Why do contests?
Contests enable us to engage with our audience.
In addition to increasing the user interactions with the brand, a contest also provides a means to deepen the connection as well thus creating the pool of brand-loyal customers.
Now let’s look at some of the reasons why contests work
“FREE” gives us such an emotional high! most successful contests play on your emotions. Every contestant would envision themselves winning the reward.
However the prize needs to resonate with your audience and match up with your brand message
When the winning prize is something that is not easily available for free would make a bigger impact than giving away tons of branded goodies
Instant gratification works as a powerful motivator & springboards people into action
Introduction to Gamification
Gamification is an engagement mechanism on the TS platform that is created to increase mobile app usage. These gamification programs are based on a set of rules that are created to award points or badges to users for performing certain actions on the app.
There are multiple ways to gamify a contest to increase the user base. Now let’s look at one of the methodologies using which we can set up & launch a successful contest.
Steps to a successful contest
Goals!
The objective of doing a contest must be tied to a tangible & measurable business goal. There could be various reasons to launch a contest such as
- Improving knowledge & skills of users (in the case of educational & training apps)
- Generating new leads
- Engage & Improve customer relationships
and so on…
Drive your success by defining the outcomes you need. Once goals are defined we move on to the next step..
Target Audience
Identify the kind of audience you want to enter your contest. They can be decided based on the demography, the roles they play, geographic location, skills, etc.
Defining your audience will help you focus on how to run your contest successfully
Rewards!
You need to have an offering that motivates your users to make an effort to participate in the contest.
Choose a prize that is
- Brand or Product related
- Something that you know your target market desires
Set targets for users to earn their rewards and allot points and badges along the way to motivate them to win!
Contest Types
It’s time to decide the behaviors that we want to reward.
Based on the goal, define the set of user behaviors that we need to encourage on the app such as reading content, attempting quizzes & activities, etc.
Let’s look at some of the different types of contests you could create. Some of these can also be clubbed together to form a bigger contest.
Rewarding users based on the points earned on product or any brand related quizzes
People upload photos based on a defined theme (e.g. selfie with a happy customer). Attracts a lot of user-generated content (UGC)
Encourage users to stay connected on the app and reward a random set of users once they reach a pre-defined activity level on the app.
Users share their opinions/ideas on certain brand/product/marketing strategy. Leads to creative ideas that can be re-used in our campaigns.
Users make & upload a video. Leads to creative ideas & customer insights!
Include a voting element to get more people engaged.
Rewarding users for sharing their feedback on the app & its experience or any topically relevant content
Rewarding users for performing one or more activities. E.g. check-ins
Reports!
Jot down the KPIs that will define the success of your contest. Chalk out the dashboards that will help you keep track.
Leaderboard!
The most important stage comes after the contest has ended. We need to convert the participants & increase the engagement between them & your brand.
Deepen your entrants’ relationships and turn them into loyal customers.
