Five Giveaway Statistics Worth Acting On

We looked at two sets of Gleam data, and each finding tells you which one it comes from.

The first covers every Gleam competition that got at least 100 people entering, 167,071 of them. It's the one that lets you compare a business with its own previous giveaway. The second is 116,499 giveaways run by 17,633 businesses, with crypto, ambiguous and purchase-only campaigns removed.

Every figure compares businesses that set their giveaways up differently, so none of them proves a setting caused a result. We'll say so where it matters.

If you've run a giveaway before, the most useful benchmark you have is your own last result.

A business's next giveaway usually lands close to its last one, whenever it runs. Among Gleam competitions with at least 100 people entering, a giveaway launched within 30 days of the same business's previous one got about 2 percent fewer people than that previous giveaway at the halfway mark, and 48 percent of them beat it. Gaps of 31 to 90 days, 91 to 365 days and over a year landed between about 5 percent fewer and 2 percent more. From 115,970 relaunches run by 8,840 businesses, each compared with its own previous giveaway.

So a quick relaunch doesn't buy you a bigger crowd on its own. The prize value is where the gap opened up.

Raising the prize value went with a bigger next giveaway, and cutting it went with a smaller one. Among Gleam competitions with at least 100 people entering, a giveaway launched within 30 days of the same business's previous one with a prize value at least 10 percent higher got about 16 percent more people than that previous giveaway at the halfway mark, and 60 percent of them beat it. With about the same prize value, about 2 percent fewer. With a prize value at least 10 percent lower, about 17 percent fewer. From 11,137, 11,723 and 11,045 relaunches run by 2,184, 2,113 and 2,172 businesses, counting only giveaways where every prize had a USD value. Prize values are what the business typed in at setup rather than what they paid. A business that raises its prize may be promoting harder at the same time.

You'll relaunch fastest if you copy your last campaign, so the setup carries over. Then set the prize value before you touch anything else.

If you plan to run again, give people a reason to come back between giveaways with Gleam Rewards.

A longer action list turned fewer viewers into entrants, and those giveaways still finished larger. Among Gleam giveaways with at least 100 people entering, those asking for 3 actions or fewer turned 44 of every 100 viewers into an entrant and got 443 people. Those asking for 11 or more turned 31 of every 100 into an entrant and got 518 people. From 10,802 short giveaways run by 2,596 businesses and 6,762 long ones run by 998, all 14 days or shorter with no repeatable action. The long ones reached more people, which is where the higher total came from.

A big entry total does not mean a big crowd. Among Gleam giveaways with at least 100 people entering, those asking for 3 actions or fewer got about 1.3 entries per person. Those asking for 11 or more got about 9.3 entries per person. More actions means each person can earn more entries. From 10,802 giveaways run by 2,596 businesses against 6,762 run by 998.

Every extra action is one more place someone can give up, especially if it sends them to a site they don't already use. A mandatory action raises the stakes, because anyone who skips it can't enter at all.

Pick the one or two actions that get you what you need, usually the email or the follow, and make only those mandatory.

You can leave the rest optional.

Among giveaways that got at least 100 people entering, turnout rises with prize value up to about $2,500, then it almost stops rising. Prize under $50: 266 people, from 6,063 giveaways run by 1,066 businesses. $1,000 to $2,499: 1,307 people, from 6,428 giveaways. $2,500 to $4,999: 2,107 people, from 2,763. $5,000 to $9,999: 2,152 people, from 1,099. The jump from the $2,500 band to the $5,000 band is almost nothing. Prize values are what the business typed in at setup rather than what they paid. Bigger budgets usually come with bigger audiences, so the prize is not the whole story.

Among giveaways that recorded a prize value, those that finished with 1,000 to 2,500 people listed a typical pool of $534, across 20,090 giveaways. Those past 10,000 people listed $3,000, across 3,218. These are the values businesses typed in at setup.

Size your prize to what you can deliver well.

Then put the rest of your effort into a prize your audience wants.

Most Christmas giveaways are finished before Christmas Day arrives. Christmas giveaways ran 10 days and started 17 days before the holiday. Three quarters of them closed before the day itself. They got 587 people. From 4,895 giveaways run by 1,559 businesses, all with at least 100 people entering.

That's 19% more people than the typical Gleam giveaway with at least 100 people entering, which got 492. Among Christmas giveaways that ran 14 days or less with no repeatable action, 39% of viewers entered, against 34.5% for the typical giveaway run the same way. From 2,165 Christmas giveaways.

Every other brand is planning a December push too, so book your dates early. You'll want to close at least three days before Christmas.

Start from a Christmas template and you can set it up today.

Gleam's giveaway planning skills are built on the 116,499 giveaways behind the last three findings. Build your giveaway in Competitions.