If so, why? If not, why not? These are the questions I have been asking myself regarding a client’s contest.
As you may know, back in the spring I announced my intention to begin focusing my attention towards seeking full-time employment and scale back ContestQueen.com to a part-time enterprise. (Read the full blog post here.) In June I had the opportunity to interview with SaleSpider (@SaleSpider). They were seeking a Social Media Marketing Manager. I didn’t get the job, however they did hire me to help them with a contest they were running. Their promotion, “Refer, Earn & WIN!” launched at the beginning of July. (Read the full blog post here.)
I am asking myself the above questions because the promotion isn’t getting the response SaleSpider or I expected. Is it because my audience isn’t their audience? I know not every sweeper would be interested in their website or services, but so many people work in small or medium-sized businesses, I thought there would be more overlap. Is it because the incentive or prize is all wrong? I thought, “Who doesn’t want to get $1 for every friend we refer that enters and an entry to win an iPad?” Heck, most of us do that for free every day, sometimes several times a day. Is it because it’s not a quick online entry form?
I would appreciate your feedback as to why you would, or why you wouldn’t, enter SaleSpider’s “Refer, Earn & WIN!” sweepstakes.
THANKS!
Tags: SaleSpider, sweepstakes
I don’t enter pop-up ad campaigns, and I don’t like to “sell” my friends and relatives email addresses. It doesn’t look like fun to do and there is no “validator” on it which would make it sound safe to enter
Anet
I will say I enter a lot of contests but would not touch
this one. The first thing I ask myself is ‘Why are they
running the contest?’. In this case it looks like it is
to promote their referral links to Vista Print and KineticD. The buttons are nicely ‘pre-checked’ for those
who do not pay attention. I question what other sort of
Spam are they going to send my way as well as the friends
that I may refer.
In a nutshell there is a ‘trust issue’ with this contest.
PS — I do use Vista Print and like their services. I just
don’t care for the daily Spam I get from their referrers.
I do not enter refer to win contests — and would especially not enter one that pays me to refer people. If I’m excited about a product or a prize I will tell a zillion people. When I win things everyone I encounter knows about the prize and the sponsor… from a movie pass to a big prize — I talk. I also talk about the great bus driver I had, the fantastic cashier, the fabulouis find at a store etc etc but if my first encounter with a company is it paying me to tell people about it I run because real & trustworthy word of mouth happens naturally without compensation.
I agree with what all the above posters posted
I agree with what was said above, its too much like those companies that give you a $500 gift card, with participation ( buy books etc„)
My first impression when looking at the page is “scam”. Whenever I see “refer users” and “earn money”, that’s what I think. It doesn’t say anywhere on the page (of that link you provided above) what the company is or does and it doesn’t look like I would find out these answers unless I join first. And it says that you have 670,000 users already, so what are the odds that I am going to win that one available prize. I certainly wouldn’t be expecting to win at all so why bother entering. And lastly, I will not give out my friends’ email addresses without their permission.
This type of contest reminds people of the chain letters where you will get some $$$ and it will increase as the chain gets bigger. Where money is involved people shy away; it becomes too complicated for them and they fear that it is a hoax.
I agree with the above. The design of the website is “scammy” or “MLM” looking. I don’t give out anyone’s email address that I know. “Let us know where we can send your $1000 check” sounds like the Reader’s Digest scams. Testimonials sound scammy. Pre-checked affiliate boxes are scammy. The privacy policy:
“E. Information and Offers That May Be of Interest To You
If you voluntarily supply personally identifiable information that includes contact information, we may, from time to time, contact you or give your contact information to third parties so that they may contact you, to call your attention to products or services that may be of interest to you. When you submit personally identifying information, if the information might be used for this purpose, then you will be given the opportunity, at the time of submission, to decline to receive such communications. If you decline at that time, or if you chose to opt out later, you will not receive such communications utilizing the personally identifiable information collected on Salespider.com. You can choose to opt out later by clicking the “Unsubscribe” button included on the bottom of every email you receive from us. ”
YUCK!
Something about the page screams scam website,perhaps the lack of links at the bottom of the page plus while i do refer contests to friends ‚i dont want to “sell” to them.I think the fact that it sells and a contest just dont mix well for me.I dont like contests with “ties” that way.
When I looked at the web page I thought it was a scam. I did not trust the site nor the refer a friend option.
I wouldn’t have even clicked this if you weren’t speaking about it in this context. It looks extra spammy.
I have started surveys on sites like this to win a prize, but I soon realize they are asking for too much information. I fear it may not be legitimate at all, just somebody who is looking for another identity to steal. I put them all in the same bucket unless I am sure about them. I would not enter unless someone like you recommended it. I hate voting and referral sites!
I avoid referral contests. Most people I know don’t like to receive referral links unless they are a contester. The main reason people end up winning these kinds of contests, is by posting their referral link at contest sites first.
I feel each time there is a very long list of terms and rules there is something to hide. i do not like to enter without reading and if it is too long I dont read. As if you register without reading you take the chance of getting in trouble.
Also To have any attraction to read that I need to know what it is about in short (and that option is not available) the only way to know what it is about is seriously only read that few pages of boring rules…
Nope let someone else to win the ipad, if the developers of the site did not work hard to make me comfortable and easy to get through that, i do not need that ipad winning chance for reading that boring stuff…
Sorry not meaning to offend anyone but this is my real feeling about all those registrations.…
I agree with what was said above. I think the website looks spammy. The biggest thing for me was the refer friends and get paid part of it. My friends don’t need any more spam than they get. They’d definately resent it so I wouldn’t do it.
My first thought upon seeing there was a $1 referral fee was to wonder about the payout requirements. A $100 minimum before payment seems awfully high for the average user. I’ve been involved in various other affiliate/referral arrangements before where I never reached the minimum, so I’m very picky about which ones I get involved in now. I don’t want to put in a lot of effort and potentially get nothing.
My other big concern is that it’s not your typical enter-and-win-x situation. If I’m bothering my people with it, I want the benefit to them to be crystal clear.
Finally I noticed that the people I refer have to “complete their profile” to count as one of my referrals. I’ve participated in some (bad) contests in the past where I could never get it to consider my profile complete — despite following all the instructions I could find. So in the back of my mind, I’m wondering if the software for this contest is any better. (And this is where the vaguely spammy feel other commenters have mentioned comes into play.)
I have to admit that I do not refer my friends, but I do refer contests, if I so choose. The $1 referral is not the type of website that I would get involved in. I could imagine my computer getting deluged with unwanted e-mail.
This contest did’nt interest me and I don’t like to send my friends alot of stuff as they are’nt into contesting like myself.
As others have said I dont want to sell my friends emails, and dont trust this kind of “contest” — it is not a true contest.
I won’t see out my friends– they don’t contest or enter sweeps– and I already get far too much spam.
I never enter referral contests because I don’t want to give out friends and families email addresses. I enter sweeps, most of them do not. I really do want an iPad, but I’m not going to do that to get one.
I also wish sponsors would stop with the public voting contests/sweepstakes. Nothing more than popularity contests and I am really sick of them.
They are basically the only two sweeps that I won’t enter.
I lost interest when it was stated that it was for Canadians only, but I must say I usually don’t like to give my friend’s e-mail addresses up to a company I don’t know.
Correction:I did see that it’s open to US residents, but the second part of my statement stands. Sorry about that.
yep. I do not like to give out friends e mails. from time to time I enter sales sites and I do let some friends know what is on sale. These sites do have drawings for prizes, which I like to check on from time to time to see what is given away. I feel like I must give out e mail info, which I do not like to do.
I don’t recall entering this contest, but the referrals don’t appeal to me either…I only send referrals if my friends would benefit by entering the contest and the $1 per referral does not interest me so much. The prize is a nice win, but perhaps via facebook it would have been posted to my wall and this would be a better approach? I also think it didn’t look legit.
Looked like scam to me and I don’t refer email addresses as a general rule.
Not interested in social networking (call me anti-social — lol). I also don’t like to refer friends to possible scams and spam — I just don’t want to bother them with what is often crap. I also don’t have a crying need for an iPad right now, though I’m sure it would be fun to have one. All in all, include me out (as Sam Goldwyn said).
I agree totally with the first 3 posters and what some of the others have said. I never refer friend unless they already
This contest looked like a scam to me, plus I hate spiders so just to see that was an immediate delete!
i thought it seemed like a contest i couldn’t trust…
also, to get $1 for each referral makes it sound like even more of a scam. i don’t like to refer others..i might share it with them and let them decide. Way too much info was needed…
I missed your initial request, but I only enter myself in contests. I always pass on the option to include friends because I don’t want them to get spammed. This applies to all contests, regardless of the sponsor.