How to Run a Giveaway
Giveaways are a fun (and cheap) way for multiple “kindred-spirit” brands to join forces with the shared goal of acquiring email addresses from each other’s lists.
They’re “fun” in that they’re something exciting to talk about in your communications (on social media and through your email newsletter).
And they’re “cheap” in that all it costs you is the cost of the goods that you contribute to the giveaway pot.
When organizing a giveaway, ask yourself, “What are some brands whose customers might be interested in my products too?” And, “What are some brands that I want to hitch my wagon to?”
You also want to try to find brands with engaged email lists that are ≥ your own (ask each other what your engaged segments are like, and if they’re not roughly similar, the brand with the larger list can always tighten its engaged segment to match the other participating brands’).
The idea of a giveaway is that all participating brands promote it to their social media and email channels, encouraging their followers to sign up to win. When someone signs up, they see the fine print in the form telling them, “By entering this contest, you agree to receive promotional emails from Brands A, B, and C. You can easily unsubscribe at any time.”
The more brands the merrier, in that it makes the prize bigger, so people are more inclined to enter.
The Nuts and Bolts of a Giveaway
Say, for example, that three brands decide to collaborate on a giveaway.
They decide Brand A will build/host the landing page, which includes an embedded Klaviyo signup form. Brand A must be sure to tag all of the entrants with "Giveaway Entrant" in Klaviyo, which can be done by adding a hidden profile property to the button the entrant clicks within the form to submit their email address.
Below is a sample giveaway landing page (see my post here for tips on building a landing page).
Note that the landing page should include a link to a full Terms and Conditions page. Check with your attorney, or just google around for some sample giveaway terms and conditions ;)
All participating brands then drive traffic to that same lander, which means that Brand A is going to receive all of the entrants.
At the end of the entry period, Brand A would then download all of the signups as a .csv (by creating a Klaviyo segment with the aforementioned “Giveaway Entrant” profile property) and share that around for Brands B and C to upload to their own Klaviyo accounts (see below for how best to follow up with these new signups).
Also at the end of the entry period, the three brands can use the signups .csv plus a random number generator like this to conduct the drawing itself, and then notify the winners.
As far as what to give away, each brand should contribute an assortment of products of roughly equal value, and the winner (or winners) win(s) product from all participating brands.
Each brand can ship their contribution separately, though it often makes sense to ship all products to one location before the giveaway to be photographed together for your promotional assets.
Keep in mind that the higher you can get the total retail value of the prize, the more likely people are to give you their email. Or the more prizes you have available, since that increases the odds of winning.
How to Follow Up With Giveaway Entrants
With giveaways, it’s important to treat entrants differently than the rest of your subscriber list. Remember that these customers may not be all that familiar with your brand yet, so you need to nurture them, to bring them up to speed on who you are.
Create a special welcome series that reminds them (for a little while) that you are affiliated with that other brand they know and love, who they found you through.
And don’t expect them to place an order right away – wait until after the giveaway to start marketing to them, since they may be holding out hope that they're a winner and will get your product for free.
When you do announce the winner, consider offering the non-winners a consolation prize. “While you were not the winner, we would like to offer you a free gift with your first purchase,” for example.