Privacy Policy

Who we are

AXIS is a psychological self-development service operated by Manuel Duarte Mendes at axismethod.io. Its primary public paid offer is the standalone Diagnostic. After your Diagnostic is delivered, human coaching is available separately through an application and mutual-fit process; no invitation is required. References to "AXIS", "we", "us", or "our" in this policy refer to Manuel Duarte Mendes as the operator of this service.

We take privacy seriously — particularly given the nature of what we do. The information you share with AXIS is sensitive. We handle it accordingly.

What information we collect

We collect information in the following circumstances:

• When you apply for coaching — your diagnostic code, contact details, and information you choose to share about coaching fit, approval of Diagnostic target goals, and practicalities.
• When you use a free AXIS Mirror quiz — the result is calculated locally and can be viewed without providing contact details. The quiz stores your item answers, current step, and calculated result in local browser storage on that device so progress survives a refresh and you can revisit the result. That on-device record remains until you use the visible retake/reset control or clear the site's browser data; it is not transmitted to AXIS. If you separately request email delivery, we collect the email address, optional first name, and result key solely to send that requested summary. Item-level answers are not included in that request, and it does not subscribe you to marketing.
• When you complete the intake questionnaire — your name, purchase email, a timestamped confirmation that you are 18 or older, a timestamped record of your explicit Diagnostic consent, and your responses across all 92 questions, covering psychology, family, identity, career, relationships, money, and health. We do not ask for your date of birth or location.
• When you choose optional voice dictation — Optional voice dictation uses your browser or device’s speech-recognition service, which may process audio outside AXIS; type instead if you prefer not to use it. Depending on your browser or device, its platform provider may process audio or transcripts under that provider’s terms. The Diagnostic receives only the resulting text and handles it like a typed answer; AXIS does not receive or store the raw audio.
• When you pause an in-progress intake — essential browser storage on that device holds the session reference, profile details, consent state, and saved answers so you can resume. This local checkpoint is not encrypted by AXIS. It is accepted for seven days after the latest saved step; after that it is ignored and removed when the questionnaire next opens. It can be cleared from the questionnaire at any time. On a shared device, use a private window or clear the checkpoint before you leave. It is separate from submitted records stored by AXIS.
• When you start Diagnostic checkout — the AXIS-controlled checkout records that you actively agreed to the Terms & Refund Policy and acknowledged this Privacy Policy, sends the email address you enter to Stripe to create the secure checkout, and, if you enter one, validates the AXIS promotion code. Billing information is handled directly by Stripe and is not stored by AXIS. Where a private promotion has per-email eligibility, AXIS stores a lower-case, trimmed copy of the checkout email, the offer identifier, and Stripe checkout identifiers so that restriction can be enforced. An unbound abandoned reservation normally releases after its short checkout window. Once a Stripe session is attached, AXIS preserves the reservation until Stripe supplies a signed expiry event or AXIS verifies that checkout completed, preventing a completed gift from being released incorrectly. Released reservation records are deleted automatically after 30 days. A redeemed record is retained with the service record while the restriction and related transaction records must be maintained.
• When you use your private Diagnostic page — we collect any correction details you choose to submit and your choice to object to or opt out of the feedback request. A correction may concern information already covered by your Diagnostic consent; the page does not ask you to provide unrelated new personal history.
• When you reply to the optional feedback request — we collect the service feedback you choose to send and, only if you choose, permission to publish one exact quote anonymously or with your name. The request asks you not to include new health information or other sensitive personal details.
• When you choose optional website measurement — we store your separate Google Analytics and Meta Pixel choices in essential local browser storage for up to six months. If you allow Google Analytics, Google may receive a pseudonymous browser identifier, limited device and browser information, the generic AXIS route or non-descriptive Journal article identifier, a sanitised referrer origin, and consented journey events. Google is told when a visitor views the Diagnostic sales page, follows a Diagnostic call to action, follows a button that opens the Mirror hub, or begins checkout. A Mirror-opening event is sent before navigation; Analytics does not load on the Mirror itself. If you begin Diagnostic checkout while Analytics remains allowed, the website may attach the consent time and the pseudonymous GA client and session identifiers to that checkout attempt. Only after a signed Stripe event confirms a positive-value paid Diagnostic does the AXIS backend send Google one server-side purchase event containing those GA identifiers, the fixed Diagnostic product identity, the Stripe-verified value and currency, and a pseudonymous HMAC transaction identifier created by keyed hashing. The analytics envelope and Google event contain no contact details, form values, promotion codes, questionnaire answers or results, private Diagnostic documents, coaching material, card or bank details, or raw Stripe identifier. Unpaid, zero-value, complimentary, incomplete, and unverified checkouts do not produce that purchase event. If you separately allow Meta Pixel, Meta may receive a browser identifier, limited device and browser information, one PageView and one parameter-free standard ViewContent event from the small set of generic marketing pages listed below, a syntactically valid Meta click identifier (fbclid) when present, and permitted referrer information. AXIS removes all other current-page query parameters and the fragment, blocks internal referrers outside Meta’s generic AXIS route allowlist, and blocks non-Meta external referrers that are not origin-only. Meta-owned referral URL data may remain available to Meta, and Meta may associate the visit with other information it holds, including a Meta account, under its policies. Browser requests necessarily expose technical information such as your IP address to the relevant provider.
• When you communicate with us — any emails, messages, session notes, or coaching-call summaries exchanged while delivering the requested service.

How we use your information

Your information is used to deliver the AXIS product or service you request. Specifically:

• Your questionnaire answers are processed with AI assistance to produce your Diagnostic Portrait. After that Portrait passes the required checks, AXIS renders the mobile 90-Day Companion deterministically from its validated content and generates the Complete Text Edition mechanically from the Portrait and Companion. The Companion and text edition make no separate AI-model request and add no new AI interpretation.
• If you are eligible for and request the included paid correction pass, the correction details and original answers are used to produce and quality-check a revised complete Diagnostic edition while preserving the original.
• An ordinary Diagnostic does not create an internal coaching-support document. If a separately agreed coaching service later introduces AI-assisted internal material, AXIS will explain that processing and obtain any consent required before it begins; access would be restricted to authorised AXIS personnel and your assigned coach.
• If an application leads to a mutually agreed coaching engagement, session notes and any consented call summaries are used by your coach to support the work and measure progress.
• Your contact details are used to communicate with you about your Diagnostic or coaching engagement.
• Seven days after delivery of your current Diagnostic, AXIS may send one non-promotional service-quality feedback request through Resend. If you request a correction before that message is sent, the request follows the corrected edition instead. This does not subscribe you to marketing. You can object or opt out through your private Diagnostic page.
• Feedback is optional and private by default. It is used to evaluate and improve the service. AXIS will publish only an exact quote for which you separately choose anonymous or named testimonial permission; we do not infer permission from positive feedback.
• If you optionally request email delivery for an AXIS Mirror quiz, your result and contact details are used only to send that requested summary through Resend. They are not added to an AXIS marketing list.
• If you allow optional Google Analytics, we use its aggregated reports to understand which generic pages, Journal articles, consented journey steps, and verified paid Diagnostic purchases are useful and to improve the public website. If you separately allow Meta Pixel, we use it to measure advertising visits on generic marketing pages. These choices do not change the service you receive.

We do not use Diagnostic questionnaire answers, Diagnostic documents, Mirror result-delivery data, coaching notes, call summaries, or session content for marketing or AXIS model training.

Legal bases for processing

We process ordinary personal data needed to administer your purchase and provide the product or service you requested on the basis that it is necessary to perform our contract with you. We may also process limited technical and transaction data where necessary to secure the service, prevent abuse, establish or defend legal claims, and meet legal obligations.

Some Diagnostic answers you choose to provide may reveal health information or other special-category data. Contract necessity alone is not our basis for processing that information. Before the questionnaire begins, we ask for separate, explicit consent to process those answers solely to create, quality-check, correct if you request the included pass, store, and deliver your Diagnostic. This includes AI-assisted processing by Anthropic to generate the Portrait and operational processing by Supabase, Netlify, Resend, and Notion. This consent is separate from accepting the Terms and from any marketing choice.

For the single non-promotional service-quality feedback request, we rely on our legitimate interest in evaluating and improving the service, subject to your right to object. Responding is optional. Any public testimonial use relies on your separate, explicit choice for one exact quote, either anonymously or with your name.

Google Analytics and Meta Pixel processing relies on your separate, explicit consent. Both are off by default. You can allow either category, reject both, or change your choice at any time through the persistent “Privacy choices” control. Withdrawing consent stops new browser measurement and new checkout-attribution capture and removes the known first-party analytics or advertising cookies that the site can access. It does not undo processing that occurred before withdrawal or cancel a purchase event already verified and queued under the earlier consent.

You can withdraw Diagnostic consent at any time by emailing hello@axismethod.io. Withdrawal does not affect processing already carried out. If you withdraw before your documents are delivered, we may be unable to complete the Diagnostic.

Confidentiality

Everything you share with AXIS is treated as confidential. Your diagnostic documents, questionnaire answers, private fit-form answers, session notes, and call summaries are disclosed only to the service providers needed to operate AXIS and to authorised AXIS personnel involved in delivering your service.

Before a coach or other authorised person receives your material, AXIS defines their access scope and confidentiality obligations. Your material is never used as a case study, example, testimonial, or training data without separate, explicit written consent for that use. Service feedback remains private unless you separately permit AXIS to publish one exact quote and choose whether it is anonymous or named.

Data storage and security

Your data is stored using access controls and security measures appropriate to the service. We use the following tools to operate AXIS:

• Stripe — payment processing. AXIS does not receive or store your full card details.
• Supabase — database storage with access controls for questionnaire responses, diagnostic documents, status, and account-linked data.
• Anthropic — artificial-intelligence processing used to generate your personalised Diagnostic Portrait from your questionnaire responses. AXIS then creates the Companion deterministically from the validated Portrait and the Complete Text Edition mechanically from the Portrait and Companion, without a separate Anthropic request for either derivative.
• Netlify — website hosting and the server functions that securely coordinate payment verification and report generation.
• Resend — delivery of receipts, resume links, your completed Diagnostic, correction updates, and the single non-promotional feedback request by email.
• Google Analytics, provided by Google Ireland Limited — optional, consented website measurement. AXIS uses Basic Consent Mode, so the Google tag is not downloaded and no consent-mode ping is sent before Analytics permission. Google Signals, ads personalisation, user-provided data, granular location and device collection, and Enhanced Measurement are disabled. After consent, AXIS sends one reduced page view and up to four deliberate browser journey events described below; GA4 may still generate its standard session, first-visit, and engagement events. Separately, after signed Stripe verification, the Diagnostic backend may send the narrowly scoped server-side purchase event described in this policy. There is no browser-side purchase event.
• Meta Pixel, provided by Meta Platforms Ireland Limited — optional, separately consented advertising measurement on Home, About, Coaching, and the Journal hub only. AXIS sends PageView and one parameter-free standard ViewContent event—not custom, commerce, checkout, lead, purchase, quiz, or content-topic events. Meta may associate these events with other information it holds and may use the resulting Event Data under its terms to provide measurement and support ad targeting and delivery. Automatic advanced matching and automatic event detection are disabled. Meta Pixel is not permitted to load on Diagnostic, Mirror quizzes, quiz-related content, topical Journal articles, private or confirmation pages, legal pages, or error pages.
• Notion — a private operations workspace linking service records, document locations, review status, and, when you receive coaching, consented session summaries and coach notes. Access is limited to authorised AXIS operations and coaching personnel who need the material for the agreed service.
• Fathom — optional coaching-call recording, transcription, and summary processing if enabled for a mutually agreed coaching engagement. You will be told before recording or transcription begins and can opt out.
• Your browser or device’s speech-recognition service — optional Diagnostic voice dictation. Its platform provider, rather than AXIS, may process speech under its own terms. Typing avoids this service, and AXIS does not receive or store the raw audio.

Google and Meta operate globally, so optional measurement data may be processed outside Portugal or the EEA. Where international-transfer rules apply, the providers describe safeguards that may include adequacy decisions, the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, Standard Contractual Clauses, and their applicable transfer addenda. See Google’s data-transfer frameworks and Meta’s Data Processing Terms.

Your rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable EU data protection law, you have the following rights:

• Access — you can request a copy of all personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification — you can ask us to correct inaccurate information.
• Erasure — you can ask us to delete your personal data. We will comply unless we are required to retain it for legal reasons.
• Portability — you can request your data in a portable format.
• Objection — you can object to how we process your data, including opting out of the one service-quality feedback request through your private Diagnostic page.
• Withdraw consent — you can withdraw Diagnostic special-category-data consent at any time, without affecting processing that occurred before withdrawal. Withdrawing Diagnostic consent before delivery may prevent us from completing your documents.
• Change website measurement choices — you can reopen “Privacy choices” on any public page and withdraw Google Analytics or Meta Pixel consent independently at any time.
• Complaint — you can lodge a complaint with Portugal's data protection authority, the Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados (CNPD).

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at the address below. We will respond within 30 days.

Children and minors

AXIS is intended only for people aged 18 or older and is not directed to minors. We require an adult-eligibility confirmation before the Diagnostic questionnaire begins and do not knowingly collect Diagnostic answers from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has provided personal data to AXIS, contact hello@axismethod.io so we can investigate and delete it where required.

Data retention

We retain Diagnostic data, correction records, private service feedback, and Mirror result-delivery records for up to two years after delivery, and coaching data for up to two years after the engagement ends, unless you request earlier erasure or we must retain specific records for legal reasons. Mirror result delivery does not create an AXIS marketing-list record. If you permit a testimonial, we retain the permission record while the quote is in use. Google Analytics user- and event-level data is configured for the shortest available standard retention period of two months; that setting does not remove standard aggregated reports. AXIS sets host-only Google analytics cookies with a 90-day, non-refreshing expiry. The server-side purchase outbox clears the GA client and session identifiers after Google accepts delivery; an HMAC transaction identifier and the minimum source key remain to prevent a duplicate purchase event. Meta’s _fbp and, when a valid Meta click identifier is available, _fbc cookies may last up to 90 days. Your on-device measurement choice expires and is removed after six months. Cookie expiry does not determine how long Google or Meta retain provider-held event data; Google’s retention settings and Meta’s policies and Business Tools Terms govern that data. After AXIS’s applicable retention periods, AXIS-controlled personal data is securely deleted; we may keep the minimum suppression record needed to honour an objection or opt-out request.

Cookies, website measurement, and local browser storage

Optional measurement is off by default and granular. Before you choose, AXIS does not download Google Analytics or Meta Pixel and sends no request to either provider. “Allow all optional” and “Reject all optional” are equally available, and “Choose separately” lets you control the providers independently. AXIS stores only the version, time, and two yes/no choices in essential local browser storage so it can remember your instruction; the choice expires after six months. If your browser sends Global Privacy Control, Meta advertising measurement remains off.

With Analytics permission, AXIS may set host-only _ga and property-specific _ga_… cookies for up to 90 days without refreshing that expiry on later visits. Google receives a deliberately reduced page view and up to four AXIS-controlled journey events: a fixed Diagnostic product-page view, a generic Diagnostic call-to-action click, a fixed Mirror-hub opening click sent before navigation, and, on the Diagnostic sales page, a generic checkout-start event after AXIS creates a valid Stripe destination. AXIS-supplied event parameters are fixed in code and do not include form values or URL queries. GA4 may also generate standard session, first-visit, and engagement events. Analytics does not run on Mirror quizzes, the attachment-style quiz article, withdrawn/private content, confirmation pages, or error pages.

The verified purchase event is separate from those four browser journey events. While Analytics permission is active, the Diagnostic checkout may carry the consent time and allowlisted GA client and session identifiers. The backend emits purchase only after a signed Stripe event and a re-fetched session prove that the fixed AXIS Diagnostic product was paid for at a positive value. Google receives the Stripe-verified value and currency, the fixed product id and name, and a stable HMAC transaction identifier for deduplication—not the raw Stripe event, Checkout Session or PaymentIntent identifier. It receives no checkout email, name, promotion code, form text, questionnaire data, private document, card or bank detail, or Meta identifier. Checkout still works when Analytics is unavailable or refused, but no analytics envelope or server-side purchase event is created.

With separate Advertising permission, Meta may set _fbp and _fbc cookies for up to 90 days and receives one PageView plus one parameter-free standard ViewContent event on Home, About, Coaching, or the Journal hub. AXIS preserves only a syntactically valid Meta fbclid from the current query, removes every other current-page query value and the fragment, and refuses sensitive internal referrers; Meta-owned referral URL data may remain visible to Meta. AXIS sends no custom, commerce, checkout, lead, purchase, quiz, or content-topic event and does not enable automatic advanced matching. Meta may still use PageView and ViewContent for measurement and ad targeting or delivery under its terms. There is no consent-bypassing image fallback. Meta Pixel never runs on the Diagnostic or its checkout, any Mirror quiz or result, quiz-related content, topical Journal articles, private services, confirmation pages, legal pages, or error pages.

You can withdraw either choice through the persistent “Privacy choices” button. AXIS then denies new browser measurement and new checkout-attribution capture and deletes the known first-party cookies accessible to the site. This does not cancel a purchase event already verified and queued under the earlier consent. You can also clear site data in your browser. See Google’s Privacy Policy, Meta’s Privacy Policy, and Meta’s Cookies Policy for provider-level information and controls.

Mirror quizzes use local browser storage for item answers, progress, and the calculated result; that record stays on the device until you retake/reset the quiz or clear the site's browser data and is not sent to AXIS. The Diagnostic questionnaire separately uses essential local browser storage to let you pause and resume an in-progress intake. That checkpoint is not encrypted by AXIS. It is accepted for seven days after the latest saved step; after that it is ignored and removed when the questionnaire next opens. It can be cleared from the questionnaire at any time. On a shared device, use a private window or clear local site data before you leave. Once Diagnostic answers are submitted, the server-side records follow the retention policy above.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify people with active services by email before the changes take effect. The date at the top of this page indicates when it was last updated.