It’s a challenge that almost all modern advertisers face: how to collect customer data without coming across as a creepy, nagging, Big Brother-wannabe? We’re living in a brave new world when it comes to data privacy (or lack thereof) and we all know it. We’ve all heard our fair share of identity theft horror stories on the news, and a huge percentage of Americans have already suffered from identity theft in some form or another (I know I have). But for the most part, this fear is unearned. The data that you want to collect as an advertiser (demographic info, contact info, product preferences), is pretty benign stuff—and actually benefits consumers by leading to a better representation of their needs in how marketing and messaging is shaped. The trick is figuring out how to collect customer data in a manner that is as painless and rewarding for them as possible.

To help solve this problem, FunMobility has just launched its new line of Smart Form Mobile Ad Units; mobile rich media display ads that transform when clicked—expanding to fill the screen with an interactive overlay that features custom, dynamic fields with diverse functionality. And every piece of information you collect auto-populates a database, for real-time reporting.

How to Collect Customer Data? Resort to Bribery

Consumers are understandably wary about providing personal information, even to reputable, recognizable brands. This is bad news for advertisers. A recent study conducted by Thrive Analytics found that, lacking incentives, only a small minority of people—just 30% in the case of older shoppers—would even consider sharing something as harmless as a store check-in.

Now here’s the good news:

Consumers aren’t above taking bribes. A majority of the consumers polled by Thrive Analytics—between 60%-70% depending on demographic—said that they would be willing to share their information in return for some sort of offer or reward. And that reward doesn’t have to cost your brand money. Something as simple a product recommendation will do, as long as your ad’s call-to-action is properly executed.

FunMobility Smart Form Ad Units are designed to reward the consumer for showing interest, with minimal effort from the advertiser. Promotions, branded games, custom photo-editors, and redeemable coupons can all be integrated right into the mobile ad itself, delivered upon completion of a smart form.

And the Smart Form itself is easy to customize and minimally disruptive to the user, appearing as an overlay on top of the site or app being browsed–never redirecting someone to a whole new URL.

Smart Form: Customer Data, Registrations, Mobile Loyalty Programs

Fields can be either free-form or multiple choice (multiple-choice tends to generate better results, as typing on mobile devices is still a challenge for many people), and can be tailored to capture both standard demographic data and custom data unique to the specific needs of each campaign.

If you want to collect consumer contact information for registrations or remarketing efforts, Smart Form comes with built-in email and mobile phone number verification to ensure that users are providing valid information. And the campaign can be configured to automatically respond to consumers after they’ve filled out a form with an email or SMS message.

For ongoing post-campaign ROI, a mobile opt-in field can be included in the Smart Form, wherein the consumer subscribes to an SMS mobile loyalty program to receive regular alerts, updates, and mobile promotions–incentivizing additional store visits and driving conversions at point of sale.

Smart Form is just one of the many versatile Custom Mobile Landing Pages that can be integrated into FunMobility ad campaigns. For more information, visit FunMobility.com.