Are you running a sweepstakes to build your email list? If you’re wondering how to do a sweepstakes for email signups the right way, the best place to start is with detailed planning to ensure that your sweepstakes targets buyers, and not sweepers.

Here are a few tips to help you get started with using a sweepstakes or contest to build your customer email list.

Let Entrants Know They Will Be Subscribing Via Your Official Rules

In your sweepstakes official rules, you are required by law to explain exactly how you plan to use the personal information that you collect on entry. As a result, you should make sure to let entrants know that you plan to contact them via email when they enter your sweepstakes. This will give you the confirmed opt-in that you need in order to start sending emails to entrants during and after your sweepstakes.

Now that you have permission to use their personal details to send email marketing messages, make sure to make good use of it by personalizing your emails with their first name and other details where appropriate.

Consider Extra Entries in Exchange for an Email Address

Some entrants may be reluctant to give you their email address since only a phone is required to enter a sweepstakes or contest. You can incentivize them and increase the number of emails that you collect by offering extra contest entries in exchange for providing their email address.

However, if your sweepstakes or contest will permit more than one entry per entrant, you must state in your official rules that the additional entries do not change the odds of a sweepstakes entry being selected as a winner.

Also Read: The Pros and Cons of Accepting One Entry Vs Multiple Entries in Your Sweepstakes

Use a Sweepstakes or Contest and Email Automation Together

You can use a sweepstakes or contest to bring in new customers. However, if you want to speed up the time it takes to put a customer through your buyer funnel, send your sweepstakes entrants discounts and coupons for your products and services after the sweepstakes has ended.

This will make non-winners feel like entering your sweepstakes or contest was worth the effort even if the coupon is just for a few bucks off your normal pricing. From experience as a sweepstakes company, for the best results, send your sweepstakes entrants an offer that would make any potential customer take action.

Sweepstakes to Email Marketing: 3 Customer Retention Strategies

Here are a few different ways that you can use a sweepstakes or contest along with email marketing to improve customer retention:

• Use a sweepstakes survey question on your sweepstakes entry form to ask customers about the type of content (and frequency) they want to receive from your brand. Use these insights to optimize your email content.
• Use a sweepstakes or contest to reactivate dormant customer accounts. If you have customers who terminated their accounts or have not purchased in a while, you can use a sweepstakes to bring their accounts back to life. Then follow up with emails about the updates that they’ve missed since you’ve last connected with them.
• Use a sweepstakes to fight cart abandonment. Target customers who have previously left your site without making a purchase to bring them back to your website. You can then send followup emails that directly address the sales objections that led to the cart abandonment.

Final Thoughts

Running a sweepstakes to build your email list requires a carefully planned campaign that involves identifying your target customers and tailoring the sweepstakes to their interests. Before you launch your email list sweepstakes, request a Sweeppea sweepstakes review first to ensure that your sweepstakes is properly designed to help you build an email list and turn subscribers into customers on virtually autopilot.

Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.

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If you’ve ever run a sweepstakes before, you probably loved seeing all of those excited customers flow in. With all of those free flowing leads, you may have wondered “can I extend the end date of my sweepstakes?” On the other hand, if your campaign didn’t meet expectations, you may have wanted to keep your sweepstakes running a little bit longer.

The short answer is “no.” Once you have launched your sweepstakes and it’s live and available to the public, you can’t change the end date of your sweepstakes. Here is what you should know about extending the sweepstakes end date of an active promotion.

Why Extend the Sweepstakes End Date?

These are all common reasons that sponsors want to extend the date of a sweepstakes:

• A particular campaign goal hasn’t been met.
• You realize that there is a scheduling conflict.
• You had technical problems or an outage during the launch.
• You need more time to coordinate prize delivery.

Although these reasons seem valid, the sweepstakes start and end dates should never be changed. By doing so, you are essentially breaking the “deal” that you have agreed to uphold with your participants via your sweepstakes Official Rules.

As for the timing of a sweepstakes end date change, here’s what can happen:

You’ve Already Announced the Sweepstakes

If you’ve already announced your sweepstakes publicly with the dates of your promotion, you are not permitted to change them. At this stage, you’ll only confuse the entrants. In fact, some of your followers may enter the promotion as soon as it goes live. So any changes you make will be noticed by participants immediately.

This could result in your participants feeling misled by your promotion and expressing their feeling on social media or complaining to the state regulatory bodies.

Hey! You’re Changing the Sweepstakes Rules

Making a change to the sweepstakes end date, is essentially making a change to the sweepstakes rules when the sweepstakes has already been announced.

The same is true for a sweepstakes that involves game cards. You can’t just print more game cards because the promotion is going much better or faster than you expected it to. In this case, you are changing the odds of winning.

Changing the sweepstakes end date could also mean that participants who wouldn’t otherwise have entered into the sweepstakes might enter on the newly available dates. This changes the pool of entrants to select a winner from, which again changes the odds of winning the sweepstakes.

The Bottom Line

Changing your sweepstakes end date is never a good idea and should be avoided at all costs. Planning is key to ensure that you’ll never be put in this situation in the first place.

Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.

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No matter how straightforward you think your sweepstakes rules are, you need to protect your business in as many ways as possible. Including conditions for prize delivery and acceptance, as well as, specific liability clauses for big prizes are the keys to ensuring that you’ve covered all of the bases.

Without them, your sweepstakes could put you at risk of getting sued by your participants or fined the states. While sweepstakes rules can cover lots of things, here’s what you should be sure to address to protect big prize giveaways:

What Are Big Prizes?

If you plan to give away large sums of cash or high value items worth over $600 for your sweepstakes, these items should be considered as big prizes. Big prize examples include cars, boats, event tickets, and luxury items.

All Prizes Are Provided “As Is”

Your sweepstakes rules should include a clause that states that all prizes are provided “as is” with no warranty or guarantee. This ensures that your winners will not be allowed to demand a different prize other than the one you’ve provided. Furthermore, you will also release your company from liability if the prize fails in some way at a later date (e.g. car or boat repairs).

Include in your sweepstakes official rules:

“All prizes are awarded “as is” and without any warranty of any kind, express or implied (including, without limitation, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose).”

No Substitution or Transfer of Prize Allowed

Sometimes winners want to substitute a prize if it’s not exactly what they wanted. They may also ask you to exchange the prize for cash by requesting a cash equivalent of the prize.

To ensure that all winners must accept the prize exactly as it has been offered make sure that you include this language in your sweepstakes rules:

“No substitution or transfer of Prize or election of cash in lieu of Prize will be permitted.”

Winner Is Responsible for All Additional Expenses

Some prizes come with the understanding that additional expenses will be incurred by the winner in order to use the prize. For example, for a car or boat, make sure that you explain that the winner is responsible for registration, licensing, title and insurance fees, plate fees, taxes, and any other expenses.

Winner Must Confirm Eligibility

To claim certain prizes, a winner must confirm that they have the necessary documentation to legally take ownership of the prize. For example, you should mention in your sweepstakes rules that the winner will be required to provide a valid driver’s license, evidence of insurance, etc.

You should also make the winners sign a written affidavit of eligibility. Have it notarized as well.

Release From Liability

This is in addition to the clause where the winner releases the sponsor from liability for use of prize. The liability and publicity release gives you and the other sponsors of the sweepstakes the right to use, display, and publish the winners’ information. You need to have winners sign a written release if you want to include them in any promotional materials related to the sweepstakes.

In addition, it also releases your company from and against all liability with regard to tax liabilities, claims, demands and losses of any kind in relation to the sweepstakes.

Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.

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