Learn how to convert sweepstakes offers

Converting sweepstake offers with pop traffic can be very profitable if done right. There are a lot of factors at stake before you send the first click to your sweepstakes affiliate offer, but then again, most campaigns do. Use the guide below to cover all bases with a checklist and tips and tricks to help you make your campaign a winner from the first click.

Sweepstakes offers work well because they engage users’ FOMO and allow an increased conversion rate and engagement for the right creative in the right audience. Sweepstake affiliate networks connect brands with affiliate programs that allow them to promote sweepstake-related offers. Publishers drive traffic to their offers by engaging users via a strong offer to win big.

We’re going to focus on popunder traffic and push notification ads for this type of vertical, simply because it is the most effective ad format to convert sweepstakes offers.

The landing page

The affiliate network will of course provide you with a ready-made landing page for you to direct traffic to but we encourage you to check several things before pushing traffic anywhere.

Is the page responsive, will it work for any OS and device?
Is the page tracking conversions well? did you do a conversion test?
Is the page appealing? does it communicate an engaging message? would you be tempted to compete if faced with this offer?
Does the domain look spammy or does it project a successful brand?
Is it fast to load?

If you’re happy with all the above, go ahead and run traffic directly to this link. We would always suggest running several versions of the landing page or making your own landing pages when needed. You won’t know how much you would have saved if you’ve only used a different landing page. It’s usually very surprised to find out that the page you didn’t think will convert well actually did, by far. Happens to me a lot and I’ve learned to disregard my designer intuitions and count only on the numbers and conversion rates.

Choose the right flow payout model

There’s more than one type of way to convert sweepstake affiliate offers, each type of flow will reward the affiliate with a different payout amount. CC Submit offers will gain you more revenue for conversions than DOI or SOI offers, read more about these below.

CC (Credit card) Submit

Users provide their credit card details and sign up for a free test of the service or offer. when the trial ends the subscription fee will be deducted from the user’s credit card bill.

SOI

The user needs to enter his email address or something of that nature and does not require to double opt-in his details. A conversion will fire as soon as the email address has been shared.

DOI

Users need to both input their email address and verify via a link or code that he or she is the owner of the email address.

The Sweepstakes offer niche

Sweepstake offers also come in a wide variety of niches, for example, different prizes may be offered that appeal to tech-oriented early adapters like the latest iPhone or iPad, or the offer can appeal by offering a cash prize in the form of an Amazon or eBay gift cards. These are important and should be used aggressively to gain another couple of percent in your CTR and conversion rate. Ask your manager for the best credible promotion he or she knows works well for other affiliates. This will save you a ton of budget just exploring creatives instead of making conversions, read more in our case study of how popunders deliver ecommerce conversions which touches on optimization and campaign set up.

The traffic

As mentioned before, we believe popunder ads and push notification ads work the best with these offers. Affiliate networks know this and usually will allow affiliates to buy media for these offers.

What it comes down to knowing is setting up your campaign in the right way and optimizing aggressively the first couple of days till you find the sweet spot that generates ROI for your campaign.

Sweepstakes Campaign Targeting

there are a lot of targeting features you can find with popunder ad networks that are mostly based on technology and not on demographic. Find out exactly which OS, OS version, browser and browser version, Devices, and Platforms convert well for your offer and simply target your campaign to restrict your campaigns to receive only that type of traffic.

You shouldn’t launch a very narrow campaign or you won’t receive traffic but you definitely explore what works and avoid what doesn’t based on communication with the affiliate offer owner.

Convert Sweepstakes Offers: The Checklist and Tips

when optimizing focus on carriers and eliminate non-performing ones from your supply
also, focus on browser and browser version as these might be limiting your reach by sending a lot of non-converting clicks and eating away your budget
rotate a few pre-landers along with the original offer link, sweepstakes tend to convert better once the user has been qualified through a pre-lander, make an effort and use spy tools such as AdPlexity, SpyOver, or Anstrex to see what converts for this niche.
in the first days of the campaign, make sure to eliminate subIDs that generate over 1000 clicks each, this will allow some room for conversion.
Apply automation rules whenever possible and automate your popunder campaign allowing placements some grace period before they are eliminated without being a hassle for you
for push traffic focus on CTR keeping it not too low and not too high for different purposes.
start with the lowest bid possible but understand this will restrict you from receiving premium publishers, but, it will allow you to eliminate a lot of ‘affordable’ non-performing subIDs, once you have a good blacklist going, open up a new campaign for a much higher bid without these SUBIDs or raise the bid on the blacklisted campaign.

The bottom line

2021 has shown us that converting sweepstakes offers can be extremely popular and profitable. Sweepstakes usually work for both T1 and T3 markets in the same you. In addition, there a minimal to no regulatory conditions or restrictions for sweepstakes offers that allow you to convert across any carrier in any country.