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But how are direct marketers slicing up their data budgets - and are they increasing their data spend? These are questions we would all like the answers to, but to find them you would have to ask the companies themselves.

Direct Response decided to do just that and dig beneath the surface of the issue by asking the people who are most likely to provide some answers - our readers.

We emailed our client readers, inviting them to take part in a special online survey. We then spoke to experts in the industry to get their thoughts on the thorny topic of data investment and how it is allocated. They have been invaluable in helping us to make sense of how the market is shaping up.

No two companies are the same but, by collating the responses of different practitioners in the field, we can start to provide a picture of how resources are allocated in this sector. We would not claim the results are the final word on data budgets, and would love to hear from anyone who has their own thoughts on the subject, having examined our results.

The response levels were lower for some questions than others, perhaps indicating a difficulty of identifying where money was spent, or a reluctance to do so.

The figures in the report, however, provide interesting food for thought.

They indicate one very encouraging piece of news: data budgets are healthy and, at a time when spend is being trimmed in many other areas of marketing, investment in data is still seen as a priority. At the very least, money is being safeguarded for the future and, in many cases, budgets are being pumped up as data is viewed as a key area of marketing investment.

This should be regarded as good news for data watchers and, hopefully, it ushers in a happy new year for the industry.

DATA TRENDS SURVEY: HOW WE DID IT

Direct Response conducted its research using our client reader database.

We emailed more than 5,000 clients who had opted to receive emails from us.

We asked them to visit a specially devised online survey that questioned them about their current spending priorities and their intentions for the coming year.

The respondents were asked to give proportionate estimates of their spending in areas such as data purchase, list processing, data quality and customer retention. We then asked them if they had spent more this year than in previous ones. All data was collected anonymously and our response rate was under 5 per cent.