So, you’re like Oprah when it comes to giving away free stuff. Your customers must love you. But if you want to run a successful contest, a contest flow is going to be pretty crucial. You can’t just dump these contacts into a generic lead nurture flow – you need information specific to the contest. 

The purpose: Build hype for the contest while strategically sharing the information they need to become a customer.

The strategy: Recap what they can win, why it’s relevant to them, why they should care about the products, and get them acquainted with who you are, who you help, and what you bring to the table.

While it is similar in nature to a lead nurture flow, it needs to be specifically tailored to the contest offer. If it’s not relevant, people aren’t going to care, open the emails, click, or buy. That being said, a contest flow should typically have anywhere from five to 10 or more emails. The higher the value of the contest prize, the higher number of emails you should have.

While this flow doesn’t form part of the Six eCommerce Core Email Marketing Pillars, it is an essential sequence if you want to see actual return on your contests.