If you read comping forums and social media, it’s generally regarded that winning prizes has got a lot harder. On top of that the quality of prizes is perhaps not as good as it was. Most certainly the days of big cash prizes, multiple DVDs and 100s of tshirt giveaways are a distant memory. But what is the reality? Is it getting harder to win and are 100s of people entering for low valued prizes. We decided to take a look at a handful of #WinItWednesday competitions on Twitter. Of course this is only a quick snapshot of comping as a whole but we’ll try and look at other sources another time.
Get the year off to a winning start- RT & F for a chance to win a £20 Amazon voucher. Ends 23:00 11/1 #Winitwednesday pic.twitter.com/vsz0KofBYZ
— Vision Direct (@Visiondirect_UK) January 11, 2017
Number Of Entries
We used the Twitter App to search for the #WinItWednesday hashtag – and then looked at the brands, prizes and entries as of 2.45pm on the 11th January 2017.
Magpies Nest – Scarf Of Your Choice (£9.99) – 906
Vision Direct – £20 Amazon Voucher – 1649
Gift Company – Beach Hut Gift Goodies (£6) – 644
Retail Direct – Rochas Muse De Rochas Perfumed Body Lotion (£8.99) – 477
Cinnamora – Cinnamore Drink (?) – 361
Brown Bag Clothing – Cortica Trainers (£45) – 244
My Warehouse Home – Snowden Flood Coasters (?) – 78
Welcome Break – Graze.com Snack Box (?) – 102
Voucher Angels – Healthy Shakes Pack (£19) – 50
Wallflower Kitchen – Crisp & Popcorn Hamper (?) – 134
OMMactive – Open Back Tank Fitness Top (£29) – 54
Dogs Today – The Secret Life Of Puppies (£14.99) – 86
EvoShave – Evoshave Gear & Amazon Voucher (£50) – 442
Word Of Animal Mags – Nature’s Mandalas Books (?) – 190
Lipmate – 4 x Lipbalms (£9.99 each) – 166
Ego Footwear – New Shoes (?) – 652
Search Press Books – A to Z of Sewing For Smockers (£12.99) – 74
Oypla – Leg Exerciser (£29.99) – 419
Laura Marie – Heroine By Urban Decay Lipstick (£15) – 69
Baxi – Size 13/14 Safety Boots (?) – 91
How It Works – Science Books (£60) – 450
Gym Freaks – Clean Eating Alice Book (£7) – 329
Write Size – Bundle Of Products (£30) – 339
NaturVital – Shampoo (?) – 382
Expert Home Tips – Wilkinson Sword Razor Pack (?) – 430
Simply Supplements – Glucosamine (?) – 403
At this point we decided to call it a day.
Let’s chase away the rain and the wind with these summery beach hut goodies! FLW&RT for a chance to win! #winitwednesday pic.twitter.com/WcbvzsgqkW
— Gift Company (@Gift_Company) January 11, 2017
The Prizes On Offer
The prizes on offer are mixed, but vouchers, books, health/beauty products and fitness seem to be the main prize areas. The largest RT to entry is from Vision Direct with 1649 RTs for a £20 Amazon Voucher! The second most entered giveaway was for a £9.99 scarf from Magpies Nest. The value of prizes varies from a few pounds up to £60. Most prizes seem to be in the £10 to £20 range though, which for a one off one day competition is probably reasonable. The fact that Vision Direct can attain a RT of 1649 without a bigger prize would suggest that big name brands can attract entries without necessarily breaking the bank.
#WINITWEDNESDAY IS BACK!
Follow our Page & Retweet this post to #WIN these #Cortica trainers!#Competition https://t.co/s3tsYOfKza pic.twitter.com/owZnoyVvrn— Brown Bag Clothing (@bbclothing) January 11, 2017
Where To Find Prize Draws
On the flipside, smaller brands with selective prizes may be an area for compers to look at for better chances of winning a prize. For example Dogs Today were on just 86 RTs for their Secret Life Of Puppies book prize, whilst OMMactive had attracted just 54 entries for a fitness top. Now it’s not as though finding the above giveaways was difficult. They’re all on the #WinItWednesday hashtag and in theory at least should have been found by comping groups. So the fact that there are still some prizes with <100 entries is promising. Whether that’s the case at the end of play is another matter (we will try and update the numbers).
Win our columnist @CleverDogCo‘s brilliant ‘The Secret Life of Puppies’ for #WinItWednesday – RT to enter! pic.twitter.com/fSXgiI5mpb
— Dogs Today (@Dogs_Today) January 11, 2017
Conclusions
Well it does seem that the quality of prizes on offer is limited. Out of the prizes listed there’s possibly only two or three I’d personally be interested in in terms of prize and value. Most certainly I wouldn’t want to RT every single one listed. Entry levels vary – and it’s not necessarily based on prize value. This is where comping is perhaps slowly strangling itself. Because people are willing to enter for very small value prizes, brands realise they can achieve successful levels by just offering small prizes. The number of entries increase as people seek for an elusive win and so the value of prizes can decrease further… more entries makes it harder to win… people enter more and the circle continues.
Beat those January Blues with the chance to WIN a Leg Exerciser 😱 simply RT & FLW @Oypla to enter! #winitwednesday pic.twitter.com/Tc3ML8wx6f
— Oypla (@Oypla) January 11, 2017
Simplistic View
Of course this is all a very simplistic viewpoint. #WinItWednesday is a one day giveaway, we’ve only taken a snapshot of what’s on offer and the number of entries reflects the number of followers a brand has and not everyone entering will be a comper. We will try and review this another time and perhaps also on a FreebieFriday when bigger brands get involved. However there’s enough information to suggest you can find low entry comps among the numerous giveaways and that there are some decent prizes about if you’re after something specialised (fitness, health, pets etc).