Avoid These 4 Common Mistakes With Your Next CPG Sweepstakes

CPG marketing teams use sweepstakes, contests, and giveaways to create buzz around their brands. But not all of these CPG branding campaigns generate the excitement you might imagine. In fact, some of them can go completely awry, failing to generate the engagement these brands hoped for and instead leave a bad taste in the mouths of their CPG marketing teams. Here are some of the most common mistakes we’ve seen and how you can avoid them.

When CPG Marketing Contests Go Wrong

1. Requiring consumers to sign up for the contest can be a bad idea if you make them jump through too many hoops. Make sure you test the sign up to gauge the fortitude of your consumer audience for filling out forms. Try to determine whether a sign up will fly, first, and then assess how much information you can get away with asking for. If you don’t, your bounce rate will skyrocket and your contest will go in the other direction.

2. Make it super easy to enter the contest. Don’t confuse participants with a muddled entry process. Try to have no more than a couple of steps (or just one step) for entry. Always list the official rules (no purchase necessary!) and even what the process is for picking the winners. 

Make your landing page simple, clean, and clear, or your CPG branding campaign will falter. Again, test this process on a select sample of targets to see how the steps necessary to sign up are perceived. You may believe that the signup process is simple but the proof is in the perception of your customers. 

3. We’ve also seen CPG marketing contests fail when the barrier to entry is too high. This could mean that signing up takes too many steps, is confusing, or takes too long to complete. Try asking just for an email and phone instead of adding the person’s address or other details. 

Requiring a Facebook login could also create a barrier when the participant doesn’t use Facebook or doesn’t want you to access their information. If you do need to collect a lot of details, start with just the email. Once that is entered, send them to a second contact page to capture more details. That way, if they bounce from the second page, at least you’ve captured an email. However, if you really need the shipping address, you can contact them for that after they’ve won.

4. Try to get the prize right, or no one will care what you’re giving away. The prize has a big impact on the number of participants in your CPG marketing contest. Giving away a product or service that your target audience just isn’t interested in will kill your contest. Consider if the prize itself holds value for your consumer target. If it doesn’t people simply won’t take the time to register to win it.

If your CPG marketing team is considering a brand sweepstakes contest, Check out our Resources to evolve your CPG brand!