Sweepstakes: A Proven Vertical with Limitless Potential

There is nothing new under the moon, as they say — the human desire to gain something by investing nothing has definitely been around since the dawn of time. We are talking about the draws and giveaways that have been on their top game for decades by now — the sweepstakes niche. Far from getting weary, the audience is willing to enter almost any giveaway there is, and the range of products available to marketers is only getting more diverse as the years go by.

In today’s article, we are going to take a measure of the sweepstakes vertical as of 2024 and take stock of the marketing strategies and approaches that will help promote affiliate offers. Ready, steady, go!

Sweepstakes market in a nutshell

Sweepstakes are about a game of chance, where the players get together, and the winner sweeps the stakes. A typical funnel works as follows: the user sees the banner, fills out a contact form, and enters the draw, enabling the advertiser to collect a database of users.

While browsing for offers, in addition to the sweepstakes, you will also see such terms as SOI, DOI, and CC Submit. These are different types of campaign flows that differ in the degree of user involvement:

• Single Opt-In (SOI) offers tend to get more leads, but they also attract free riders and fake users, which are not the target audience of the advertiser.
• Double Opt-In (DOI) is the middle of the road, where the user is required to confirm their subscription. This extra step improves the quality of traffic, filtering out mismatching prize-hunters. DOI also offers higher payouts, compared to SOI.
• Credit Card Submit (CC Submit) requires an even greater commitment from the user, but the leads generated are marked by quality. This type of sweeps delivers the highest payouts.

For more information about sweepstakes, refer to our dedicated article, explaining subtypes, best practices, and key things to remember.

How sweepstakes work

Of course, affiliate marketers don’t set up the giveaways or send out prizes, they promote sweepstakes offers like they would in any other vertical. Here’s an outline of a campaign setup for the sweepstakes vertical:

1. Find a sweepstakes offer that matches your experience and ad budget. YepAds has a slew of in-demand products straight from the advertiser, make sure to discuss suitable options with your manager.
2. Research your audience and their preferences. Make sure your creatives align with the audience’s tastes and needs. It’s a good idea to add a sense of urgency or scarcity to your promos to make the offer resonate with users on an emotional level.
3. Pick the most suitable traffic source. Sweepstakes ad campaigns most often rely on social media platforms and email marketing, alternatively, check the RON option with the ad network of your choice. Besides, most ad formats from push notifications to trusty banners and pop ads perform well for sweepstakes campaigns.
4. Get going. Run the ad campaign, keep track of its performance, adjust and optimize accordingly to the data you get. Sweepstakes vertical is a promising choice for any marketer because these timeless offers convert well regardless of your experience. Whether you have been driving traffic for a few months or are used to generating seven-figure revenue — sweepstakes will not disappoint.
5. Good job! Get your payout for the approved leads, then analyze the results to scale the campaign or transfer your success to the next offer with a more relevant prize (since the popularity of certain gifts may wane with time).

Popular prizes for sweepstakes

Speaking of prizes that are more likely to fly than flop, fresh editions of popular gadgets (like iPhone or MacBook) and coupons/vouchers are the traditional top picks for sweepstakes. The key idea in choosing a prize is it must be appealing, nothing else.

If that sounds vague, don’t fret, the YepAds pros are happy to share the hottest takes that show admirable performance. For example, in case of CC Submits classic Apple and Samsung products, Home Depot goods, sport streaming services, and Hiking items work well.

Top GEOs you should pay attention to are:

1. The United States
2. Western Europe (Tier-1 countries)

Why audiences love sweepstakes

Sweepstakes and prize giveaways tap into a multitude of psychological motivators that make them highly attractive to people. If you understand what drives your audience to prize draws, you have a better chance of converting them. Let’s take a quick dive into their psychology.

• The allure of free stuff: we are naturally wired to seek gain and avoid loss. This is why people are so attracted to sweepstakes: they can’t miss that sweet chance of getting something while risking nothing.
• The dopamine rush: in their mind, entering a lottery takes them one step closer to becoming a winner, even if the odds are low. This creates a positive emotional loop, encouraging people to sign up and take every chance they get at gaining the prize.

• The sense of control: for sweepstakes that require additional steps like subscribing to a newsletter or creating an account on the advertiser’s website, taking these steps provides users with a sense of control that sounds like: “It’s not just luck. Now I’ve done this and that, I’m closer to winning than everybody else.”
• Quid pro quo: users get a chance of winning, and they feel that it’s fair that they should give something in return. And like we have mentioned above, small bits of personal information do not sound like a heavy price in 2024.
• Don’t miss out: call it what you want, FOMO or herd mentality, but people hate missing out on something, especially opportunities to win. This is why timers and other urgency triggers on your landers and creatives work like magic.

Why affiliates love sweepstakes

If you still hesitate to test-drive a sweepstakes offer (or two), here are some reasons why this vertical has been a hit with affiliate marketers for years and years.

• Plenty of offers: the variety of sweepstakes offers is only limited by the variety of prizes — in other words, unlimited. Over the years, this niche has been flooded with new advertisers, so there is no shortage of choice regarding offers.
• Easy start: sweepstakes offers are relatively easy to promote, even for beginner marketers or those more experienced in a different niche. You will not need any special skills or groundbreaking strategies to get started in sweepstakes.
• Low entry threshold: sweepstakes is a low-budget vertical with a diverse target audience that covers all imaginable age groups and GEOs thanks to a variety of gifts. Campaign flows and ad formats that go with sweepstakes are also a testament to the vertical’s versatility.
• Easy to scale: thanks to the simplicity of campaign flows and the attraction of “winning a prize”, sweepstakes provide for much flexibility. Scale up or down, halt or launch for more GEOs — this vertical is rather easy to manage.

Tips and insights for better results

The team of experts at YepAds is always happy to lend you a hand in driving traffic, creating promos, and optimizing your ad campaigns to get the maximum profit. Here are some tips that will make your marketing journey easier.

• Promote across multiple channels: don’t limit yourself to one traffic source and use social media channels, email, or paid ads in different combinations to boost your audience reach.
• Offer additional value: if the terms of the offer allow for it, add more value to attract leads. For instance, a smartphone as a prize plus a software starter pack. This is not costly in terms of money but will make your offer much more appealing to the audience.
• Optimize campaign flows for mobile traffic: all creatives, landers, and pre-landers should be accessible and user-friendly for mobile devices that have more than half of the traffic flows.
• Monitor stats and adapt: keep track of your CTR and cut off ad placements that do not pass the quality threshold.
• Personalize your ads: adapt your campaigns to the language, device, time zone, and other precision data suited for your target audience. For example, an email received at night is likely to be missed by the user, while a notification scheduled for lunch will probably reach its destination (many people tend to scroll through their feed during meals).

Final words

Sweepstakes have consistently been a profitable vertical for many years (if not decades), making them a great choice for both new and experienced affiliate marketers. This niche boasts stability, which in turn attracts advertisers and fosters a competitive landscape with diverse offers.

The sweepstakes industry keeps growing globally, with the US and Europe as its primary markets. The growing number of advertisers and mounting competition do not seem to oversaturate the market, but only attract more attention from the audience with the variety of prizes. For example, the lottery market (the biggest share of the sweepstakes niche) is expected to reach 15.1 billion by 2028.

YepAds network has seen the sweepstakes market flourish over the years, and our team will be happy to share their expertise and guide you towards your next marketing success. Driving traffic to direct offers from advertisers is a great way to enter a vertical for beginner affiliates. At the same time, the sheer volume of traffic in this vertical means that an experienced media buying team will not face any limitations in scaling ad campaigns.

All in all, consider the sweepstakes vertical as your next affiliate marketing endeavor and reach out for insights if you need our guidance. Go catch your luck!