How to remove guest personal data from Distil

An organisation may occasionally need to permanently remove a guest’s personal data from their Distil Single Guest Profile account. This article explains when this may be required and how to complete the process.

Note: This article provides general guidance only. It does not constitute legal advice. Each Distil.ai customer is responsible for ensuring their own compliance with applicable data protection legislation.

Why remove guest personal data

An individual may request that their data be permanently deleted by an organisation for a number of reasons, usually following a removal of consent for their data to be stored and/or processed further.

Under Article 17 of the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), this is known as the Right to Erasure (or Right to be Forgotten). Similar rights exist in other data protection legislation worldwide.

This differs from an unsubscribe or opt-out request that a user may select on a marketing communication such as an email newsletter. They may choose to opt out of a particular communication type or channel, but this does not usually constitute a Right to Erasure request unless explicitly stated.

In some circumstances, organisations are not legally required to delete personal data even when requested. Distil does not determine whether a Right to Erasure request should be fulfilled - this decision remains the responsibility of the organisation.

How to action permanent removal guest data

Step 1: Remove the guest’s personal data from all connected systems

As the single source of truth of an organisation’s guest data, it’s likely that several systems are connected to the platform and sync guest data several times a day from multiple sources. 

Before a guest profile can be permanently removed from Distil, the guest’s personal data must first be removed from all systems and data sources connected to Distil. This step is the responsibility of the organisation. See the section ‘Source-specific guest data removal advice’ for further details.

Exceptions: 

• For customers using Distil-provisioned data warehouse services, step 1 instructions apply to all other external systems and sources. The Distil team will include the data warehouse removal in the deletion process.
• For customers using Dotdigital, there are source-specific instructions detailed below. 

Step 2: Submit a deletion request to Distil

Login to your Distil.ai Helpdesk account and Submit a New Request. In the ticket content, list the email address(es) associated with the guest profile(s) to be removed.

Step 3: Confirmation of deletion timelines

Once your request has been acknowledged, the Distil team will confirm a deletion timeline. 

It is essential that Step 1 is fully completed before the agreed deletion date. If personal data remains in a connected system, it may be re-synced into Distil after deletion.

Step 4: Verify deletion

The organisation is responsible for verifying that the guest profile has been removed from Distil, and the data has not been re-introduced from an external source.

If the guest data reappears due to a connected system still holding the guest’s information, repeat Steps 2 - 4 after confirming removal from the source.

Source-specific guest data removal advice

Dotdigital

When completing Step 1 of this process, guest profile(s) in Dotdigital should be suppressed, not deleted. 

Once Step 4 (Verification) has been completed, the guest profile(s) can then be permanently deleted from Dotdigital.

This process creates an identifier that prevents guest profile(s) being re-synced after deletion and supports ongoing suppression, while still fulfilling Right to Erasure requirements

For more information, see this Dotdigital Help Article. 

How to get help with guest data removal

If you have questions about this process or encounter issues completing a guest data deletion, please raise a ticket via the Distil Helpdesk as your first point of contact.

If you are unable to access the Helpdesk or require assistance outside of the ticketing system, you can contact the Distil Support team at support [at] distil.ai