Contests are a staple of social media. They generate leads, opt-ins, sharing, comments and virility. The conventional wisdom is that simple contests spawn cost efficient customer engagement that makes people happy.
Consumers are comfortable with the give-to-win proposition. They will give up bits of personal information, post or tweet, upload a photo or a comment, vote, take a survey or refer somebody in return for a chance to win. Few calculate the odds.
Many contests and giveaways are designed for lead generation. Recently Unbounce released a study, based on 3 million visitors to 100 websites using their platform between March 15 and April 15th, which promises to improve contest performance and lead conversion. For example, contests with prizes of $500 or more generated 700% more subscribers thanlanding pages without contests.
Here’s their POV.
Set an end date. People don’t respond to open ended contests because they figure they have plenty of time to do it later. By specifying a start and an end date, you build-in urgency. Consumers understand that the clock is ticking.
Use the word “Giveaway.” “Promotion” sounds like it might or might not be a sale. “Sweepstakes” feels too chancy. “Giveaway” resulted in 27% more conversions than sweepstakes and 50% more than promotion because it connotes a freebie.
Like Gating Sucks. This trick has been played out. Widgets that asked for email addresses drove 80% more subscriptions than the request to “like” a page. The like gate has become a signal for consumers to bug out.
Bottom Right, Brand Names and Photos Win. The contest sign up box in the bottom right corner of the page drew 125% more subscriptions than bottom left. Similarly when the promotion box had a picture, almost any picture, conversion increased by 22 percent. When a brand name is attached to the giveaway details conversions saw a 28% spike.
We have trained consumers where to look and what to look for. Don’t swim against this tide.
Signal Ease of Entry. Site visitors are lazy. They want all the goodies but don’t want to work for it. When you direct them to “enter in seconds” versus a big honking “enter” button, opt-ins increased by 33 percent. Tell them how easy it is.
Optimizing giveaways and contests is a matter of tweaking and re-tweaking. These simple tips suggest, as Michael Aagaad suggests, “value plus relevance equals more conversions.” This is true for contest rules and prizing strategy as well as the subtleties of constructing effective landing pages.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.