Was it just me, or did you see Christmas decorations for sale in September this year? Part of me mourned for Halloween and Thanksgiving getting pushed to the side like holiday wannabes, but the marketer in me started prepping my game face.
And looking at the number of Rafflecopter giveaways created lately, I’d say a lot of you are ready to party, too.
We’ve been getting quite a few messages regarding the popular 12 Days of Christmas giveaway. Everyone is weighing the benefits and wondering exactly how to run this type of giveaway through Rafflecopter. Well friends, today is the day we put the wonder to rest.
Yes, you should run a 12 Days of Christmas giveaway
It comes down to momentum. During this holiday season, consumers have hundreds of brands thrown in their faces everyday, and brands are fighting to stay top-of-mind amongst the chaos and saturation. Well, if people are reminded of your offerings everyday for 12 days during their decision buying window, your chances of coming out on top are pretty good.
In most giveaways, you usually pick one product or service you want to highlight, but in a holiday giveaway series, you can highlight several of your products and then offer a grand prize at the end. It builds daily excitement within your community and encourages people to visit your site on a daily basis. Now, if you capitalize on that with interesting site offerings, you should be able to convert some of those visitors into holiday sales.
And lastly, if there’s ever a time to be generous with your fans, the holiday season is it!
How to set up a 12 days of Christmas giveaway with Rafflecopter
Option A: A new entry form for each day of the giveaway
With this option, you will create 12 giveaways and switch out the installation code on your site each day. At the end of the day, you will be able to announce the winner within the widget using our random picker system.
Pros: The winners’ names will be displayed within each entry form, and the daily update is a simple process of switching out the code each day.
Cons: You’ll have to export the entries from all giveaways into one master spreadsheet to pick the grand prize winner. Also, you won’t be able to announce the grand prize winner within an entry form since the forms will all be displaying their respective daily winners.
*In most cases, this is the preferable option since it leaves less room for error.
Option B: One entry form for the duration of the giveaway
This option keeps all of your entries in one giveaway. While it may seem like the easiest solution, it depends on your setup. Updating prize images and entry options every day can be a big undertaking if you’re also juggling other holiday marketing initiatives.
Pros: All of your entries are in one place, and you can easily pick a grand prize winner and announce them within the entry form at the end of the giveaway.
Cons: You will need to announce your daily winners outside of the entry form. If you “announce winner” on the dashboard, your giveaway will be forced to end. Also, if you don’t want to use the prize slideshow to show all of your daily prizes from the beginning, you’ll need to change out the prize title and image daily.
If you go with this option, you’ll want to remove the previous entry options each day and create new ones so entrants don’t have any trouble entering daily.
The difference between option A and option B is when you want to put the work into your giveaway. If you have a bit of time set aside before the 12 days, it’s would be wise to create 12 individual giveaways you can copy/paste on the fly. Otherwise, option B will work with a little tweaking each day.
Conclusion
Hosting a 12 Days of Christmas giveaway is not only a prime time to give back to your followers, it’s also a perfect setup for a successful holiday season. Once you decide which option is best for you, the implementation should be a breeze.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at support@rafflecopter.com if you have any questions about the setup. We’re always happy to assist!
