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Every business,
whether online or not, is looking for the next big way
to bring more customers to their shop. Since businesses
realize that customers like to get something for free,
it's no wonder that contest and drawings are still seen
as a viable way to draw in new customers. But the
question remains: can they still be effective when
you're using them online? Here are the things you want
to consider about contests and drawings before you
utilize them on your website.
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Why They Do
Work
Contests and drawings have the immediate appeal for
customers of getting something for nothing. Instead of
the customer having to buy something from you, they can
enter their name into a drawing to win something from
you. Since many contests also remind that, "No purchase
is necessary to win," this seems like a risk free way to
get something without paying for it. If your main
customer base isn't wealthy or you know they like these
kinds of contests, you might be able to entice a number
of people to sign up for these contests. This will help
you gain a large mailing list of email addresses as well
as to see what contests work and which ones do not.
That said, you will need to offer something as a prize
that is worth the while of the customer. This might be
an mp3 player or a cash prize. Or you might want to
offer up some of your products as a part of the prize
package to bolster your advertising for your business.
You will also want to post the winner in order to show
other people who entered that you were being honest
about the contest in the first place and that you were
really offering something as a prize.
When you hold contests and drawings regularly, you will
see that your traffic numbers jump on the days of the
contest as well as on the days leading up to the actual
drawing.
Contests and drawings can work when they are
incorporated into your website. Some other businesses
have created fun searches as a part of their contests
which make the prospective entrants scour the website to
find clues in order to enter. This makes the entrants
look around the website and will often encourage them to
buy from the site in addition to entering the contest.
Why They Don't Work
The main concern with contest and with drawings is that
your customers are going to get something for free,
well, at least one person will. These contests don't
guarantee that you will see any upswing in your business
profits, though they will certainly increase your
traffic counts if you spread the word about the prizes.
Another problem with drawings is that many people don't
believe they can actually win, so they don't sign up as
much as they once did. They think that too many people
have also entered; making their chances smaller and
smaller if the prize is a big one. While this is true,
it's also going to limit the number of people who take
the contests seriously.
In addition, you might have troubles with entrants that
don't want to share their personal information with you
because they know they will get on your mailing list. To
help with this, you will want to make sure that the
people who want to enter your contest need to check an
additional box to avoid the mailing list.
You can win when you have drawings and contests on your
website, but you will want to make sure you are thinking
about what the customer wants to win and how they want
to win it first.
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