You set up a text sweepstakes to attract more people to your brand, but what about those folks who are only in it for the prize? “Sweepers,” people who enter a lot of sweepstakes in order to try and win prizes, are like the the sweepstakes version of extreme couponers. It’s nearly guaranteed that at least some of your text to win entrants will be “professionals.”
Given that these people are mostly interested in the prize, you may be wondering if having sweepers enter your sweep has any value at all for your brand. Here is our take on whether sweepers are good or bad for your text sweepstakes and a few things you should know about them.
Professional Sweepers Are Consumers Too
Many brands ignore sweepers because marketers tend to forget that professional sweepers are consumers too. They buy products and services just like any of your other text sweepstakes entrants.
In fact, data compiled by ePrize found that the majority of visitors to the top Internet sweepstakes blog sites have a college education and nearly 20% of them earn over $100,000 per year. That means that these consumers hold significant purchasing power that your brand could be tapping into.
Additionally, the average consumer spends roughly 4 minutes per visit interacting with a brand’s promotional experience. Whether they are registering for your sweep or sharing the sweep with others, sweepers who enter your text sweepstakes ultimately means more exposure for your brand.
There’s No Such Thing As a 100% Targeted Campaign
No matter which methods you use to market your brand, there’s simply no such thing as a campaign that is 100% targeted to your demographic. In fact, the most you can really do is set up your campaign so that it reaches as many targets as possible.
Ultimately, the number of sweepers who enter your campaign will depend on your marketing. If you don’t promote your campaign, you can expect that a large percentage of the people who enter your campaign will be professional sweepers. Regular entrants aren’t going to come looking for your sweep unless you let them know about it.
Don’t Fight Sweepers: Here’s What to Do Instead
While a marketer’s first instinct might be to try and ban sweepers from entering, it’s important that you consider sweepers’ perspective. The overwhelming majority of sweepers say that they do it as a hobby and they only win 1% of the sweepstakes they enter.
Instead of trying to outright ban sweepers, a better goal for your campaign should be to limit the entries of sweepers. Set the official rules for your sweepstakes to only allow one entry per person or per household. This will ensure that every entrant has an equal chance of winning.
Once you eliminate the risk of the “professionals” gaining an edge over normal entrants, you’ll find that professional sweepers could be beneficial to your campaign if their demographics fit your target audience for a consumer product.
Setting up a text sweepstakes is easy with Sweeppea! To get started now, see features and pricing.