The Power of Promo Codes for Sweepstakes Fundraising Success
If you shop for just about anything online these days, chances are, you’ve used promo codes. You know, those funny little words — “HOWDY20” — you enter in the checkout form that gets you a great discount!
Here at TapKat, we’ve fully embraced the power of promo codes to increase your sweepstakes fundraising. But we have added a twist: Instead of discounting the amount of the donation, TapKat promo codes give your donor more entries for the same dollar amount, effectively discounting the price per entry and giving the donor more chances to win your amazing prize.
Why use promo codes with your TapKat sweepstakes fundraiser? Three compelling reasons:
TapKat promo codes increase your average donation amount.
TapKat promo codes increase the number of donations to your sweepstakes fundraiser.
TapKat promo codes allow you to precisely track which sweepstakes promotions bring in the most money.
Ready to motivate existing donors, attract new donors, and supercharge your marketing powers by tracking exactly what’s driving donations? Today we’re going to look at the power of promo codes — short for “promotional codes” — to help you achieve your TapKat sweepstakes fundraising goals. We’ll dig into exactly what promo codes are, why they work, and how you can create a strategy to make the most of this powerful tool.
How TapKat Promo Codes Increase Your Average Donation Amount
When a donor sees that a promo code will give them 20% more entries for the same price, they are much more likely to enter your sweepstakes with a larger donation than they would have otherwise.
We call this “the upsell effect.” When donors see that the number of extra entries grows as the donation amount increasesl, they are more likely to select a higher donation amount to increase their odds of winning the sweepstakes.
So, while a $50 donation would normally purchase 25 entries to the sweepstakes, with a 20% promo code, $50 will buy 30 entries to the sweepstakes. That’s 5 additional entries for the same price with the TapKat promo code. However, the same promo code has a greater impact at a higher donation amount: While $200 would normally purchase 150 entries, with the same promo code, the donor will receive 180 entries — that’s 30 additional entries for $200, and a better perceived bang for the donor’s buck.
When the promo code is entered, donors can see the number of additional promo entries on the donation amount buttons, which encourages them to make a more generous donation! Donors who are excited about your prize will spend more to enter the sweepstakes, and feel great about getting a good deal on the cost of their entries.
How TapKat Promo Codes Increase the Number of Donations
Here’s some real sweepstakes secret sauce: when you use promo codes, the number of donations you receive and the number of donors who enter will also increase. This is due to several factors:
Promo codes activate existing donors with a “special deal”. Who can resist a great deal! When your existing donors find out about the promo code, they’ll be more likely to enter your sweepstakes — even if they have already given to your nonprofit in other ways (we especially see this happening when sweepstakes have a presence at live events).
Promo codes attract new donors. In the same way, new donors who may have felt reluctant to enter the sweepstakes will be attracted by the promo code, especially if they are interested in the prize (yet another reason to choose a great sweepstakes prize!)
Promo codes encourage donors to enter multiple times as promo code percentages are increased. Throughout the duration of your sweepstakes, we encourage nonprofits to increase the promo code offers as time goes on. Start by offering 20% more entries during the first few months, move to 25% about halfway through the duration of your sweepstakes, and finally, offer 30% more entries during the last month before drawing a winner — more on promo code planning later in this blog post. This strategy will entice people who may have donated already to enter again to take advantage of the latest promotion. And they will. In fact, every TapKat sweepstakes has donors who enter the same sweepstakes 2, 3, 4 or more times.
How TapKat Promo Codes Increase Sweepstakes Success by Precisely Track the Results of Your Promotions
Promo codes are really effective because they create a win-win situation for your nonprofit and for your donors: your organization can use promo codes as a powerful marketing tool, and donors receive more entries when they apply the promo code as they’re checking out.The important thing about promo codes from a marketing perspective is that they allow your organization to precisely track several key factors:
Where donations are coming from
Which promotions are working (and which aren’t)
Where to double down and repeat marketing that’s working
Let’s look at an example. Say you create the promo code HELLO20 that will give your donors 20% more entries when they use the code. Once you create the code, you feature it in an email blast that goes out to a specific mailing list.
Now, when you log in to your TapKat dashboard, you’ll be able to see all the entries that came in and used HELLO20. You can clearly see:
How many people donated using the code,
The average donation amount,
And total donations.
Since the code was only shared in this specific email blast, you know that all the data coming in related to this code is information about the success of the email blast. If the email blast did well, you’ll know that it’s a marketing channel you want to use again soon.
“TapKat promo codes have helped us to be able to analyze and learn which marketing channels are the best for promotion of our annual car sweepstakes. This information helps us to see that we are reaching new donors, and that our donor list grows, which in turn means that we raise more money annually.”
- Emily at The Cobra Experience
Here’s another example: say you want to compare which social media sites are the most successful in generating donations. You create the promo codes INSTAGRAM25, FACEBOOK25, and LINKEDIN25 for each of your social media posts on the corresponding platforms. Watch the promo code results in your TapKat dashboard and see which social media platform brings in the most cash for your nonprofit.
Put unique promo codes on every marketing promotion you send out into the world! TapKat’s detailed results data will inform you where to focus your time and advertising dollars.
TapKat promo codes precisely track the results of your promotions. Here you can see how promo codes increase your average donation amount. The average donation amount for this promotion was $8.37 more than the overall fundraiser average!
Integrate Promo Codes in Your Sweepstakes Marketing Strategy
Promo codes are crucial for maximizing the success of your TapKat sweepstakes fundraising. How can you make sure that people use them? In our experience, some people forget to type in the actual code — so TapKat has streamlined this aspect of the experience creating links that automatically fill in the promo code for the donor. We call these magical links Auto-Apply Promo Code URLs.
Here’s how TapKat promo codes work:
Create a TapKat promo code and copy the auto-apply URL. In your TapKat dashboard, when you add a promo code, we automatically create the Auto-Apply URL. This is essentially a custom URL that will send a donor to your sweepstakes site and automatically enter the promo code.
Say one of your sponsors has agreed to do a mailing for you. You’ll create a special TapKat promo code for their email blast and send the Auto-Apply URL to your sponsor to use as a link. When people click that link to your sweepstakes site, the sponsor’s unique promo code will be automatically applied to the donation/entry amount buttons and on the checkout form.
The promo code makes your sweepstakes even more enticing to donors, and you can track donations that are connected to that specific sponsor’s promotion.
Use QR codes for printed marketing materials and event posters.
QR codes are everywhere these days, and they’re super helpful! When you hover your smart phone camera over the QR code, you are automatically redirected to a website connected to the QR code.
TapKat automatically creates an auto-apply QR code for every promo code. Just click the QR code in your TapKat dashboard to download a QR code that will auto-apply your promo code. When you print banners, posters or postcards for your sweepstakes, include the QR code to make it quick and simple for donors to navigate to your TapKat site and donate.
In short, use promo codes with auto-apply URLs every time and all the time! Put promo codes in your social media posts, newsletters, eblasts… everywhere you can! The more data you can collect to tie your incoming donations to specific promotions, the more informed you will be and the better choices you can make moving forward as you market your sweepstakes.
Use Promo Codes for Sponsors, Supporters and Internal Contests
Want to get creative with your TapKat promo codes? Challenge your board members to a little competition to see who can bring in the most donations for your sweepstakes. TapKat allows you to create as many promo codes as you want, so each board member can have a different code that is unique to them.
Now, when board members tell their friends about the sweepstakes, they’ll can use their special promo code to get “credit” for the donation. As the money rolls in, you’ll easily be able to see which board member brought in the most donations. We suggest sharing ongoing updates with your board to keep the competition fun and challenging!
Of course this kind of strategy isn’t limited to board members. You can create unique codes for club members, parents in a PTA, or fundraising teams who want to compete. Perhaps your nonprofit will create a fun internal contest to encourage fundraisers to reach out to more people. Keep it light and fun, and watch the donations roll in!
Along these lines, share unique promo codes with all your sponsors and partners to track which ones are the most fruitful for the sweepstakes. Sponsors and partners will love the marketing opportunity of giving their customers a special promo code!
TapKat Promo Code Strategy 101
Aside from being mindful to create unique promo codes for every type of marketing outreach you do so that you can track its success, there are a few key strategic points you should be aware of when planning your promo codes.
Timing is important. Let’s talk about what percentage to use, as in, what percentage of additional entries to attach to a promo code. Note that you should use the same percentage across all your promotional channels during the same time period (i.e. use 20% for all email blasts, social media posts and sponsors for the first 2 months).
When you’re first kicking off your campaign, we recommend using promo codes that offer 20% more entries. If your sweepstakes is six months long, offer promo codes with 20% more entries for the first three months.
When you hit months four and five, up the ante and offer promo codes with 25% more entries. This will excite donors, even if they have already entered, and encourage donors to enter again!
Finally, in the final month, you can run promo codes with 30% more entries. You’ll notice more donations come in during the last month of a sweepstakes, and the idea of offering higher-value promo codes is to create a snowball effect for your sweepstakes and build momentum toward the finale.
Offering anything more than 40% is not recommended because it may cause people who have already entered to feel like they missed out.
TapKat Sweepstakes Promo Codes Create Long-Term Success
We encourage you to useTapKat promo codes for each and every promotion. It comes down to the fact that when you use promo codes, you’re arming yourself with information that will make it easier and more fun to have a successful sweepstakes. Consumers are so used to getting special discounts and perks these days that promo codes are practically expected in the mind of your donors.
Not only that, but when you use promo codes, you’re setting up for future success! When your organization launches a second or third sweepstakes next year, you’ll easily be able to look back and see which promotions worked best so you can duplicate those efforts.
Underneath all the strategy, promo codes are meant to be used as a tool to help you raise more money and have a more successful sweepstakes. There’s a lot you can do with promo codes — have fun, and give your donors the fun and exciting experience they’re craving while they donate to your cause!
