Free guide · Telling your customers
Your AI vendor changed something. Do you have to tell your customers?
Six yes-or-no questions, in order. Start with whether anything really changed, not with your contract.
89%
of the 6,937 vendor page changes we’ve recorded moved no fact at all. Another 4% only changed a date on the page.
The rest are things like a new sub-processor, a shorter window, a changed retention period. Those are the ones your customers may need to hear about.
Six questions.
Answer them in this order. Each one tells you whether to keep going.
Did a fact change, or just the page?
Vendor pages change all the time. A footer link renamed, a date stamp moved on, a paragraph reflowed: the page differs, and nothing you promised anyone has changed.
Yes
Go to the next question. A new sub-processor, a moved window, a changed retention period: those are the facts your contracts are written about.
No
Nothing to tell. Note that you looked and what you found. A change you checked and set aside is easy to defend; one you never saw is not.
In the numbers 89% of the 6,937 vendor page changes we've recorded moved no fact we could name, and another 4% only changed a date on the page.
Does the change touch data you process for customers?
A vendor's sub-processor list covers everything that vendor does, including the parts you don't use. A payroll provider added by a company whose API you call for transcription may never see your data.
Yes
Go to the next question, and note which of your products is affected. Your customers will ask that first.
No
Note it and move on. Customers who get notices that don't affect them stop reading your notices.
Does your own agreement require you to give notice?
Your contracts, not your vendor's. Check your agreements for three kinds of clause: sub-processor notice, breach notice and notice of a change, each with its own period and often its own recipient.
Yes
Find the period, and whether it is business days, then go to the next question. If you haven't written these down, that's what the customer notice worksheet is for.
No
You may still owe something. A privacy notice that names your sub-processors is a statement your customers rely on. If they hear about a change from the vendor first, they'll ask why.
Is your notice period longer than the vendor's window?
The vendor's window runs from their notice, not from when you find out, and yours runs from theirs. Subtract one from the other to get the time you actually have.
Yes
You're already late, so send today with what you know. A notice that says a change happened and details are coming beats one that arrives after the deadline.
No
You have the difference, usually days rather than weeks. Put the date in your calendar now.
In the numbers Every one of the 81 published vendor windows is 30 days or fewer, median 15. Against a 30-day promise to your customer, 49 of them leave you late before you begin and 0 leave any slack.
Do you owe notice, or do you need consent?
Notice is something you send. Consent is something you have to get back. Until you do, that customer hasn't approved the change, whatever your vendor has already done.
Yes
Send early, ask plainly, and keep the reply. With no reply on file, you have no consent.
No
Send the notice and keep proof that it went, on what date, and to whom.
Does silence count as approval, yours or your customer's?
Some agreements treat an unanswered notice as approval. That can apply to your silence toward your vendor, and to your customer's silence toward you.
Yes
Put the deadline in the calendar the day the notice goes out, on both sides. If you don't answer in time, you've agreed.
No
The objection stays open until someone closes it. That's slower, and safer.
In the numbers 18 vendors' agreements we've quoted say that not objecting approves the sub-processor.
When the answer is yes.
- 01
Work out who you owe, and by when.
Do this before you draft anything. The deadline decides how much detail you can wait for. The worksheet does it.
- 02
Send the notice with their words in it.
A customer given your summary asks for the source. One given the quote and the link usually doesn’t. Here’s the notice.
Where the numbers come from: the share of changes that matter uses the rules behind our own alerts; the windows come from published notice clauses; the silence count from agreements that treat silence as approval.
Work out who you owe, and by when.
A free Word worksheet: one row per agreement, and the subtraction that tells you how many days you really have.
Common questions.
- Do I have to tell my customers when a vendor adds a sub-processor?
- Only if your own agreement says so, and only if the change can reach data you process for them. Check what triggers the clause, what period it gives you, and whether it asks for notice or consent.
- How do I know whether a vendor page change matters?
- Ask whether a fact changed, not whether the page did. 89% of the vendor page changes we've recorded moved no fact we could name: a footer link renamed, a paragraph reflowed. Another 4% only changed a date on the page.
- What if my notice period is longer than the vendor's window?
- Then you're late before you begin, so send today with what you know. Against a 30-day promise, 49 of the 81 published vendor windows leave you late and 0 leave any slack.
- What if my contract says nothing about sub-processor notice?
- You may still owe something. A privacy notice naming your sub-processors is a statement your customers rely on. If they hear about a change from the vendor first, they'll ask why.
- Is notice the same as consent?
- No. Notice is something you send. Consent is something you have to get back, and until you do, that customer hasn't approved the change, whatever your vendor has already done.
Tell your customers
More for this job.
- GuideWhen you owe customers noticeThe three notice clauses to look for, and which a vendor's edit starts.Open it ›
- ExplainerWhat happens downstream when a vendor edits a pageOne edit, three contracts: the vendor, you, and your enterprise customer.Open it ›
- TemplateCustomer notice templateThe notice to send your customers when a sub-processor changes.Open it ›
- GuideWhen a vendor's change mattersThe rules that decide when a vendor's edit moves a fact you need to act on.Open it ›
- TemplateCustomer notice worksheetWork out which customers you owe notice, and by when.Open it ›
This isn’t legal advice, and no six questions decide what your agreement requires. The vendor clauses counted here are published agreements, read on the dates we hold. Your signed contract governs. Corrections are free to request.