How a $10 Contest Nearly Tripled Our Email List in Four Days
Back in 2018 we added 999 email subscribers in four days. We spent $10 on ads to do it.
It wasn’t a fancy campaign. It was a simple giveaway with the right prize, sent to the right people, using a tool that did most of the work.
Here’s exactly how we did it, and how any local business can copy it.
The setup
We were marketing a new shopping center. A theater was about to open there. So the prize was two VIP tickets to the opening.
That was the whole hook. People who cared about the center cared about the theater. The prize matched the audience.
The numbers
| Before | After 4 days | |
|---|---|---|
| Email list | 527 | about 1,500 |
| Facebook followers | about 2,300 | about 2,500 |
| Ad spend | $10 |
We posted the contest on the center’s Facebook page. We boosted that post for $10 to our followers and their friends. Then we emailed our list.
That’s it.
Why it worked
1. The prize fit the audience. A free car would have pulled in thousands of strangers who’d never shop the center. Theater tickets pulled in locals. Pick a prize only your real customers would want. A coffee shop could give away free coffee for a year. A gym could give away a year of membership.
2. We started small. We didn’t need a huge audience. We needed a relevant one. Our page and list were modest. It still worked because the people on them already liked us.
3. The tool turned entrants into promoters. We used KingSumo, a giveaway tool from Noah Kagan’s AppSumo. It gives people extra entries when they share the contest. So every entrant had a reason to tell their friends.
How to run your own
- Pick one prize your best customers would actually want.
- Set up the giveaway in a tool that rewards sharing. KingSumo still exists, and there are others like it.
- Post it on your social page.
- Boost the post with a small budget to your followers and their friends.
- Email your current list.
- Keep it short. Four days to a week is plenty.
- Have a welcome email ready for all the new subscribers.
Check your state’s giveaway rules and your social platform’s promotion rules before you launch.
The real lesson
The right offer to a focused audience beats a big budget. We didn’t need more money. We needed a prize that made our people want to share.
What’s the one prize your customers would tell their friends about?
