Competitions online and email

Entering online competitions produces emails. Fact. Free or shop-to-enter competitions will increase the amount of emails you get, after all, often the reason competitions are offered in the first place is the privilege of being able to communicate with you. Follow these simple tips, and we'll help you with some of your "mail overload"

One of the main reasons people unsubscribe from Competitions Guide (and similar sites) is the amount of emails received. We send a total of 3 emails a week (two newsletters, and one sponsored). It's the way we earn revenue, and we think/hope we provide a good service in return. But we are only responsible for a small portion of emails you may receive if you enter comp after comp without thinking about it.

Long-term competitions entrants soon figure out their way around various competitions and the amount of emails received, but here are some clues.

Have a separate email address to enter competitions that you believe will produce a lot of email. It's easy to set up a gmail or hotmail account specific to your competitions.

Fine, but should you use your alternate email address for all competitions?

The answer is no. If you like a site (for more than just the competition) enter via your standard email address. Don't miss out on information that you genuinely want to receive.

Keep your standard email address for:

1. Competitions Guide - if you send our emails to your alternate email address you won't be able to access new competitions for the week without having to wait through hundreds of emails.
2.Social sites such as women's groups (Femail, LetsShop etc.). Yes, these do produce some emails, but if you like the site, it's well worth a weekly email or two.
3. Product sites, these tend to be very careful about the amount of emails sent, and if you're a fan then stick around.

Competitions that produce a lot of emails tend to be associated with websites that have no reason for being other than the competition offered.

Use an alternate email address for:

1. Free offer sites (that include only a single competition and nothing else)
2. Reward sites, but caution here, as some of these offer good reasons for joining.
3. Survey sites, there are a lot of these. Some are purely competition-driven, others are pure market research.
4. Free competition sites, by this we mean sites that only send you information on competitions that are advertised everywhere else.

*If you set up an alternate site, be sure to check it regularly. Many competitions will only announce winners via email, and you could miss out on a major prize. Even Competitions Guide members frequently miss competition notifications

Also, be careful of skipping all emails that you get. You may miss out on an offer or new competition that you haven't seen before. The subject line should be a good indication.

Managing your emails takes some practice. Don't ever let emails discourage you from competitions as a hobby, and don't ever dismiss a site just for sending you information.

If you enter a competition and receive an email everyday ... unsubscribe

The whole competitions 'community' is made up of websites that would like to do business with you, either now or in the future.

And best of all, more promoters = more competitions!

*Want to know more about how to win online competitions? - You can buy "Competitions - The Book" online here for only $13.95 including delivery. Click here to order


©Craig Bradley Market Engineering Pty Ltd. 2009. All articles are original content and opinions of the author Craig Seitam. Copying of all or part of any content without the expressed permission of the author is prohibited.