Marketer Q&A: How to generate, leverage customer data from consumer promotions

We’re answering questions that we received from marketers regarding rebates and other redemption-based consumer incentives. Do you have a question? Leave a comment and we’re happy to answer it.

Question: The idea of generating customer data from rebate and other redemption-based promotions is interesting. How do your clients typically leverage the information customers give them in these interactions?

Answer: That’s the great thing about today’s rebate programs, they can be tailored to generate data and incite customer actions that are most relevant for each individual business. A few examples: once a connection is made with a customer during rebate redemption, a company can introduce time-sensitive, relevant deals to incent customers to come back and buy more. The end result is increased frequency of purchase. Another option: customer data from promotions can be used to reduce churn. For example, products that can be subscribed to or repurchased (like software) have historically relied on product registration for customer data. However, there is usually a low response rate to product registration. Instead, companies can leverage rebates or other redemption-based rewards to drive the initial purchase, collect customer information and then deliver timely communication and offers to drive subscription renewals or repurchases. Retailers also use these types of promotions to identify customer purchases and then cross market other products likely to be of interest. Or on a larger scale, retailers can refer to broad trends in the data to drive marketing efforts.