I know that lots of you enjoyed reading the recent guest post from Sarah Burns of Spark and Fuse, who gave us a promoter's eye view of competitions. So I'm sure that you'll be delighted to learn that Sarah has offered to do a question-and-answer session for us.
How will it work? Well, think about what question you have about comping that might benefit from an answer from an experienced promoter. For instance, you might be unsure about how those one-entry-per -person rules are implemented (If you enter twice by mistake, will all your entries be deleted or just the duplicates?) or feel that a particular promotion has been run unfairly and want to know what your rights are. Or you might like to ask Sarah a more light hearted question, like whether she has ever won a competition herself.
To submit your question, either leave it as a comment on this post, or as a comment on the Grape Vine Facebook page or email it to janesgrapevine with the subject "Comping Question"
Let me have your questions by June 30th and Sarah will answer as many as she can - and as an incentive to join in, I'm going to do a draw for a £10 Amazon gift voucher, and everyone who submits a question will be in the draw, whether their question is used or not. (If you leave your question as an anonymous comment, please leave a Twitter name so I can contact you if you win the voucher.)
when you are filling in basic prize draws ie your name and email is it better to do this manually or use the auto fill
ReplyDeleteIs there an optimum time to enter a competition, for example should I enter on the closing day or when the competition is announced? @jadlgw
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know how you pick your winners - I would guess that a hat and lots of bits of paper isn't the way and that a database and a formula method would be more likely but then again, it could be someone scrolling down the list and someone else screaming "STOP" :)
ReplyDeleteFound out won the Wolf Blass day out with cricket heroes. Had to accept prize before found out any of the specified details i.e. times, exact location, hospitality etc! Did email them first, but couldn't open doc. There was no info on the bottle promotion or online as to where it was going to be, which would put a lot of people off entering, or those that entered and won may not be able to get there etc. etc. Does this happen a lot? It may be the reason quite a few people may not turn up, especially as there are 1000 pairs of tickets to what seems like a fabulous day out! It's a shame more info wasn't available before.
ReplyDeleteI've often wondered whether it makes a difference to your chances of winning if you tick the box declining contact from contest promoters.
ReplyDeleteI have always wondered how winners are chosen when there are multiple ways of entering. Postcard, phone, text and online. Does some poor person have to put all the names on one giant database or is a group picked first , for example text entries , then a winner picked from that group?
ReplyDeleteI have an unusual first name and found our I was missing out on wrongly typed emails so I started using a different first name in my email address. Does this effect my chances?
ReplyDeleteI have a question of my own (and no, my name won't be going into the draw!). If a holiday or event is cancelled and the paying customers get a refund or compensation, is a customer who won their tickets entitled to a refund too? After all, although they may not have spent money on the tickets, they have still had other expenses, lost their holiday allowance from work and faced the same frustrations and disappointments as the paying customers.
ReplyDeleteRegular readers of this blog will have a good idea what I'm talking about......
Am I at a disadvantage if I enter a competition via a competition site's direct link i.e by clicking on e mail address or website from the Compers News site.
ReplyDeleteWhen there are several ways of making entries (postal/web/text/phone) what is the process of choosing from which entry method the winning entry is picked?
ReplyDeletedo you think postcard entries are worth enterin considering how much a stamp now costs? and do people win with postcard entries
ReplyDeleteIf you win a prize is it greedy to carry on entering competitions with the same promoter?
ReplyDeleteOn average, how many entries are submitted. I know this depends on the prize but are there fewer for a caption competition for example. Are there fewer for creative competitions? Do Facebook competitions get thousands or hundreds of entries?
ReplyDeleteI tend to send emails with my name & address added as an automatic signature, so the actual body of the email has no text in if no other information is required. Is this acceptable please?
ReplyDeleteIs it better to write your postcards by hand or use an address label?
ReplyDeleteHave you ever had anyone put the phone down on you, presuming you are selling something, and if so, do you keep trying to get in touch with the rightful owner of the prize?
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to hearing Sarah's answer to this, as I am guilty of having put the phone down on somebody I thought was trying to sell me a kitchen, when I'd genuinely won one. Luckily they tried again!
DeleteDo you have any advice on how the separate out less scrupulous promotions from the real deal? Often it's pretty obvious but there are some, especially on social media, that it's harder to tell whether they are genuine or just a scam. For example are there any governing bodies or legislation that set out minimum standards that might give a comper a clue?
ReplyDelete(on Twitter as @TCbythesea, can't remember what email is linked to this Google account!)
Why do some prizes just arrive at your door without even a compliment slip to tell you where they come from? Surely the promoter wants you to have a feel-good effect towards their products!
ReplyDeleteI would like to know if I entered a competition more than once by mistake online would I be disqualified or would one entry be taken into account?
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard of anyone winning one of the big prizes offered on sites like My Offers when you have to tick yes/no boxes and answer pages & pages of questions?
ReplyDeleteI once decided, over a period of time, to enter loads of them, and received lots of 'cold calls' from debt services,energy suppliers, phone providers, ins. co's etc. even though I ticked all the 'no' boxes. I guess these companies sponsor the prize pot, but where do the prizes go? Do they produce winners lists?
Do you have a system whereby ALL emails come through or do you regularly check your "junk" mail ? I use hotmail and worry that sometimes my emails are not getting through or go into the junk folder. Is there an email provider you would recommend that always gets through ?!
ReplyDeletefraugretel on twitter
One of the things which really annoys the people who do competitions as a hobby is the length people will go to to cheat - entering competitions for their dog, goldfish etc. to get extra entries. Do you try to identify and eliminate people who are trying to cheat?
ReplyDeleteHazel Rea - @beachrambler on Twitter
So many good questions, that I'd like to hear the answers to.
ReplyDeleteMy questions is that I would be particularly interested in your views on voting competitions. Do you think they are fair or not? Should the entries be judged on merit or popularity?
Thanks.
hi, i want to.know how you choose the winners?, some use programs like raffelcopter or random.org idk xd, just curiositie...
ReplyDeleteanother question i have is why you decide you want to make a blog?
mail: dicrankalustian@yahoo.com
twitter: @javierwilliam1
Is there another way of entering a "Purchase Required" comp when it is approaching the end of the promotion and the promotional packs are no longer avaialable (or very hard to find)?
ReplyDeleteTwitter - Amanda36gold
I'd like to know whether it's better to make up a subject or leave it blank, when an email comp doesn't specify what they want
ReplyDeleteDo regular compers still win roughly the same amount of prizes as they used to now that so many competitions are just entering your details online, rather than how it was say ten / fifteen years ago when most comps would be collecting labels instore / thinking of slogans etc?
ReplyDelete