have a company number to list here.

What we collect

If you use the contact form we keep your name, email address, trade, town, current website if you give one, and your message. If you use the chat on this site we keep the conversation so Richard can reply, and a copy of the finished chat is emailed to him — including short visits that never become a brief. If you ask for bespoke work he also gets that brief separately.

If you order Launch or Standard, Stripe takes your card payment. We see your name, email and what you bought so we can build the site and start hosting. We do not see or store your full card number. That stays with Stripe.

Once we are building or hosting your site we also hold the material you send — photos, words, a logo — and the technical details needed to keep the site online (domain, DNS, backups).

Why we hold it

To answer you, to build and host your website, to take payment, and to keep the site backed up and updated. We do not sell your details, and we do not use them to send marketing you did not ask for.

The monthly hosting

Launch and Standard include hosting at £39 a month after a free first month that starts when you pay. While we host the site we keep the files, backups and the contact details we need to look after it. If you cancel, we stop charging and, if you ask, we delete or hand over what we hold. See Terms for how cancellation and ownership work.

Cookies and the chat

This marketing site does not use advertising cookies. The chat keeps the conversation in your browser for the visit so it is still there if you click to another page. If you send a message, the words are processed so we can reply, and the finished conversation is sent to Richard’s mailbox. It is not published and it is not on a public web page.

How long we keep it

Enquiries we did not take on are kept only as long as we need them to reply, then deleted. If you become a customer we keep what we need while we host the site, and for a sensible period afterwards in case you come back or we need records of the work.

Your rights

You can ask what we hold, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it where we no longer need it. Email richard@proofstudio.co.uk. If you are unhappy with how we handle your information you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.

This page

Last updated 31 August 2026. If we change how we use your information we will update this page.