Your sweep is coming to an end and now it’s time to pick the winners.
You may have the option to choose them automatically (through your app) or manually. But, when exactly does it make sense to draw a winner automatically and when is it best to draw one manually?
Here are a few things to consider to help you sort it out.
When to Use Automatic Winner Drawing
Automatic winning drawing is when sweep winners are automatically selected by a randomized algorithm from the pool of text-to-win participants.
Automatic winner drawings save time and ensure the results of your sweeps are always made available to your participants in a timely fashion.
This is an effective option when you need to select more than one winner or select a winner at a specific time. For example, if you do daily or weekly drawings, you can alert participants as to the specific day and time the winners will be selected.
When to Use Manual Winner Drawing
Manual winner drawings make sense when you need to ensure the winner actually meets the official rules of your sweep.
This type of drawing is required when there are age restrictions, such as in the case of a sweepstakes for an beer, wine or spirits company. For all liquor-related sweeps, you should verify the winner manually first.
However, if your sweep doesn’t have special restrictions or age requirements, you can feel free to draw the winner for your campaign automatically. You could always double-check that they’ve abided by the rules after initial contact.
What Do I Do About Participants Who Cheat?
Regardless of whether you choose manual or automatic winner drawing, you’ll still have people who think it’s okay to try and cheat.
At Sweeppea, we’ve worked really hard to design our systems to ward off the obvious signs of cheating, such as multiple signups with the same contact information.
However, it’s still up to your business to ask important questions to ensure you’re indeed awarding the prize to an eligible winner.
If you use automatic winner drawing, remind winners that they will have to undergo a final verification before any prizes are awarded.
If you draw a winner manually, use this extra intervention step to ensure the winner is abiding by the rules.
Ready to start your text-to-win sweepstakes? Reserve Your Sweepkey now to get started in under 10 minutes.