Digital Empathy Privacy Policy

Effective Date: May 19, 2025
Last Updated: May 19, 2025

Digital Empathy (iVet Marketing, DBA Digital Empathy — “Digital Empathy,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) provides marketing and software services to veterinary practices. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use and protect it, what we do not do with it, and how we use de-identified and aggregate data to improve our products and support the veterinary community.

We wrote this policy to be readable. If anything here is unclear, write to us at [email protected].

1. Who This Policy Covers

This Privacy Policy applies to all Digital Empathy products and services, including but not limited to:

  • Our marketing website at digitalempathyvet.com
  • Spotlight: our pet owner intake platform
  • Our call tracking and ads matchback reporting service
  • Websites we design, build, and host on behalf of veterinary practices
  • Marketing & advertising analytics, attribution, and reporting we provide to our clients
  • Any future products or services we offer to veterinary clinics

Some products may have supplemental privacy notices that provide additional, product-specific detail, such as the Spotlight Privacy Supplement at digitalempathyvet.com/spotlight-privacy-policy/. Supplements operate under this master policy and do not override it unless they expressly say so.

2. The People and Entities Involved

When you read this policy, “you” means whoever is reading it. In practice, three groups of people interact with our services:

  • Veterinary clinics: our clients, who use our products to operate and grow their practices.
  • Clinic staff: veterinarians, technicians, and team members at our client clinics who use our tools day-to-day.
  • Pet owners: clients of the veterinary practices we serve, who may interact with forms, websites, phone numbers, communications, or reporting workflows we power on behalf of those practices.

Pet owners’ relationship is with their veterinary practice. Digital Empathy does not establish a direct commercial relationship with pet owners.

When Digital Empathy processes client, patient, staff, or PIMS data on behalf of a clinic, the clinic determines the purpose for that data and Digital Empathy processes it only to provide the products and services the clinic has requested.

3. Definitions

These terms are used throughout this policy and matter to how it applies.

  • Identifiable Data means information that identifies, or could reasonably be used to identify, a specific clinic, clinic staff member, pet owner, or pet. Examples include names, contact information, exact addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, appointment information, call records, and records from a clinic’s Practice Information Management System (PIMS).
  • Clinic Data means data a veterinary clinic provides to Digital Empathy or authorizes Digital Empathy to access, including PIMS data, client lists, patient details, appointment records, website leads, call records, analytics, and reporting files.
  • De-Identified Data means information from which direct identifiers have been removed and which cannot reasonably be used to identify a specific clinic, staff member, pet owner, or pet, alone or in combination with other information we hold.
  • Aggregate Data means information about groups of clinics, clients, pet owners, or service interactions that has been combined such that no individual clinic, staff member, pet owner, or pet is identifiable from the result.

4. What We Collect

Depending on the products and services a clinic uses, we may collect:

From veterinary clinics:

  • Clinic name, address, business contact information
  • Names and email addresses of clinic staff
  • Billing and account information
  • Service preferences, account notes, and support history

From clinic PIMS systems, files, or approved integrations:

  • Client names, contact information, appointment details, and related clinic records
  • Patient details needed to deliver the requested service, such as pet name, species, appointment type, or visit context
  • Client and patient records used for matchback, attribution, reporting, or communication workflows authorized by the clinic

From pet owners interacting with our products:

  • Information submitted through forms, such as name, contact information, pet details, and appointment context
  • Pet health and behavior updates submitted ahead of appointments
  • Optional comments, preferences, questions, and responses
  • Phone calls placed to tracked numbers, including call metadata and, where applicable, recordings or transcripts

Automatically, when people interact with our products and our clients’ websites:

  • Device type, browser, operating system
  • Access times, pages viewed, IP address
  • Technical performance and error data
  • Marketing attribution and analytics data, such as which marketing source drove a visit, form submission, or call

5. How We Use Identifiable Data

We use Identifiable Data only to deliver and support the services a clinic has asked us to provide. That includes:

  • Operating the products the clinic uses, including Spotlight, call tracking software, the clinic’s website, and related reporting tools
  • Delivering communications a clinic has authorized to its clients
  • Pre-populating forms, syncing responses, or writing information back to the clinic’s systems where the clinic has authorized that workflow
  • Generating reports the clinic uses to run its business, including matchback and attribution reporting
  • Providing customer support, billing, account management, and service improvement
  • Protecting our services from fraud, abuse, and security threats
  • Complying with legal obligations

For call insights, matchback, and attribution reporting, we may process client contact information, call metadata, appointment data, and related records only to connect marketing activity to clinic outcomes for the requesting clinic.

6. What We Do Not Do With Identifiable Data

These are core commitments. They apply to every Digital Empathy product and service.

  • We do not sell, rent, or trade Identifiable Data.
  • We do not use Identifiable Data for unrelated marketing, advertising, or audience-building.
  • We do not use a clinic’s client list to market Digital Empathy’s services directly to that clinic’s pet owners.
  • We do not establish a direct commercial relationship with pet owners.
  • We do not share Identifiable Data with other veterinary clinics, marketing partners, industry partners, or unrelated third parties beyond what is necessary to deliver the services a clinic has requested.
  • We do not permit general-purpose third-party AI providers, such as foundation model vendors, to use clinic, client, pet owner, or patient data to train their public models.

Clinics retain control over their clinic records and client/patient data.

7. How We Use De-Identified and Aggregate Data

After identifying information has been removed and data is no longer attributable to any specific clinic, staff member, pet owner, or pet, Digital Empathy may use De-Identified and Aggregate Data to:

  • Operate, maintain, secure, and improve our products and services
  • Develop, train, evaluate, and improve features powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning within our own products
  • Generate internal benchmarks, product quality metrics, and generalized industry insights about veterinary service trends
  • Share high-level aggregate insights or statistical reports only when they do not identify any clinic, staff member, pet owner, or pet

These uses do not involve disclosure of any specific clinic’s, staff member’s, pet owner’s, or pet’s identifiable information.

We believe responsible use of de-identified and aggregate data can help us build better tools for veterinary practices. We are committed to doing that transparently and without exposing the private data clinics entrust to us.

8. Third-Party AI Use

Some of our products use artificial intelligence to deliver features such as drafting communications, summarizing information, organizing call insights, or supporting reporting workflows. To do this, we may work with established AI infrastructure providers under agreements that limit how data may be used, retained, and protected.

  • We may transmit Identifiable Data to AI infrastructure providers solely to deliver a requested feature or service.
  • We do not permit AI infrastructure providers to use clinic, client, pet owner, or patient data to train their public models.
  • Any retention by those providers is limited by our agreements with them and used only to deliver, secure, or support the requested service.
  • We may use De-Identified and Aggregate Data to train, evaluate, and improve AI features within our own products.

9. How We Share Data With Service Providers

To deliver our services, we work with a limited set of vendors, including hosting providers, telephony providers, email and SMS providers, analytics tools, PIMS integration partners, and AI infrastructure providers.

We require service providers that handle Identifiable Data to maintain appropriate confidentiality, data protection, and security obligations. A current list of categories and providers is available on request to [email protected].

We may also disclose data when required by law, when responding to lawful requests from public authorities, or when necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of Digital Empathy, our clients, pet owners, or others.

10. Internal Access

Access to Identifiable Data inside Digital Empathy is limited to employees and contractors with a service-delivery need. All staff are bound by confidentiality obligations as a condition of employment or engagement.

11. Security

We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect the information we hold. Our infrastructure runs on Amazon Web Services in the United States. No system is perfectly secure, but we take this responsibility seriously and continuously improve our security practices.

12. Data Retention and Deletion

  • Identifiable Data tied to a clinic’s account is retained only as long as needed to provide the requested service, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, or support security and business continuity.
  • Upon termination of a clinic’s account or applicable service, Identifiable Data associated with that service is deleted or returned according to the clinic’s agreement with Digital Empathy, with backups and logs purged on a rolling schedule.
  • De-Identified and Aggregate Data may be retained indefinitely because it no longer identifies any specific clinic, staff member, pet owner, or pet.

13. Children’s Privacy

Our products are not directed to children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided personal information through one of our products, please contact us at [email protected] and we will take appropriate steps to remove it.

14. Clinic Data Rights

Clinics may:

  • Request information about the categories of De-Identified and Aggregate Data derived from their use of our services
  • Request a current list of our subprocessors or service provider categories
  • Ask questions about specific industry partnerships, research programs, or external aggregate reporting
  • Request deletion or return of applicable Identifiable Data according to their agreement with Digital Empathy
  • Request a Data Processing and Confidentiality Addendum to be executed alongside their service agreement

Pet owners with questions about how their information is handled should first contact the veterinary practice they have a relationship with. We will support clinics in responding to those requests.

15. Communications and Opt-Outs

Where Digital Empathy sends communications on behalf of a clinic, such as appointment reminders, follow-ups, or marketing messages, the clinic is responsible for obtaining consent from its clients, and recipients can opt out at any time by replying STOP to a text message, using the unsubscribe link in an email, or contacting the clinic directly. We comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and applicable email regulations.

16. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our products and websites use cookies and similar technologies for essential functionality, security, analytics, attribution, and performance monitoring. We do not use these technologies to track users across unaffiliated websites for advertising purposes.

17. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated to clinic clients in advance of taking effect. The effective date at the top of this page indicates the most recent update.

18. Contact Us

Questions, concerns, or data requests:

Digital Empathy
[email protected]
(858) 684-7787

This Privacy Policy supersedes any prior privacy policy published by Digital Empathy. Product supplements, including the Spotlight Privacy Supplement, operate under this policy.