Rafflecopter clearly loves hosting giveaways. We’re excited to plan them, launch them, and pick a winner in the end. But the best part is shipping the prize. As a software company living in cyberspace, shipping a prize is a rare opportunity to connect with our users in the physical world. We don’t take this responsibility lightly, and you shouldn’t either!
Entrants will be counting down the days until you announce a winner. After you announce a winner, the winner will be counting down the days until they receive the prize. When the prize shows up on their doorstep, it should be an experience worth sharing. After all, you get bonus marketing points if your winner shares the delivery on social media.
Presentation is key and timeliness certainly doesn’t hurt!
Packaging Your Giveaway Prizes
It’s a running joke in my family that I’m more interested in a gift’s wrapping than the gift itself. Presentation is huge, and I’m a sucker for it. Turns out most people are, too. Throwing a prize in a USPS bag without any personalization is just not going to cut it.
While the winner is going to be thrilled to receive a prize no matter the packaging, now is the time to make a lasting impression. Here are some focus areas for primo presentation:
Box: In an ideal world, your winner would open their mailbox to the most perfectly packaged present ever delivered by the postal service. But in reality, once the package leaves your hands, you have no idea what’s happening to it behind the scenes. The mail carrier could be playing tackle football with it for all you know. You need to make it awesome but durable. This is your chance to get creative and represent your brand. Here’s some inspiration:
- Paper: wrap the box in a bold color.
- Stamps: you can get creative with branding or seasonal ideas.
- Drawing: best reserved for the artistically inclined.
- Washi Tape: colorful and easy.
Filling: I frequently open the box of an item I’ve ordered to find the goods have been sloshing around during their journey to my house. That’s bad for the contents and bad for presentation. I’ve been consistently impressed with Birchbox when it comes to packaging generally boring items. I’m not sure who normally gets excited about shampoo, but Birchbox makes it into quite the experience. Their secret? Pink tissue paper. I’m not even crazy about pink, but somehow it’s the perfect piece to tie the package together and prevent items from being damaged.
- Crinkle Paper: Great for anything fragile. It’s the perfect cushion with great presentation.
- Tissue Paper: easy to find and cheap.
- Glitter: if you’re feeling evil.
Prize: Double check the goods to make sure everything is in order. It’s all in the details.
Condition: Before releasing your prize into the wild, you’ll want to make sure it’s in mint condition. Check for scratches, cracks, broken seals, etc. No one wants to receive a ‘gently used’ tube of lipstick.
Bonus items: You might consider adding a bonus coupon for your product or services to the package. Unexpected prizes always boost excitement and coupons are a good way to incentivize your winner to return to your site for future purchases. We also provide a hashtag on the ‘thank you’ sheet included in the packages with hopes that the winner will post about their loot.
Shipping Your Giveaway Prizes
Once you’ve assembled the package to represent your brand, the success of the delivery lies with shipping logistics. First rule of thumb, ship your package on time. The ideal time frame to ship the prize is within 2-3 days after the giveaway ends.
Insurance: Last Christmas I shipped a gift that never fully arrived. I say ‘fully’ because although the package arrived, the contents had been removed with a knife. USPS delivered an empty package to a locked mailbox–bizarre. However, I had insurance so it was all good. I submitted a claim and within a week they reimbursed me for the full amount. Moral of the story, cover your bases. It’s definitely worth considering if your prize is over $50.
Tracking: Email the winner and let them know when you shipped the package. You get major bonus points for providing them with a tracking number.
International shipping: Oh international shipping, the bane of every ecommerce business’ existence. My best suggestion for this is to get to know foreign postal services. I’ve tried to ship a package to a certain address two times with zero luck. On the third time I did some research and used a different carrier for a successful delivery. FYI…you can sometimes be reimbursed if a package never makes it to its destination. Save receipts! If you decide to avoid international shipping altogether, be sure to make it clear in your terms and conditions.
Read more about shipping your giveaway prize in our field manual.
Every interaction with a potential customer is an opportunity to win business and set yourself apart from your competitors. These small efforts of packaging and shipping your prize will say a lot about the quality of your brand, so you shouldn’t skimp. Maybe it’s easier to ship your winner a prize from Amazon, but it’s definitely not as fun!
Have you shipped out your giveaway’s prizes or received a prize that was above and beyond? Let us know what you’ve done to make your package special!
