Hello, community! Did you miss our in-depth reviews of various verticals? Well, today we’ll talk about a very interesting niche: sweepstakes. This is the vertical that many affiliate marketers start working in, though they don’t stay here for long. So what are sweepstakes, and how do they work? Let’s explain.
And before we start, we traditionally advise you to read our overview on E-commerce, where we go into detail about how to work in this niche.
What are Sweepstakes?
Sweepstakes is a vertical that promotes various lotteries and raffles, offering people the chance to win a desired product, often expensive: a new model smartphone or even a car.
In fact, it all started with smartphones. Those advertising landing pages where you have to fill out a form to participate in a draw for the latest iPhone are classic sweepstakes.
Today, the list of advertised products is much wider. Sweepstakes now promote annual subscriptions to online services, gift cards, clothing, shoes, and much more. The principle remains the same: to participate in the draw, the person fills out a form, and often that’s it. In some cases, participation requires a payment, either directly or by purchasing a certain product. The amounts are usually small, unlikely to scare off most potential audiences.
Thus, at first glance, it seems easy to get a conversion. This is why this vertical is so popular among beginners. Who can resist a seemingly free offer?
Why Would Someone Hold Such Raffles?
However, the main question for rational readers is: why give away those smartphones for free if you can just sell them? The answer lies in understanding the advertisers’ motivations, which will also make it easier for you to promote sweepstakes.
The answer is straightforward: if filling out a form is the main condition for participating in a draw, then this is what interests the advertiser.
The forms for sweepstakes participation vary greatly. The lead is often asked not only for contact or personal information. The advertiser might inquire about anything, like if it’s a draw from a telecom operator, they might ask which company the person uses and if they’re satisfied. All this information helps improve their product.
Thus, the advertiser pays us for getting someone to fill out the form. Whether they win the prize or not, or even if the draw actually happens, doesn’t concern us as affiliate marketers.
Types of Offers in the Sweepstakes Vertical
Let’s talk about the types of offers. The actual item being raffled isn’t as important as how the conversion happens. Different types of sweepstakes are defined by this aspect:
- Single Opt-in (SOI): The user only needs to send their data, meaning fill out the form. The simplest action in sweepstakes;
- Double Opt-in (DOI): This differs from SOI in that the user must confirm their form, either by phone number or email verification.
- Credit Card Submit (CC Submit): The confirmation involves making a payment via credit card, which might even be delayed, with a trial period.
The first two sales funnels are simple and straightforward, following a traditional CPL model, where the lead counts when the form is filled out or confirmed. Consequently, the payouts are quite low.
With Credit Card Submit, it’s more complex. Not everyone is ready to pay to participate in a draw, but the low cost can be appealing: for example, a few bucks to win a $1,000 smartphone. Sounds reasonable, right?
Also, carefully choose your GEO. In Tier-2 and Tier-3 countries, credit card payments can be problematic. But the higher payouts compensate for these challenges, making this model worth trying.
Where to Dump Traffic?
Let’s talk about how to promote sweepstakes. There are several optimal options:
- Facebook: Sweepstakes are a gray vertical if dealing with CC Submit offers, so be ready to cloak. Alternatively, you can dump traffic using your communities, connecting chatbots;
- Contextual advertising through the Google Display Network: A great option for targeting settings and broad coverage;
- Push traffic: A good, cheaper alternative to Facebook, without significant moderation issues. However, the traffic quality is lower due to fewer targeting tools. You can work with your own base if you’ve built one;
- Mailings: You can use any tools, including email, SMS, or messenger mailings. Finding a quality base is challenging, but if you have one, this method provides the highest conversion;
- PopUnder: A cheap option that works well with sweepstakes. The downside is low-quality traffic, which can be problematic if dumping on a known brand. An optional but effective choice in some combinations.
Finding the ideal option is difficult, as each has its pros and cons. So for each case, test combinations until you find the optimal dumping source.
Features of Working with Sweepstakes
One key feature of working with sweepstakes is the need for pre-landing pages, just as important as in gambling.
The most popular option is a pre-landing page with game elements. For example, a spinning wheel of fortune, where the lead sees a winning slot. This shows that they seem to have won, needing only to fill out the form and wait for their gift.
Popular game elements include:
- Wheel of Fortune: It can have winning and losing slots, but the lead sees a winning one at the last moment, maximizing the thrill. A compelling way to secure the conversion;
- Loot boxes: Let the traffic open boxes, with the win in the last one.
Thus, the main levers are visuals in creatives and creating a sense of victory through interactive elements. This also makes sweepstakes similar to gambling in terms of traffic attraction methods.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Working with Sweepstakes
Sweepstakes is a good vertical to start in affiliate marketing. Beginning with Facebook is unwise, as it’s a gray vertical. However, even with a small budget, you can profit by creating a combination with an SOI offer and promoting it through email mailings.
Dumping on Credit Card Submit is harder, as it requires users to make transactions. However, experienced marketers can profit here, though the advertising campaigns may require investments, risking losses.
Thus, the main drawback of sweepstakes is its instability. There’s no recipe for success; it hinges on traffic quality, which must be ensured manually by building subscriber bases for pushes, SMS contacts, and so on.
Dumping expensive traffic on sweepstakes only makes sense through the Credit Card Submit model, as higher payouts yield significant profit. SOI and DOI models are only for cheap traffic, with rewards rarely exceeding $1.5-2 per conversion.
Is It Worth Dumping Traffic on Sweepstakes in 2024?
Sweepstakes are a classic of affiliate marketing. Raffles will always be popular, and the need to conduct surveys among the target audience brings more advertisers to the vertical.
It’s relatively easy to work with sweepstakes through SOI and DOI models, making it a good starting point for affiliate marketing beginners.
The niche’s popularity also leads to many affiliate marketing cases online, easing the start for newcomers.
Conclusion
The many available sweepstakes are fertile ground for testing combinations, one of which can yield significant profit. The niche is friendly to newcomers, yet allows experienced marketers to thrive. Certain features, like the importance of pre-landing pages, might deter some, but if you’re eyeing iGaming, which many foresee as a leader in the affiliate world, working with sweepstakes will give you invaluable skills for even greater profit.
Have you dumped traffic on sweepstakes before? Share your experiences in our Telegram community, where we always share everything important from the world of affiliate marketing.
As always, with respect, your Geek!
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