We’ve already talked about how promotions and contests provide excellent opportunities for lead generation. And we can also confirm that the success of these dynamization campaigns depends on how appealing the promotion is to the user. Now, what is the most important factor when planning your promotion? Well, one way to look at it is that a user will generally decide whether to take part in a promotion by weighing up whether the prize on offer is worth the effort required for participation.
As for what to request of users, we can highlight two key points:
- The dynamic of the contest itself. This will determine whether participants are required to generate photo or video content, or whether they are asked to buy a product, call in at the store, etc.
- The data that participants are required to provide in the Entry Form.
Today, we’re going to focus on the second point and on how much information you should ask participants to supply via these forms to ensure they don’t put people off participating.
How to design the perfect Entry Form
There’s no magic formula for the Entry Form; everything depends on the goals your brand has established for the campaign and the Inbound phase that the leads the campaign is aimed at are in. Although there are no hard and fast rules, experience tells us that the forms should ideally contain between 3 and 6 fields. Having said that, we have seen successful Entry Forms that contain more than 10 fields.
Again, the key to success is finding the right balance between what you’re offering participants and what you’re asking them to do. Before you decide, ask yourself the following questions:
- What information do you need in order to manage your relationship with your leads?
- Is there any specific information that can help you identify and get to know your contacts?
- What information can participants provide that will let you know whether they are qualified leads?
- What fields are likely to be omitted by those who are only interested in the prize and not in your brand or products?
Remember to ask only for the strictly essential and keep in mind that generally – though there have been some exceptions – an excessively long form will reduce participation. The shorter a form is, the less likely it is to be rejected by participants.
Entry Forms to match each phase of the Inbound Marketing process
Let’s look at another factor: the Inbound Marketing phase where your leads are situated. We already mentioned above that your promotion objective should help you select which fields to include in the Entry Form. The phase you are targeting is therefore a key element.
Forms for the TOFU phase
This is the initial phase – when you’re capturing a lead for the first time. You want participants to provide you with contact information but you still have to gain their trust. Be moderate: full name, country and email address should be enough for now. We use this type of form in promotions aimed at capturing new clients, for example in a sweepstakes.
Forms for the MOFU phase
In this phase, you want to make a big impact on the leads you’ve already been nurturing, and you need to deepen your knowledge of them to help guide your sales strategy successfully. Now is the time to request more information from participants, using open questions, dropdown menus and fields to give you some insight into how to encourage participants to progress through the sales funnel and how to segment them based on different variables. An appropriate promotion in this case would be a survey in which participants are offered the chance to win a prize.
Forms for the BOFU phase
We are now one step away from turning those leads into new customers. It’s important to be sure that the prize is equal to the occasion: only if a prize is sufficiently appealing to participants can you ask them to make an extra effort by filling in more fields on the Entry Form. This is the right moment to ask for participants’ telephone numbers or other personal details to ensure that their purchasing experiences are excellent. For example, during this phase you could propose an action with promotional codes in which – after filling in a series of fields – the user will receive a code that can be redeemed for a discount, gift or service.
Now you’ve read our tips for creating a successful Entry Form, give it a go! And don’t forget to tell us which forms work best with your leads. Log in to Easypromos and set up your promotion now!
