Reflecting on the success of your giveaways is important to your long-term strategy. Asking the right questions will help you finesse your process and figure out what works with your audience.

Was the participation low because your prize was lame? Could you have improved the design of the widget to make it more attractive? What did you do to promote the giveaway?

Creating a giveaway with Rafflecopter is easy-breezy, but it’s a robust marketing tool that should be given proper thought. And as with any marketing tool, testing is essential to the process. Below are five components that can be tested from one giveaway to the next.

They say to truly know a person you need to walk a mile in their shoes. What if they don’t wear shoes though? That’s exactly the predicament you’d be in with Steven Sashen, CEO of Xero Shoes. The retailer based in Boulder, Colorado creates a ‘shoe’ that simulates barefoot running. That right. Running barefoot. People have walked, hiked, and swam in these shoes. Some folks have even ran ultra marathons in them!

Download the Xero Shoes Rafflecopter Case Study

We get this all the time. Someone emails us a message asking:

“Hi Rafflecopter! I’m writing on behalf of The Incredible Widget Company. I’d like to run a giveaway through your app, but we want to require entrants to make a purchase on our site. Can we ask people to provide a receipt of purchase for a product a specific giveaway is promoting as an option for them to gain entry?”

If you’re familiar with sweepstakes and gambling regulations in the US, you know the answer is “no way!”. You’ve probably read the verbiage ‘NO PURCHASE NECESSARY’ before, which means entrants cannot be required to make a purchase or plunk down money in some form or fashion to enter to win a contest or sweepstakes.

The Colorado Tourism Office (also known as www.colorado.com) was created fifteen years ago to promote Colorado as a tourism destination of unparalleled recreation, adventure, and cultural experiences. A board of directors oversees the Colorado Tourism Office and is comprised of fifteen individuals from hotel, restaurant, attraction and other tourism-related businesses as well as Colorado legislators.

Download the Colorado Tourism Board Rafflecopter Case Study

In 2015, the Colorado Tourism Office was named the “Best U.S. State Tourism Bureau” in the nation” by the Travvy awards, an award that highlights the best of the best in the travel and tourism industry.

Giveaways and promotions, as with most marketing efforts, work best with a well thought out and long term strategy versus an unplanned initiative with no preparation. A solid communication plan with several prospect and customer touchpoints helps to insure that your brand and products are top of mind when your prospects are ready to buy. The challenge we all face at times is a steady stream of fresh ideas to bring our strategy to life.