Just last year, PromoNow wrote a comprehensive guide to help fast-moving and consumer packaged goods (FMCG and CPG) brands understand and start running their sales promotions. Whether it was a prize draw, an instant win, or understanding the regulatory rules for promotions, we covered it thoroughly in our guide. Within the article, we briefly touched on the widely popular promotional mechanic - instant wins. Instant wins are a powerful promotional tool that can drive purchases and engagements through immediate gratification. Consumers come to associate the brand with the experience of winning something.
What are ‘instant win promotions’?
Different types of instant win promotions:
How do instant win promotions work effectively?
Why are instant wins so popular? Benefits of running instant wins
Maximising the success of an instant win promotional campaign
Instant win promotions are a type of promotional prize draw mechanic where participants can immediately find out whether or not they’ve won a prize.
Due to its immediate nature, instant win promotions are more engaging and exciting for participants and shoppers. Instant wins are, therefore, also great for data collection, data is delivered much more quickly than brands see in, for example, a sweepstakes prize draw.
Using PromoNow, brands can see real-time data to keep track of instant win promotions - collecting first-party data and allowing for bigger and better promotional efforts in the future. In PromoNow’s end-to-end platform, brands and agencies can create, manage, and evaluate all their promotional campaigns.
There are several variations of an instant win mechanic.
Winning moments are where entrants have a chance of winning based on a randomly generated ‘winner window’ wherein the first entrant (or first few entrants, in some scenarios) wins a prize from the prize pool. Within an instant win, there are two main mechanics used, a ‘closed’ winning moment and an ‘open’ winning moment.
A closed winning moment, otherwise known as a ‘precise winning moment’ is when, a winnable moment - this may be seconds, minutes, or hours - is opened for entrants to make a winning entry.
However, the caveat is that participants must enter within the time frame of the allotted winning moment, or, no prize is awarded. Therefore, not all prizes are guaranteed to be won.
In contrast, an open winning moment works slightly differently. Within the instant win promotion, there are still allotted times when a winnable moment opens. However, these winning moments stay open until either:
Open winning moments allow participants a higher likelihood of winning a prize, giving brands a better chance to award every prize advertised on the packs and promotional materials. Preventing any consumer disappointment and complaints is necessary to avoid regulatory issues with the ASA.
Making sure prizes are awarded, especially if the number of prizes is used as a point of marketing on-packs and in promotional material, will comply with CAP Code 8.20:
“Promoters must not exaggerate consumers' chances of winning prizes. They must not include a consumer who has been awarded a gift [rather than a prize] in a list of prize winners.”
And publicising a winners list so that prize promotions are verifiably legitimate and run in ‘good faith’, CAP Code 8.28.5:
“Promoters must either publish or make available information that indicates that a valid award took place – ordinarily the surname and county of major prizewinners and, if applicable, their winning entries.”
Brands can ensure that prizes are rightfully given away by rolling over unclaimed prizes over to the next winning moment, meaning another person will have the opportunity to win a prize. This means a single winning moment can have several prizes and therefore, several winners within that period.
An algorithmic instant win is a mathematical algorithm that calculates how many winners there ‘should’ be within a promotion. Usually, algorithmic instant wins have a low number of winners since they’re determined by budget constraints and a brand’s generosity, and they are calculated against the total number of promotional packs available.
As an example, if a brand has an ongoing promotion with 1,000,000 promotional packs and there are 500 prizes available to be won, the algorithmic chance is 1 in 2,000 so for every 2,000 entries, there will be one prize awarded. For all 500 prizes to be given away, all 1,000,000 promotional packs need to have an equivalent entry.
A scenario in which that happens is very unlikely. Not every shopper who buys a promotional pack will enter the promotion, which will likely leave a significant number of the promotional prizes unclaimed. Often, algorithmic instant wins only see a few winners even though hundreds of prizes are advertised.
If brands decide to use an algorithmic instant win promotion, some disclaimers need to be made, disclosing the win rate as well as making it clear that the prizes are all available to be won, but not guaranteed to all be won.
The ASA has ruled that the terms that relate to the awarding of prizes are likely to significantly influence a consumer’s understanding and decision to participate in a promotion. As such, this information should be included on the promotional pack and any initial marketing communications. Including this information only in the full terms and conditions, won’t be sufficient.
Using algorithms to select winners: two rulings and Three Key Considerations | CAP News
Seeded instant wins and winning ticket promotions are terms used, often interchangeably, to refer to a physical token, code, or ticket that can be found on or inside promotional packs which tell shoppers that they’ve won - this is the most immediate form of an instant win and often requires shoppers to redeem and prove they have the winning pack before receiving their prize.
The winning ‘ticket’ can be a variety of things hidden from immediate observations, different packaging, a physical ticket, or a token - either way, the winning packs are placed among regular packs.
Seeded instant win promotions often are immensely popular, the format makes it exciting and highly engaging for an audience. However, the odds of winning are quite low, in fact, the more popular a promotion is, the lower the odds of winning are.
Controlled product placement is a technique used within instant win promotions, specifically in winning ticket/seeded instant wins, to artificially improve the odds of winning. Sometimes, it is also referred to as ‘reverse shoplifting’. This is when a winning pack is physically placed on shop shelves.
Frequently, instant win promotions are run in conjunction with and in support of a larger marketing campaign.
Many brands bring attention to their instant wins and prize draws by occupying in-store space.
Often, this is through promotional displays like shelf-stoppers, FSDUs, overhead signs, floor decals, and other point-of-sale displays - sometimes even using sampling or on-pack promotions to improve sales and brand awareness.
Of course, brands also spend on additional media. OOH (Out-Of-Home) marketing such as billboards, bus stop digital screens, TV or radio. As well as doing paid social media ads and creating organic growth through own-channel marketing means.
Age, region, and other restrictions involved in the instant win promotion need to be made explicitly clear on any and all promotional materials as per the CAP Codes. Promotional materials also need to include basic instructions on how to enter amongst other significant conditions.
For brands to ensure that entrants are eligible, digital verification can be integrated to ensure the security and fairness of a promotion.
If there’s a promotion that requires the participant to be 18+, a resident of the UK and to have purchased a promotional product, how would the promoter go about ensuring participants meet the eligibility criteria before they can claim a prize? The primary and standard way is through forms on a promotional page or site.
Promotional microsites should ideally only have 3 or 4 pages that an entrant has to click through with minimal form fields to complete.
If the process is too tedious, brands risk shoppers abandoning the promotion halfway through and leaving a poor impression.
The pages that should be included are a quick age-gate page; a page to enter personal details, including proof of purchase whether it’s a code or receipt; and a win/lose page - with an optional ability to play a quick gamification or animation to make the experience more engaging.
Make the experience seamless to boost engagements and entries to help improve a consumer’s impression and connection with the brand.
The crucial part of the instant win promotion is that customers need to know if they’ve won immediately after completing any forms or checks. The appeal of an instant win promotion is its immediate nature and the instant gratification of winning, the excitement from winning is a powerful way to pull shoppers through a brand’s marketing funnel.
If an entrant doesn’t win, an instant win promotion can be combined with a prize draw which automatically enters non-instant winners. Adding a message such as, “You didn’t win, but you’ve been entered into the prize draw - you could still win a prize!” This will reduce disappointment and keep participants still eager and excited even if they don’t win - potentially keeping them engaged for longer, possibly repeating the purchase and trying again. They will still leave the promotion with the anticipation of winning.
As mentioned before, instant wins create instant gratification for winners, the excitement and positive feelings associated with the winner will encourage repeat interactions, repeat purchases, and deeper engagement with the brand.
The instant aspect of the promotion fuels engagement. While prize draws and other promotional mechanics can make for effective shopper activations, instant wins as an experience is one smooth, unbroken journey without waiting days, potentially weeks to learn if you’ve won or lost. Younger shoppers in particular are fond of instant wins.
Instant win promotions provide a brilliant point for gathering first-party data on consumer behaviours. A digital promotional mechanic is a potential avenue to better understand participants and find more effective ways to engage them. It’s an effective tool to gather incredibly powerful data.
This allows promoters to parse patterns and behaviours of customers which can be leveraged for better shopper marketing activations.
The most common CAP Code broken and enforced in promotions usually relates to the terms & conditions or the significant terms of a promotion not being communicated clearly.
Brands must make sure they communicate significant terms both on-pack and on all of the promotional materials for the promotion. This means, on any promotional displays, including in-store, OOH, social media, etc…
Not only will it make your instant win promotions compliant and safe from a negative ASA ruling, but being truthful and informing shoppers of everything they need to know from the start will make your brand more trustworthy and give shoppers a better impression of your brand.
Promotions can be an effective stand-alone shopper marketing activation. However, running a promotion with or as a supporting activation within a larger campaign will increase brand awareness and encourage participation.
Make the experience for your customers flawless and effortless. Consumers need a frictionless and easy experience with promotions and brands need to ensure instant win promotions are not abused by ‘bad actors’. Instant wins can sometimes feel intimidating for a brand to run since there is the added complication of implementing ‘winning moments’.
Moreover, if there’s a gamification element or it’s built on a microsite, brands should consider working with promotional specialists who can implement all the necessary mechanisms including the winning moments and digital to not only make an instant win promotion run flawlessly but also create an interactive and memorable brand experience.
Sometimes, finding and building trust with the right agency can be difficult - with years of promotional experience under our belt - PromoNow is a managed end-to-end platform built by promotional experts with widgets and modules that cater to all promotional needs, making the most tedious aspects of a promotion simple and easy for the brands building them, and the participants entering.
The platform is built to help brands manage promotions that boast engagement and make it easier to connect with what audiences want.
There is no ‘instant win promotion’ without prizes.
Promotional prizes are often the highlight and driving motivation for shoppers to participate. The budget spent on the prizes doesn’t need to be particularly large to be an effective incentive. Many brands will work with prize providers and fulfilment companies like Prize Professionals to curate a prize pool that works cohesively with the promotion and appeals to a desired target audience.
Alternatively, if a brand frequently runs promotions, it can be beneficial to experiment and offer different prizes, potentially encouraging consumers outside of a brand’s usual demographic, and creating more brand awareness and engagement outside of direct target consumers.
Brands can consider integrating gamification in instant win promotions for better engagement. Instant wins already have a ‘gamified’ aspect to them but they can be enhanced with interactive ways to reveal a prize, or, gamification can be used at the core of the promotion as a ‘skill-based’ qualification to participate.
Experts in creating promotions can advise on what gamification aspects can be used to improve the promotional journey and experience. Your brand can rely on Promotions Interactive who have built longstanding always-on promotions with gamification built-in. Some of our favourite examples of work are Wyke’s Farm and Ivy’s Reserve’s Play & Win promotions that use card games to engage and encourage interactivity.
It’s quite common for brands to try to integrate gamification on tight turnarounds - here are some demos and examples of what we, at PromoNow can do for promoters.
To find out how your brand can create instant win promotions with our end-to-end platform. Speak to one of our experts free of charge. Consider using the PromoNow platform. Speak with a platform consultant at +44 (0)20 380 555 38 or email [email protected] to learn more.
PromoNow is a managed end-to-end cloud platform empowering brand owners with rapid, scalable and secure solutions for any promotional activation.
