At the height of the win a house competition boom a number of platforms tried to establish themselves as the goto places for individuals to “raffle” their own properties. Instead of building their own websites, owners could simply set up a giveaway and get going. Raffall dominated this arena but this didn’t stop others trying. Platforms like Raffique and Froghopping aimed to get a piece of the action. The former was created by a home owner who had previously used Raffall but sadly this venture failed despite a valiant attempt to give away various properties and other prizes. Froghopping however was dedicated to providing an estate agent style platform for win a house prize draws. Whilst the name was a bit strange they did at least provide plenty of details on the properties that could be won. They also came up with a way for hosts to earn a small amount of revenue by offering 1% of ticket sales even if an insufficient number of tickets were sold. Nice ideas but sadly these weren’t enough to generate any property winners or establish them as a property prize draw platform. By the end of 2022 they’d stopped running any house giveaways and it now seems that the site has closed down. Yes it looks like Froghopping has hopped off and croaked it.
Where Did It Go Wrong?
Froghopping launched in February 2021 with two prize draws, one for an £800,000 home in New Haven and the other for a £350,000 family home in Canterbury. Whilst it was good to see a new platform in the sector the first mistake they made was selling tickets at £20 each. This made them quite expensive in comparison to other options and the properties weren’t exactly in the same category as those that can be won on Omaze. Further prize draws (Rye, Gainsborough, Rushcliffe – a previous Raffique alumni, London and The Algarve) were added to Froghopping but ticket sales weren’t great. In fact the New Haven prize draw which ended in November, following an extension from May, only sold just over 1100 tickets. Despite talking a good game, Froghopping – as far as we’re aware – did little to no promotions or advertising of their platform. It’s no wonder that they didn’t sell tickets! However the biggest error they made was dropping the ticket price down to £1. Now cheaper tickets should attract more interest but they made changes during other promotions. This meant that those who had entered earlier had paid £19 more for the chance to win than other entrants. Any trust and goodwill built up amongst early adopters quickly evaporated. The lack of ticket sales also meant that cash prizes weren’t exactly great either. The New Haven property did create a £5500 winner but after that the cash amounts dropped to £500.
Poor Performance
Whether it was due to user backlash or lack of interest, Froghopping also stopped using social media. When you look at competition sites such as McKinney and Bounty, socials are what they use to build an audience. So shutting it off probably wasn’t a good move either. The biggest surprise with respect to Froghopping was that they kept going despite poor ticket sales and never creating a house winner. The luxury villa in Portugal which only generated a £729.23 cash winner in 2021 went round again in 2022 and was joined by the Canterbury Home, also trying again. A London flat and a final property located in Airdrie completed Froghopping’s attempts in the sector. By the end of 2023 the brand’s poor performance alongside a lot less home owners looking to “raffle” as opposed to sell via the traditional market saw Froghopping have no property prize draws on their site. They did run a cash prize giveaway as a way to keep things going but that never seemed to take off. As far as we know no winners were ever announced for the last few house prize draws (this is backed up by Trustpilot Reviews). We’re not convinced that Froghopping won from this venture either. Assuming the 80% cash prizes paid out were on total ticket sales then that would have meant that they made between £100 and £1000 per draw. Of course they may have taken costs before the 80% calculation and were meant to have donated funds to Shelter but there was never any transparency or paper trail. Unfortunately that’s one of the downsides with having no regulation with respect to these kind of prize draw sites.
What Now For Property Prize Draws?
It’s fair to say that the property prize draw boom is well and truly over, at least for now. The sector is now dominated by Omaze and wannabes like Raffle House and Win A Home. Tramway Path have done exceptionally well too! However the number of individuals looking to “sell” their family homes via prize draws has dropped to rock bottom with only the occasional property now popping up on Raffall. The problem is that it’s not an easy process. Individuals trying to do it themselves can actually end up losing money and – after several months of running a promotion – still have to go through traditional routes to sell. Raffling a home requires a good platform with an interested audience and plenty of marketing. Bounty and McKinney are well established prize draw sites and have successfully created property winners but they’re selective in what they offer (something they know will work) – and there’s always a cash alternative. Plus they run pay to enter prize draws for cash, holidays, tech etc so they’re not reliant on one or two prizes. For something like a Froghopping site to work it’d need to build trust and reputation, have a siginificant active and willing to pay audience, offer properties that were attractive but with cash alternatives, and maybe run other prize draws. It’d also need homeowners willing to try the format and this is where the whole thing comes unstuck. Whilst the housing market is bouyant and properties are selling, homeowners are not going to look at alternatives. They especially won’t look at one which doesn’t have the best track record thanks to poor services such as Froghopping.