We were in the store the other day and spotted a text to win from another company.
After texting to enter and try it out, we realized it’s a perfect example of why a “text only” sweepstakes isn’t always best….
The issue was that the sweepstakes started to ask us additional questions via text message before completing the sign up, such as date of birth and email address.
The end result? It took almost 2 minutes to enter the sweeps!
You’ve probably encountered instances while shopping at a store where your mobile signal is weak, or even non-existent. You then had to wait until you left the store to see the text messages and calls that you missed while you were shopping.
Image if the participant is carrying a basket, a child or pushing a cart and you’re asking them to continually check their texts to answer more entry questions.
The point is… that people may not have the chance to really engage with your sweepstakes beyond sending a single text to enter.
They’re also going to be extremely turned off by the fact that you’re asking them demographics questions that make the entry process long and tedious.
As a result, if you want to collect other info besides a mobile phone number, it’s best to use text with a web entry form.
Here’s why text to an Entry Page is better:
Branding
Sweeppea offers an Entry Page to showcase your brand, capture participants’ data, perform age-verification and deliver all of the legal disclaimers necessary to stay in compliance with US sweepstakes laws.
We further strengthen that branding by taking participants to the Thank You Page. This not only confirms their entry, it’s also used to further showcase the products and provide more information from the brand, such as offers, social follows or additional bonus entries.
It would be highly inefficient to brand via flat text messages.
Legal Compliance
When you use a web entry form for your text sweepstakes, all of the required compliance elements (links to: Privacy Policy. Terms of Use. Official Rules, legal disclaimers and Age Gate) are neatly organized in the Entry Page.
Via flat text messages you would need to send multiple back-and-forth texts to be able to communicate what is required by law for each participant. This would entail multiple text messages to complete one entry–adding burden and lowering the participation rates.
All-in-one Solution
Sweeppea is built for one thing only: to run text to win sweepstakes. Every sweepstakes problem is solved in your account (from drawing and contacting winners to reports on your participants, providing market intelligence).
We even offer the documents you will need to send to your winners after the sweeps ends, including a page to publish the names of the winners as required by law (Winners List).
We can also end your sweepstakes automatically so you don’t have to worry about getting up at night to stop the sweeps. You won’t find these advanced features in bulk-texting platforms.
Entry Speed
Instead of asking additional questions via flat text, if your text sweeps links to an entry form that has already autocompleted the entrant’s mobile number, it would take just 30 seconds to enter (unlike the back-and-forth messages we described earlier from that other company).
In an on-the-go environment, every second counts. So if you want more entrants and you want to collect more info, the answer is simple: use text with a web entry form for your next text to win!
Delight your customers with a text to win from Sweeppea! To get started now, see features and pricing.