Reaching new customers is challenging for almost any industry. You have competitors you must rise above. Social media is full of noise and other businesses clamoring for attention. Finding unique offers to bring people in requires a bit of creativity. RafflePress offers a way to do giveaways to your most loyal fans and attract new users without spending a fortune on marketing.
You can use automated drawings to give away your consumable products with the idea that people will reorder once they run out of the item. RafflePress automates the process for you, saving you time.
RafflePress Features
RafflePress has interesting features to capture user attention and pull more traffic to your site. The company offers videos on YouTube for utilizing the plugin with social media to get more eyes on your brand. RafflePress serves as an interesting marketing tool for smaller brands without a large promotional budget.
- Drag and Drop Giveaway Builder
- Viral Giveaway Templates
- Mobile Responsive
- Integrates With Social Media
- Refer-a-Friend Sharing
- Single-Click Entry
- CRM Integration
In addition, the plugin offers more than 20 ways for people to get entries to the giveaway, such as liking a Facebook page, joining a mailing list or sharing.
Statista reports social media ad spending will reach $219.8 billion in 2024. By 2028, the number will be $255.8 billion per year. Standing out from all those ads requires a bit of determination and trying new things. Giveaways may be the key to tapping into your own mailing list and sending out special offers to those most interested in receiving them.
The RafflePress WordPress plugin makes setting up campaigns for sites such as Facebook and TikTok fast and straightforward.
Proceed With Caution With Promotional Giveaways
There are a few rules surrounding sweepstakes laws that businesses should be aware of to avoid getting fined or running into legal issues. If you’re uncertain about the law, consult with a business attorney on what is and isn’t allowed to protect yourself and your small business.
- Entrants must not have to pay anything.
- Rules have to be clear.
- Share odds of winning.
- Be specific about prizes, how many and their value.
- Start and end dates must be easy to find.
Watch your wording. Say they are entering for a “chance” to win a prize drawing. Be aware of potential conflicts of interest. Your daughter shouldn’t enter your contest.
Promotional Giveaways and plugins like RafflePress are a perfect way to reach new users. Use common sense and be aware of state and federal laws to avoid any sense of impropriety.
Cost of RafflePress WordPress Plugin
RafflePress is a paid plugin. However, they have several categories of plans, one of which should meet your company’s needs. As you grow, you can always upscale to another plan.
Plus
The Plus plan offers RafflePress for a single site. You’ll have the ability to offer multiple prizes, verify emails, send out notifications and export entries to the database of your choice. The retail price for Plus is $79 per year but they often run sales for new subscribers.
Pro
Pro lets you use RafflePress on three sites. You also gain email integrations and polls/surveys. Pro retails for $199 per year.
Growth
Growth is a good package for a developer with multiple sites. For $399 per year, you can install the plugin on up to 20 sites. In addition to the things you’ll get by upgrading to Pro, you’ll also receive the ability to refer friends and Facebook integration
Ultimate
With the Ultimate package, you can use it on unlimited sites and gain lifetime support. Ultimate runs $999 with a lifetime license. If you plan to use the software for years, then this is the best value overtime.
Again, you can often grab it on sale, which makes it even more affordable.
How to Install and Use RafflePress for Giveaways on Your Site
RafflePress is fairly easy to install and set up. You can use some third-party software to run giveaways but this plugin integrates seamlessly, especially if you upgrade to the Ultimate package.
They do have an option for RafflePress Lite for free, so you can test out the software and see what you think. Will it suit your giveaway promotional needs? However, you’ll miss out on a lot of the best features of RafflePress with the free option. Still, it’s always nice to try a plugin out before spending money because every website is different. What works well for one may not work for another.
Step 1: Install RafflePress
Go to your WordPress dashboard and install the lite version right from there. You can also download RafflePress from RafflePress.com if you plan to upgrade anyway. It saves a step or two. Once installed, click the blue “Activate” button.
Step 2: Settings
Next, navigate to Plugins/RafflePress Lite/Settings. You’ll see a Giveaways Overview screen. This is where you add new giveaways. Click on the orange call to action button.
Step 3: Choose a Template
You get a single giveaway template with the free version. If you upgrade, you’ll gain additional templates and features. For now, let’s focus on the free version. The great thing about RafflePress is that they offer numerous tutorial videos to help you create additional campaigns once you upgrade.
Step 4: Fill in Giveaway Details
The template gives you the option to add prize details, such as a description, ways to enter and start and end time for the drawing. If you want to offer multiple prizes for a single drawing, you’ll need to upgrade to a pro account.
Be sure to click on the tabs on the left to add actions, such as liking a page or certain social media actions. You’ll find a lot of things are grayed out in the free version, such as assigning point values to different actions. Pro entry actions include joining an email newsletter, referring a friend, watching a video and answering a question.
Pros and Cons of Using RafflePress
As with any plugin, there are pros and cons to this one. Overall, we enjoyed testing RafflePress and found it to be an intuitive program that was easy to learn.
Pros
- Nice interface and short learning curve
- Free version available for unlimited trial
- Included popular social sites such as Facebook, X and Pinterest
- Paid version allows you to add watching a video to earn entries
Cons
- A lot of the best features are only available with Pro version and above
- Cost is steep for the yearly renewals. It is a better value to buy the one-time license but it’s a chunk of change for a small business owner.
- Adding your own actions can be a bit confusing and requires some tech savvy.
There are many things to love about RafflePress. It makes running giveaways and promotional campaigns easier, saving you time and effort as a website owner.
RafflePress Adds Value to Marketing Efforts
We often cover plugins that offer security or other basic features for users. RafflePress falls solidly into a promotional tool. The ability to set up a campaign and link it to social media is helpful to any small business owner trying to grow their reach. Give the free version a try and see if it might work to get your name in front of your target audience. If you love the program, you can always upgrade.
