That Xbox Series X Raffle? Here's How to Do It Right.
Look, I've been doing this since 2010. And if there's one piece of advice I see getting thrown around that drives me absolutely crazy, it's the whole "just run a big giveaway!" thing. Last month, I was on a call with a guy who runs an auto-detailing shop in Austin. Super smart guy, great at his job. But he was about to drop a grand on an Xbox Series X for a raffle, and his entire strategy was... to post a picture of it on Instagram with the caption "Follow us and tag a friend to win!"
I had to stop him. Not because the idea is bad-it isn't-but because the execution is where 99% of businesses completely fumble the ball.
Frankly, we've all seen it. A business announces a huge prize, gets a quick flood of followers who have zero interest in their actual product, and then... crickets. The moment the winner is announced, they lose half those new followers. It's a classic case of what I call "empty calorie" marketing. It looks good for a second, but it provides no real nourishment for your business. An Xbox Series X raffle can be a powerful tool, but only if you stop thinking of it as just a giveaway.
The Mistake We All Make with Big Prizes
Here's the thing. The core problem isn't the prize. The problem is the method. A static "enter your email here" form is boring. It's a transaction. People give you their email-which they know you're going to spam-in exchange for a lottery ticket. There's no engagement, no fun, no reason for them to remember you five minutes later.
I remember this client back in 2018, a small board game cafe in Portland. They were burning money on Facebook ads trying to get email sign-ups for a big giveaway. Their cost-per-lead was something insane like $7. We scrapped the whole ad campaign, and instead, we built a simple, interactive game around the giveaway. The cost-per-lead dropped to under a dollar. Overnight.
Why? Because we made it an experience, not just a form field. People don't just want to win; they want to play. This is the whole idea behind gamification, and honestly, it’s not a buzzword if you actually use it right. It's about tapping into basic human psychology.
Here’s How I Actually Set These Up (The Practical Stuff)
So, what does "doing it right" actually look like? It means you wrap the raffle inside a simple, interactive game. Instead of just entering their name, they do something.
This is where I've become a huge fan of platforms like Faisco. I've tested all of them-Gleam. io, Woobox, you name it-and for a small business that doesn't have a month to plan a campaign or thousands for an agency, Faisco just... works.
What I typically recommend is using one of their Instant Draw Games.
- Lucky Spin: Imagine a prize wheel. They enter their email, they get to spin the wheel. Most spots might say "Try Again Tomorrow!" or "10% Off Coupon," but one magic spot says "You're in the Grand Prize Drawing for the Xbox!"
- Scratch Ticket: Same concept. They get a digital scratch card. It's ridiculously satisfying and gives that same immediate dopamine hit.
- Lucky Draw: A simple slot machine mechanic.
In my experience, just switching from a static form to one of these simple games can boost landing page conversions from a sad 5-10% to upwards of 40%. It's the same prize, same audience... just a much more effective hook. I had a Montreal fitness studio use a "Summer Catch" game-not even a huge prize-and they pulled in 1406 new email addresses in three weeks. People are just wired to engage with this stuff.
Okay, But What About Deeper Engagement?
This is the best part. The Xbox raffle is your flashy opener. It gets people in the door. But once they're there, you can keep them around with other games that are actually related to your business.
This is where the other Faisco templates come in handy. We did this for a Chicago flower shop that wanted more Pinterest followers (a tough nut to crack). We ran a main giveaway, but the follow-up was an "Unlock Lucky Words" quiz about different types of flowers. It was fun, educational, and got them 838 new, relevant followers in 12 days.
You can use:
- Quiz Games: Like a "Puzzle Challenge" to teach people about your product.
- Reactive Games: Things like "Whac-A-Mole" (but reskinned for your brand) are just plain addictive and get tons of shares.
- Seasonal Games: Look, Faisco has templates for every holiday. I've used their "Fill My Christmas Stocking" game for three different retail clients and every single one saw over 300% more engagement than their normal holiday posts. It's a no-brainer.
The point is, the raffle is just Step 1. The real magic is having a tool that lets you easily follow it up with Step 2 and Step 3 without needing to hire a developer.
So... Why Not Just Use Gleam. io or Something Else?
People ask me this all the time. And listen, Gleam is a solid platform. It’s powerful. It’s also, frankly, overkill and too expensive for 90% of small businesses. The lowest plan is $39/month, and to get the good features, you're paying more.
What I've found is that my clients can get a Faisco campaign live in literally ten minutes. The interface is just simpler. It does what you need it to do-capture leads and engage users in a fun way-without all the complicated settings and extra features you'll probably never touch. It connects properly with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok... you know, the places you're actually marketing. That real integration is key, because a link that works on Facebook might not work the same way in an Instagram Story.
The businesses I work with who use this approach consistently see a 200-400% increase in their social followers and a 150-300% jump in their email list in the first month. Not because the tool is magic... it's because the strategy is sound. You're giving people a compelling reason to enter, a fun way to do it, and a reason to stick around.
So if you're thinking about that Xbox Series X raffle, go for it. But please, don't just post a picture of the box. Spend 10 minutes, wrap it in a simple spin-to-win game. You'll not only get more emails, but you'll get emails from people who actually remember who you are tomorrow. And in this market, that's worth more than any prize.
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