Want to increase your email subscriber list this year? Use promotional giveaway ideas to attract your target audience and make subscribing convenient and worthwhile. A well-designed campaign gives something in return for an email address, and what’s better than a chance to win an in-demand prize or get a discount on your favorite items?
Explore seven promo giveaway ideas and combine them with a cross-channel marketing approach. In doing so, you can expand your audience, build your email list, and encourage current customers to refer their family and friends.
Email Subscriber List Building: Steps to Success
According to Litmus, “for every $1 marketers spend on email marketing, they receive $36 in return.” And this rises to $45 for retail, eCommerce, and consumer goods sectors. In addition, OptinMonster reports, “60% of consumers subscribe to a brand’s email list to receive promotional messages.”
But first, you have to find potential subscribers and encourage them to sign up. Your social media channels, website, and even your current email subscribers can help! Devise a contest promotion plan to send people to your campaign landing page.
Take these steps to create a successful marketing campaign:
- Brainstorm promo ideas: Come up with promotional giveaway ideas, like a photo contest, that send consumers to your campaign landing page.
- Pick a prize: Choose rewards that appeal to your target audience, whether that’s one high-value prize to a random winner or gifts to the top three winners of a photo contest.
- Design a giveaway landing page: People share their email in exchange for a contest entry or coupon. Let them know you may send emails regarding the current promotion.
- Develop a compelling call-to-action (CTA): Use a checkbox on your landing page inviting people to join your email list. Add a lucrative offer, such as a bonus giveaway entry or exclusive coupon.
- Outline your campaign promotion plan: Use multiple channels to promote your campaign and expand your email subscriber list. Include an email blast to current subscribers offering bonus entries for sign-ups using their email link.
- Create promotional emails: Immediately engage new subscribers by sending them a series of giveaway or promotion-related emails. Ideas include saying thanks for entering, offering last-chance bonus entries, and announcing your winners.
Increase Email Sign-ups With Promotional Giveaway Ideas
Put your unique spin on a classic random winner giveaway or request user-generated content with a photo, video, or comment contest. In each case, your audience will input their email address in exchange for a contest entry, coupon, or bonus entry.
Boost email sign-ups by using one or more of the following:
- Video or photo contests with or without a gallery
- A website pop-up with a special deal for new subscribers
- Instant win giveaways requiring an email address
- Comment-entry (share your story) contests via a landing page
- A product recommendation or entertainment quiz
Ready to grow your email list and connect with current subscribers? Here are seven ways to turn any of the above promo giveaway ideas into a lead generation tool.
1. Add New Email Subscribers Two at a Time
Some of the best things in life are shared moments, from a couple’s dinner to a friend and family discount. With a giveaway or coupon, you can invite pairs, whether that’s best friend duos or life partners, to enter for a chance to win dual prizes or a shared experience.
Lead off with a fabulous reason to enter and direct fans to your sign-up page. Leave a spot for them to add their loved one’s email address. Plus, consider putting a blank box on your form where entrants can add a special message to their partner (that you’ll include in your first campaign email).
Once you receive the entry, send an email to both addresses. Thank the original participant and let them know you’ve sent an email to their friend. In the friend’s email, include the personalized message and the person’s full name who entered them into the contest. You may want to add this to the subject line to increase your email open rate.
Share the prize and giveaway details with both parties, including when you’ll pick a winner and how they’ll be notified.
2. Qualify Leads on Your Giveaway Landing Page
A viral giveaway can boost your email list fast, which is a great thing! However, you may want to include a few questions to segment new subscribers or gauge their interest in your brand or products.
For example, if your online wellness store hosts a giveaway, request an email address to enter and add voluntary or required questions, such as:
- How often do you buy a beauty or wellness product?
- Do you purchase wellness gifts for others?
- What’s your favorite daily-use wellness item?
- If you could get any product for free, what would it be?
3. Embed a Giveaway on Your Website
Instead of a standalone landing page, direct your audience to your website. With a snippet of code, you can add your no-purchase-required giveaway on any page. Showcase your prize bundle and include links to your featured items.
But don’t stop with giveaways. Consider hosting a photo contest on your site and including a gallery. A gallery helps consumers trust your brand because they can view submissions from other people, and the content may even spark their own creative idea.
4. Stand-Out With an Unforgettable Prize
Make the reward the center of your giveaway by hyper-targeting your audience. For beauty brands giving away a bundled set of products, a gift for 40-somethings will differ from one for those a decade or two younger.
Consider putting a video on your landing page, giving a 360-degree view of your giveaway prizes. While your promotion runs, add a CTA for your giveaway any time you publish a post about an item that’s part of it.
5. Send a Bonus Entry Email Blast
Bonus entries are a great way to increase word-of-mouth marketing and referral entries. You can choose how many bonus entries you’ll award each person and how those are calculated.
When your prize matches a particular segment of subscribers, send a personalized message announcing your contest. Invite them to sign up and explain how they can earn (and why they’d want to) bonus entries. You can send a second email as your deadline nears, giving current subscribers one last chance to sign up or earn bonus entries.
Make referring friends convenient by:
- Asking recipients to share a link via instant messaging, such as Facebook Messenger
- Explaining how to add the link to their favorite social media platforms, such as Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook
- Encouraging subscribers to forward the giveaway email to a friend with a custom note at the top asking them to enter
6. Spin the Wheel for a Discount
Many brands use a spin-the-wheel pop-up to hand out coupon codes to shoppers. It gamifies the experience and isn’t time-intensive. But spin the wheel games aren’t only for websites. You can add them to your emails and put them on a landing page.
Once an email recipient or page visitor takes their spin, your reward pops up. Depending on your needs, you may offer everyone some type of discount (everyone’s a winner!) or ask them to try again after a specified amount of time.
To retrieve the discount code, users must enter their email address on your landing page. Let them know that you’ll send their coupon and related promotions to their email.
7. Boost Campaign Participation With a Website Pop Up
Many websites have a pop-up inviting folks to add their email for a coupon. For people ready to buy, it’s well worth it. But window shoppers may not want the extra hassle for a voucher they’ll forget to use. Instead, promote your latest giveaway. Having a chance to win something free can entice newcomers to sign up to your email list.
Here are a few promotional giveaway ideas for your website pop up:
- Take a poll: Answer this yes or no question for a chance to win.
- Countdown: Share how many days are left until you draw a winner.
- Pick your favorite prize: Which prize should we send you?
- Promote bonus entries: Add your email for a custom contest link.
Turn Your Promotional Giveaway Ideas Into List Building Tools
Collecting email addresses as part of your entry requirements builds your email list and gives you a chance to instantly connect using a follow-up message. You can turn nearly any promotional giveaway idea into an email list tool by creating a high-converting landing page with a compelling offer and promoting it across multiple channels.
Need help increasing your email sign-ups?
Woobox provides user-friendly tools for landing page creation, including drag and drop fields for email addresses and a robust knowledge base. Plus, you can reach out to the Woobox team from 9 am to 5 pm PST, Monday through Friday at 1-360-450-5200 and via support@woobox.com.