It’s not everyday that you get to win a competition. In fact, some of us may never have won a game of chance in our lives. Sometimes, the cards just don’t fall in our favour, and that’s just that. But what if you can improve your chances of winning online competitions and giveaways?
If you’ve ever entered a contest on social media or even submitted your ‘25 words or less’ in the hopes of winning a coveted prize, then chances are your mind has wandered to the concept of coming up with some kind of strategy. And surprisingly, there are some pretty effective strategies that you can put in place to take home the gold when entering online competitions and giveaways.
We’ll be outlining some of the most effective, lesser known tips and tricks that can help you enjoy a greater win rate when entering competitions online. Read on to unearth some of the best hacks held secret by all of Australia’s most avid compers.
Be resourceful when looking for competitions online
There are some great resources out there to help you find competitions in Australia, including dedicated competition directories like Competition Cloud, social media and online forums, and even community publications just like us here at Eastern Suburbs Mums. Utilising all of these unique channels and staying in the loop with all your favourite local retail brands can help you keep on top of all the giveaways and competitions that are happening around you.
Of all the resources we’ve outlined above, however, competition directories are guaranteed to be the most effective. Not only do they allow you to discover competitions by searching for prizes or through prize categories, but they can also help you manage your competition entries. These are game-changing features for those looking to start comping on a routine basis.
On top of this, signing up to Competition Cloud also provides avid compers with the opportunity to earn points with every entry they place on the platform. These points can then be used to enter Competition Cloud’s own monthly draw, giving you even more chances to win.
Image: Competition Cloud’s prize categories.
Go for quality, not quantity
Of course, once you start using tools like Competition Cloud or even Tweetdeck to find competitions on Twitter, you’ll find yourself being inundated with giveaways and other fun competitions that you could enter at just the tap of a button. But you should avoid blindly entering competitions if you can help it. After all, not every prize is going to appeal to you. That and you want comping to stay enjoyable, not fatiguing or stressful. And the more mindless entries you have to juggle, the greater your chances of experiencing burnout before you’re able to walk away with a prize you actually want.
So don’t focus on entering as many contests as possible. Instead, aim to turn your attention towards giveaways that you both want to win, and actually could win. For example, simple email sign-up competitions and giveaways can be entered by hundreds of people in a matter of minutes. And a greater pool of entrants means less chance of your winning. Contrastingly, if you apply to competitions that require a little something creative with an entry submission (like a short answer question), then you can safely assume you’ll be competing against a much smaller circle of entrants.
And when we say ‘go for quality over quantity’ we are naturally referring to the competition prizes too. Don’t split your focus or even waste your time going after small prizes that you’re not interested in. Instead, invest in your entry for prizes that are worth that effort.
Take advantage of autofill tools
In the spirit of saving time, arguably one of the most tedious things about entering competitions online is just having to fill out the entry forms. But if you’re filling out entry forms every day, the chances of you making a mistake and inputting the wrong information actually increase. This is especially true for compers that share devices, or those who may be entering contests and giveaways under multiple email addresses.
Dedicated compers have begun using autofill tools, both to prevent themselves from submitting an entry with the wrong contact info, and to help streamline their entry submission process. With an autofill tool and pre-established autofill profiles in place, compers can make quick work of completing a pagelong contest entry form. What once would’ve taken a good ten or so minutes can now be completed with just a single click, allowing you more time to hunt for new competitions or do some research into a larger scale contest with a more complicated entry process.
Set up an alternate email address
It’s important to keep in mind that online competitions and giveaways are always designed with a goal in mind. Companies and figures typically use online competitions to grow their digital engagement, increase their own sales leads, or even just to sell your data to market research agencies. With every entry you submit, you’re participating in a give-and-take between yourself and the competition host.
Usually, entering competitions online involves providing your email address or even your mobile phone number. This contact information is then used by the companies or organisations behind the competition to send you marketing materials or sign you up to a digital mailing list or email newsletter subscription. Whilst you can unsubscribe, you have to do so manually, so your personal inbox can still be flooded with marketing emails.
This is what has prompted many compers to set up an alternate email address that they use specifically for comping. Not only does this save your personal inbox from becoming inundated with commercial emails, but it can also help you better keep track of your competition entries and stay on top of any emails that may contain information about your prizes.
Be willing to play the long game
The last tip that we’ll leave you with is to be patient and persistent. Comping should by no means be considered a money-making shortcut. Even with all of these tips and tricks put to use, there’s no guarantee that you can take home a cash prize every month. And the likelihood of your winning a once-in-a-lifetime prize like an all-expenses paid trip to Europe, is as slim as you can expect it to be.
But as we said, the basic laws of probability dictate that your chances of winning increase with every additional competition you enter. And if you do use the tips we’ve outlined above, you can win, if not now then down the line. You just have to be tactful, conscientious and selective to make sure that what you do win has been worth the effort.
Thankfully, resources like Competition Cloud, Tweetdeck, and autofill tools can help cut this effort down significantly, allowing you to just focus on hand-picking the competitions you’d like to enter, rather than just wasting time jumping from form to form. So long as you maintain a long-game approach to your comping, there’s very little else standing in the way between you and a well-earned win or two (or three!).
With all these expert comper tips and tricks at your disposal, you should feel more confident entering competitions online. Just be sure to work smarter and not harder, by using the tools that we’ve outlined above and any other resources that you have available to you. You should hopefully find a few nifty prizes coming your way in due time.
