Sequels to aspire to…
If you had a successful sweepstakes that met or exceeded your goals, you might want to run another one. But can you repeat your success?
Follow these five tips to ensure your sweepstakes sequel doesn’t tank.
- If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
We see people rework successful programs all the time and end up having terrible results. If it worked, then redo it – but don’t overdo it. Too much of a good thing can lead to failure. And trying to add too many things at once may backfire.
- Showcase your past winners.
The best way to encourage participation is to show your customers that real people won real prizes and enjoyed themselves using them. Ask your winners for pictures of themselves with the prizes you awarded in your past Sweepstakes and showcase them in your next Sweeps. Don’t underestimate the power of a picture to make it real to your customers that they might win, too.
- Reinforce your successes.
Use data from your other Sweepstakes to see where your entrants came from geographically or what web sites they clicked on to get to yours. Did 60% of your entrants come from an email and none from web banners? Then email may be the place to focus your efforts to get the word out instead of running a banner campaign. Always analyze the data from one promotion to build a smarter program the next time.
- Less is more.
The data can also tell you where you went wrong. Cut out the portions of the program that weren’t successful and avoid those mistakes with your Sequel Sweeps.
- Build on the original idea.
If you run the same program over and over, you will get the same people and the same (or maybe less desirable) results. To build on your success, you need to build on the idea based on your goals. For example, if a straight Sweepstakes worked the first time out to get 10,000 entries, and the goal is to get twice as many entrants this next time, then a tell-a-friend component for extra entries may be what you need to achieve the Sequel goal. Or if the goal is to increase email opt-ins from 15% to 25%, you may want to provide a coupon this next time if you opt-in when you enter.
If you need help planning your sequel, including identifying how you can build your program and making it work better, contact us. We can help you make your sequel a success!
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