What does Anonymization mean?
When you anonymize a Customer Record in CustomerGauge - the personal data (example first name, last name etc.) and segment values identified by you will be anonymized (replaced either with *** or completely blanked out). Once anonymized, the information cannot be retrieved again.
Does the CustomerGauge 'Anonymize' feature really Anonymize or just Pseudo-Anonymize?
Great question! The short answer is that we truly anonymize the data. But it is worth taking a moment to explain why we claim this and to address a specific caveat.
First, some definitions. So, a pseudo-anonymization process means that one could theoretically imply or reconstruct the identity of a person using the data remaining in the system (or even a related system) after the anonymize operation has been performed. For example, a badly designed anonymization process might blank out all personal information about a person such as name, address, telephone etc, but leave some extra context information present. E.g.
• This person held a CEO job title at Company 'Acme'
• This person filled in a survey relating to PO Number '123456789'
• The person filled in 9 surveys over a 34 month period relating to New England for first 6 surveys and then New York State for last three
So, to truly anonymize, the system also has to:
• Overwrite all relevant context information, not just personal data
• Needs to use standard strings e.g. '***' and not tokenized strings (e.g. John Smith = 'J345fnht')
• This is exactly how the CustomerGauge anonymization process works and why we claim we fully anonymize
But now for the caveat...
The CustomerGauge anonymization process overwrites all known personal and context information. But: it is our customers that decide how they will use certain user defined fields ('segments'). If segments are being used to hold context information that could be used to re-construct an identity they need to be flagged as 'personal data' so that the anonymization process knows to bring them into scope. Please contact our Support Team or your Account or Implementation Manager to add Segment Values to your default anonymization field list.
Custom fields cannot be anonymized, please keep that in mind when defining your data structure.
What details will be Anonymized?
When you anonymize a record in CustomerGauge via API, please see below on what will happen to the information.
The Default List of fields:
| Field List | Result after Anonymization |
|---|---|
| Email | will be converted to a random generated email address |
| First Name | *** |
| Last name | *** |
| SMS/Telephone Number | *** |
| Follow-up Details | *** |
| Customer Number | *** |
| Job Level | * |
| Job Position | -- |
| NPS Comment | "This comment has been anonymised based on customer request" |
| Comment Translation | "This comment has been anonymised based on customer request" |
| Workflow Comment | "This comment has been anonymised based on customer request" |
| Direct Reply/Auto Reply | "This comment has been anonymised based on customer request" and the email link will no longer be available |
| Review Comment | "This comment has been anonymised based on customer request" on the reviews widget and website, also all comments made by an user on the reviews widget will be anonymised |
| Additional Comment | "This comment has been anonymised based on customer request" |
What happens to the Segment Value Information?
IMPORTANT: Please align with your Account or Implementation Manager on the list of Segment Fields that you would like to have anonymized by default for all records. This is in addition to default list of fields mentioned above. This is a one time activity and will apply for all customers records that are anonymized using the Anonymize Contact feature, or the Anonymize API, after the setup. If you do not specify this with your Account or Implementation Manager, then these segment values will not be anonymized!
- The Segment reference will be removed for that particular Customer record. It will appear that this record did not have a segment reference at all.
- IMPORTANT: If you choose to anonymize company as an additional field, the new monetize widgets will not work precisely because the link between the person and the company will be lost.
- IMPORTANT: Custom fields cannot be anonymized
What will happen to my Survey Results?
Some of Survey Result information of the record that you anonymized will remain accessible.
Information that will not be anonymized are:
| Email Sent Date | Survey Completed Date | NPS Score |
| Drivers (Self-Select Reasons) | Follow-up Requested - Yes or No | Additional Rating Question |
| Drop Down, Radio Button, Check Box Questions | CSAT Question | CES Question |
Information that will be anonymized are:
| Comment | Additional Comment | Review Comment |
| Follow-up Details | Input Boxes |
What do I need to get started?
1. Alignment with your Account or Implementation Manager on the list of Segment Fields that you would like to have anonymized by default for all records. By default there is a standard list of fields that we will anonymize but in addition to this you might want to anonymize certain segment field vales that might contain personal information. This is a one time activity and will apply for all customers records that are anonymized using the Anonymize Contact feature, or the Anonymize API, after the setup. If you do not specify this with your Account or Implementation Manager then these segment values will not be anonymized!
2. One of the unique identifiers for the person requesting to be removed from your data; their e-mail address or SMS telephone number.
3. Access to the Data Administration, Anonymize Contact feature.
The How to Guide:
Step 1: Verify the details of the customer before you anonymize the information. Do note that a Customer can have multiple CustomerGauge records under the same Email address or SMS number.
Step 2: Go to the "Data Administration" feature, and go to "Anonymize Contact" (This is only accessible by System Administrators).
Step 3: Find the Contact you want to anonymize by typing in their E-mail address or SMS Telephone number.
Step 4: Confirm that you're OK with anonymizing each survey record found for this contact.
Step 5: Confirm that you want to anonymize this contact by typing in their E-mail address or SMS Telephone number (whichever you used to identify the contact).
Step 6: The details of this person should be anonymized in the platform.
