Earlier in the year Prizeology commissioned some research into the public’s attitudes towards a range of topics in which I have a professional interest, including prize promotions, prize draw scams and influencer marketing. I’ve shared much of the data on influencer marketing and some of the data on prize draw scams, particularly the way in which young people appear to be far more vulnerable to scams than the elderly. However, I haven’t discussed what we discovered about how the public interact with prize promotions in general, so over the next couple of posts that’s what I’m going to do.
So what actions do people take before they enter a prize promotion? I spend a fair proportion of my working life crafting Ts&Cs and carefully testing them to ensure they cover every eventuality, so I’m enormously gratified to say that most people do actually read them. Our research found that 40% of people read the Ts&Cs thoroughly and 35% at least glance at them quickly, so that’s a total of 75%, which tells me 1) that prize promotion participants see them as important, which indeed they are and 2) that I’m not completely wasting my time.
Somewhere in that small print, often at the bottom, are the promoter’s full name and correspondence address. Entrants may want to get in touch with the promoter because they’ve got a query, perhaps about the entry mechanism or the prize, which is why the CAP Code says the promoter’s details must appear. Happily, people seem to know this, because 51% said they checked the promoter’s details.
They’re smart to do that as it’s one of the signs that a promotion is genuine. Likewise, in relation to promotions on social media, 44% told us they check the source is verified – on Facebook, for instance, a blue tick indicates that it is – and this is another way of reassuring yourself that a promotion isn’t a scam, so again it’s sensible.
It’s also pleasing that, according to our research, 46% of the general public check the data protection opt-in. This shows that a substantial proportion of people consider make a conscious judgement about the relationship they want to have with the brand or organisation which is running the promotion and I like that. Also, this research was conducted before the General Data Protection Regulation came into force and I’d be willing to bet that the brouhaha surrounding that has increased awareness further.
So I think this presents a pretty positive picture of the way the public interact with prize promotions. It shows the vast majority are engaged enough to inform themselves about a prize draw or competition, and confirm that they’re about to enter a legitimate promotion. I say ‘vast majority’, because our research found that 12% of the public don’t take any action at all, which means that 88% do take action. Hooray! Prizeology campaigns get good stats – of course they do! – but to know that participating in prize promotions isn’t something people do casually, well, I don’t mind admitting it, that gives me a warm feeling inside.
And just so you know, the research I’m referring to above was carried out by Vitreous World on behalf of Prizeology. It was based on 2015 interviews conducted between 30 January and 2 February 2018 with a nationally representative UK audience using an online methodology. Respondents were a minimum of 18 years old and quotas were placed on age, gender and region to ensure an accurate representation of the UK public demographic.
As well as writing terms and conditions as compelling as the latest bestseller, Prizeology runs popular and effective promotions. Get in touch via hello@prizeology.com if we can be of assistance.
Sarah Burns is Prizeology’s Chief Prizeologist and a National Trading Standards Scams Team Scambassador.
