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How to Remove Friction for a Successful Sweepstakes in the Retail Environment

Summer sweepstakes are here and brands have finally started to leverage text to win with stellar results. However, we still see companies adding unnecessary friction to their campaigns in the retail market, affecting their results.

What do we mean by “friction”? These are extra steps that cause entrants to slow down and possibly drop out.

Today’s consumers want ease and simplicity. They don’t want to spend extra time on the entry process for prizes they might not win.

If you want to remove the friction and give your sweepstakes every chance of success, here’s how to do it…

Make it Easy Peasy

Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. You’re shopping in a store and you see a display promoting a sweepstakes with cool prizes you’d love to win.

So what do you do next? You pull out your phone, send a text message to enter and you’re done! That’s how it should go.

But many brands are still asking entrants to take extra steps. In fact, Mobile Marketer pointed out how brands are doing it wrong this summer…

“When a sweepstakes has an option to enter via a URL or via a text we usually see about four times the amount of entries come in via SMS, Ms. Lowy said. “Visiting a URL requires a little more work and therefore is not as popular.”

In today’s mobile-first world, it’s best to keep sweepstakes as simple as possible.

Cut to the Chase

As you plan your sweepstakes, keep in mind that every additional step you add to the entry process causes drop-offs in entries. The amount of time that it takes to complete each step also matters.

That’s why SMS can far outperform online sweepstakes.

That said, you can still include a web entry form as part of the process, especially if you want to collect email addresses. But in a text to win, consumers will land on your form from a link in a text message, so there’s no need for them to enter a long URL.

Also Read: How a Web Entry Form Helps Your Text to Win

Save Trees

Yes, there are still companies using paper entry forms for their sweepstakes. We cringe when we think of all the work involved and the paper used. While we may still offer a mail-in entry option as an AMOE (Alternative Method of Entry), we would not suggest paper forms as the way to enter your sweeps.

So remember… the best way to maximize your results is to keep things as simple as possible.

Make your text to win as easy as pie with Sweeppea! To get started now, see features and pricing.