Running sweepstakes and contests is a classic method of getting more people to your newsletter list. The real challenge though is to turn the subscribers to paying customers! And this is where most marketing professionals fail. You had a bunch of people entering your contest, you might have emailed them with custom offers and so on, but things went wrong before they get to your email list… The problem is, that the contest attracted the wrong people. Entrants have never been interested in the product or service, they just wanted to win the grand prize offered in the contest.

1. Grand Prize Guide: How to Get Prospects to Your Email List
From Social?
blog.antavo.com /en/grand-prize-contest-sweepstakes-f acebook/
Zsuz si Sz abó
Running sweepstakes and contests is a classic method of getting more people to your newsletter list. The real
challenge though is to turn the subscribers to paying cust omers! And this is where most marketing
professionals f ail.
You had a bunch of people entering your contest, you might have emailed them with custom offers and so on, but
things went wrong before they get to your email list…
The problem is, t hat t he cont est at t ract ed t he wrong people. Entrants have never been interested in the
product or service, they just wanted to win the grand priz e offered in the contest.
Prize hunt ers are not pot ent ial cust omers
The wrong people on your list won’t buy, it messes up your metrics, makes you pay the expensive emailing tool,
and after all, it’s just disappointing.
Turning email subscribers t o cust omers st art wit h having relevant people on t he email list . In this post I
will show you how to attract the right people, but first, let’s see when a grand priz e is wrong.
Working hard on t he wrong t hing
Your contest’s grand priz e is wrong, if…
1. it is not specific to your target audience
2. everyone wants to win it because it’s an awesome product
3. it’s an expensive gadget or another company’s gift card
Typically giving away gift cards from known vendors or an iPhone will not attract your customers. Everyone would
want to win it. Unless you define your customers as everyone, the grand priz e attracted the wrong people.

2. How t o
give
away
An i P h o n e a ttr a cts e ve r yo n e , s o i t’s a u s u a l g r a n d p r i z e o f fa ke co n te s ts . Th i s o n e o b vi o u s l y wa n ts yo u r p h o n e n u m b e r . O n
th e l e ft i t s a ys yo u co u l d wi n a n i P h o n e b u t th e n o n th e r i g h t i t s a ys “ i P o d ”.
relevant grand prizes?
First, you need to know who your customers are (customer segmentation) and what is your marketing goal
(recruiting new customers, engaging with the current ones, making current customers upgrade).
Keep this in mind:
“If I give away a _____, then I will find people who are ______, and they are exactly my potential customers!”
Okay, so let’s put it to practice.
# 1. Your own product or service
If you give away f or f ree what you sell you can be sure t hat ent rant s are act ually int erest ed in your
of f ering.
You can also offer samples of your own products – multiple, smaller value priz es are better than one higher value.
Let’s say you sell skincare products, so 20 pieces of a 5 g lotion is much better than a single 100 g lotion.
You can think about that, what’s more attractive? “Win a lotion!” or “Experience a new fragrance new every day in the
next month. We have 20 types of lotions and you can try all of them.”
Pro: subscribers are interested in your offering
Con: you can’t be sure that they would actually pay for it.

3. # 2.
Gif t
An ta vo ’s cu s to m e r , Th e In ve r te d Ed g e fa s h i o n co m p a n y i s g i vi n g a wa y a p r o d u ct fr o m th e i r o ffe r i n g .
card
Give away a gif t card t hat people can spend in your shop. This way you can ensure t hat t hey are
int erest ed in your of f ering. Pay attention to the value. If your least expensive product starts from $100, then give
away at least a $100 dollar gift card.
Also, it’s a very nice gesture if you pay the shipping too (in case of an online store).
Pro: subscribers are interested in your offering, and prepared to pay if the chosen product is more expensive.
Con: people may find that the grand priz e is not a gift, but an obligation to buy, so they don’t enter at all.
# 3. Consult ing
Interesting that so few companies do this.

4. Give personaliz ed advice as a grand priz e. It also let s you int roduce your of f ering and gain t rust .
Let’s say you have a shoe store. You may have the opportunity to give away something to drive people to the store,
but instead, you can take advantage of the skilled personnel already available in the shop. Offer a 30 minutes
sessions that help to figure out what shoes to wear.
Or you sell supplements. Instead of giving away your latest protein product, offer consulting so they get custom
advice.
Consult ing as a grand priz e works wherever skilled sales personnel needed. (If sales personnel needed,
then it means that a special knowledge needed to choose / use the product hence consulting is valuable.)
At services consulting is often the service itself. Fitness instructors can give away 3 sessions for free for lucky
winners. (At services you can call this grand priz e as scholarships.)
The more winners you have, the better foot traffic for you.
Pro: inexpensive (you have sales people and customer service anyway), also perfect opportunity to
introduce your product offering.
Con: at web shops it may be trickier, however feasible. Giving fashion advice on video chat is less engaging,
but still give a lot of value.

5. If yo u g i ve a wa y co n s u l ti n g , yo u ca n m e e t yo u r cu s to m e r s . Al s o g o o d o p p o r tu n i ty to s e l l . Wi th An ta vo yo u ca n g i ve a wa y p r i z e s to e ve r y
s u b s cr i b e r s wi th th e “ g i ve a wa y” a p p l i ca ti o n .
# 4. Complement ary goods
Attract those people who know you or your competitors already – you can encourage them buy again or upgrade.
Talking to those who already know you and need your product is different than talking to someone who has never
felt the need to buy something that you offer.
Give away a complement ary product t o your main product . Those who want t o win t he complement ary
product are cert ainly t arget cust omers.
Let’s say you sell cameras in a store. Instead of cameras that anybody would love to win, you give away a tripod.
It helps to recruit those who already have a camera, and would like to take better pictures. These people are more
likely to upgrade to a better camera later, so you can start sending them offers.
If you sell contact lenses, then give away a contact lens cleaner. If you sell watches, give away free watch battery
change for the next 25 years (very good PR!).

6. Pro: the subscribers you recruit will be super relevant and you can target them with a pitch.
Con: the promotion may be less viral
# 5. Visibilit y
If you already have a large communit y, you can
of f er visibilit y as a grand priz e. Those who want
t o be visible in f ront of your communit y are
cert ainly good cust omers, moreover,
ambassadors.
Those companies can take advantage of this grand
priz e whose customers are ext rovert – typically within
entertainment or beauty. Also strong brands (read a
long study about status consumption here) with clear
vision.
A bar or a night club can run a contest to find their “new
face” who will be on every poster in the following year
as an ‘ambassador’.
Or if you offer cosmetics then you can choose a
makeup ambassador who publishes new makeup
ideas every week. Gyms can also make such contests
(almost beauty contests) to choose features customers.
These ideal customers can help prospects to get to
know you.
If yo u s e l l ca m e r a s , g i ve a wa y a tr i p o d . Th o s e wh o wa n t to wi n a
tr i p o d a r e l i ke l y to b u y p r o fe s s i o n a l ca m e r a s l a te r .
Photo contests, video contests and essay contests are good tools to choose such ambassadors.
You may want to have a committee of judges who would make the final decision about the winner.
Pro: fans want attention, and they get it!
Con: you need to have some authority (customers, readers) to use publicity as a grand priz e, and it does not
work when privacy is important.
# 6. Exclusivit y
and VIP
f eeling
The grand priz e
should be some
ext ra service on
t he t op of t he
known service.
Those, who
appreciat e t he
ext ra service are
cert ainly
relevant
cust omers.
Offering such
priz es do not cost
much, but attract
people who
already know the
base service and
can appreciate the added service.
P h o to co n te s ts a r e g r e a t to ch o o s e a m b a s s a d o r s .

7. If you organiz e conferences then meeting with the speaker behind the scenes is a great grand priz e.
If your company has a factory / workshop / bakery / any large volume production facility, then going behind
the scenes is a great grand priz e. People like to see production lines, and be a VIP.
If you build video games, then having a contest winner testing your game is a real treat for the winner.
Plus, you can take nice pictures, and publish later on your channels (see #5.).
Pro: you offer something that can’t be even purchased (meeting with a speaker at a conference), and really
unique. Subscribers are interested in your offering.
Con: you can’t know that if they would pay for it.
Own
or
buy
Based
on
these
He r e yo u ca n wi n a p r i va te d a n ci n g l e s s o n , d a n ci n g cl a s s e s a n d d a n ci n g s h o e s .
examples above you can see that there is a difference between people who would want to own something (e.g. win
it) and buy something. You need to target those people, who would buy, to be even more precise, buy your
product .

8. What do you
t hink?
Have you ever gave
away an iPhone- like
gadget? How it
worked? Would you
add something to this
list? I would love to hear
your opinion!
Please share this post
with fellow social media
managers, B2C
marketing
professionals, event
organisers, and those
who are into fashion,
beauty and fitness,
online and offline retail.
Furt her reading
How to integrate
email and social
media marketing –
Tips on Jeff
Bullas‘s blog.
21 ways to build
your email list –
One of them is
running contests,
but many other tips
from the smart Ana
Hoffman.
If th e g r a n d p r i z e i s co n n e cte d to yo u r b u s i n e s s , a n d p e o p l e wa n t to wi n i t, i t’s a l r e a d y a g o o d m a tch . B u t
i f yo u wa n t to ta r g e t e ve n b e tte r , th e n fi n d a g r a n d p r i z e th a t a ttr a ct th o s e wh o wi l l b e cu s to m e r s .
12 reasons why your promotion campaign is not working – Including stories about wrong grand priz es on
SocialMouths.
Strong premise, targeted grand priz e and spreading the word about your promotion – Tips from Nathalie
Lussier.
Should you want t o t ry what you have just learned, sign up / log in t o Ant avo here, and st art a f ree
t rial. An easy quiz is a good beginning!
Bio
Latest Posts
Z suz si Sz abó
Zsuz si is a co- founder of Antavo, a marketing tool to create sweepstakes, contests and giveaways
to Facebook, mobile and web. She is responsible for marketing and customer development. Antavo
is used by 10.000+ companies from 150+ countries on 27 languages. Connect with her on Twitter
and Google+!
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