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Promotions have always been a great source of customer information.

The very fact that consumers interact with a brand during a call to action throws up invaluable data. It is only recently, however, that promoters have been in a position to use that information. The falling cost of processing and analysing data has made it possible for brands to implement data-led promotional activity.

Many promotional mechanics yield data that is of great use to marketers.

By analysing this data and segmenting the audience, promoters are able to target future campaigns more accurately, and with a better chance of success, says Greg Jackson, director of agency C360. "You might be talking to an audience of 100,000, but the goal is to work out which 10,000 are most appropriate for a piece of activity," he says. "The aim is to talk to the right ones rather than to everyone."

Competitions

At their simplest level, many competitions produce name and address information.

Even this basic data can throw up interesting insights, such as the spread of customers and buying patterns. But brands are now augmenting this information with lifestyle data, says Stephen Bentley, chief executive of Granby Marketing Services. "We are increasingly looking at promotions that require the capture of data and then a reward sent out to the consumer with some form of return mechanic that completes the circle," he explains.

Competitions are a simple and cost-effective way of gathering data, but they have their limits. The amount of information a brand can collect without exhausting the patience of consumers means brand owners have to think carefully about what they want to collect. If an entry form is included on-pack, there is a physical limit to the number of data fields. Two or three supplementary questions should be used at most.

Registration cards

Brands can gradually fill in the data picture of the consumer with successive rounds of activity. This is a slow and iterative process, so it's little surprise most promoters try to get the consumer to divulge as much information as possible in one go. Getting consumers to provide information when they buy a product can allow you to build a more thorough picture. If the request is tied to a consumer benefit, such as an extended warranty, entry to a competition or simply the knowledge that they will be kept up to date on product developments, consumers are more likely to get involved.

C360 used registration postcards to collect data when TV show Mysti sponsored Blue in concert. Fans were given the postcards at shows and asked to send in their details. They then received communication via email and SMS on competitions and a rolling programme of Mysti merchandise.

"This approach lets you start with a medium that allows you to collect the information you required, then move to another medium for communication," says C360's Jackson.

The one downside is that consumers might be reluctant to provide so much information in one go, unless there is an obvious upside for them.

Field marketing

Sampling activity is usually a great way of getting products directly into the hands of consumers. But it can also be tied to data gathering, whereby future consumers are identified and followed up with targeted communications.

Brands need to carefully target the events or locations where they undertake field marketing because the costs can be relatively high, particularly if the activity is creating an immersive brand experience. If data is being collected at an event, the process is necessarily rather slow, so the number of prospects could be relatively low. However, with well-targeted events and for high-ticket items such as cars and financial services, the approach is likely to bear fruit.

Digital marketing

This is where data gathering - and its use - come into their own. The explosion of digital techniques has opened up new avenues for collecting information and for exploiting that data. Part of the problem with more traditional methods of collecting data is the time they take, says Jackson: "You might spend six months organising a promotion, and another six waiting to see if you can do anything with the data you get."

Which is not good news given that data is a perishable commodity. People move homes, their lifestyles change and they die. "'Use it or lose it' is a vital concept in data management," says Jackson.

Digital data is particularly perishable, with between 10 and 30 per cent of email addresses void within a year. For mobile phone numbers, the rate of churn can be even higher, especially among fad-hungry youth who continually switch phones and operators.

With digital media, turnarounds are much quicker. Because there's usually no creative, production can be as quick as a day, and sign-off consequently swifter. And if it doesn't work initially, it is easy to adapt on the fly.

Brands should be mindful that other channels remain important. "Response can come though many channels; you must be able to deal with them all," says Granby's Bentley. "You must tailor data-capture techniques to the campaign. Traditional mail can still represent more than 50 per cent of a campaign."

Bear in mind that data-protection rules must be adhered to. Broadly, brands should make it clear that they are collecting data and why, and ensure that consumers opt in to receiving any marketing communications.

The Information Commissioner's website, at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk, provides comprehensive detail on the relevant regulations.