Tips to Improve Your Odds of Winning Sweepstakes and Contests
The costs for entering most sweepstakes has fallen considerably from the days of costly first class postage to the virtual no cost world of internet online and email entries. For those with the time and inclination to spend hours in front of their computer screens, the potential for considerable gains is in the offing. At the same time, one needs to proceed cautiously. While the majority of sweepstakes are run by honest manufacturers, advertisers and marketing companies of the highest standing, there are scammers and dishonest people that create tempting websites and offer prizes aimed at obtaining valuable personal information from you as a step in identity theft or to bombard you with unwanted and unsolicited emails, telephone calls or even worse, spreading and infecting your PC with online viruses.
Whether you have just begun entering sweepstakes or have been entering them for years with mixed results, the information provided will at worse be worth reading and at best help you avoid some of the pitfalls and improve your chances of winning some of the great prizes being offered.
Getting Started (Look Before You Leap)
Before getting caught up in the frenzy of entering sweepstakes and contests, be sure to have computer security as your top priority. Having anti-virus software and appropriate firewalls can make the difference between a fun and profitable pastime or an identity theft nightmare. While having anti-virus software and firewalls is no guarantee against viruses and identity theft, they will go a long way in minimizing the risks associated with entering sweepstakes and contests online. Even with these tools, it is highly recommended that you run spyware and virus scans on your computer files at least weekly and even daily.
Focus on What You Want to Win
At any given time, there are thousands of sweepstakes and contests actively running offering all types of prizes valued from pennies to thousands of dollars and in some sweepstakes, cold hard cash! Regardless of whether you have 15 minutes a day/week to enter sweepstakes and contests or you have an unlimited amount of time and energy, you’ll improve your odds of winning by focusing on what you’d like rather than spending valuable time on prizes you don’t really care about. There are a number of sweepstakes services available either for free or low cost membership that can help you sort through the multitude of possibilities. Picking through a generalized search for sweepstakes or contests is generally not a winning strategy.
Have an Entry Strategy for Sweepstakes and Contests
Regardless of the time you have available for submitting entries, having a well thought out sweepstakes strategy will help you improve your odds of winning. The two broadest categories of sweepstake/contest submission are “one time only” entries and daily entries. Other variations abound such as multiple daily, weekly, monthly and the “unlimited entries” and least desirable from a entrants perspective albeit highly desirable for the sweepstake/contest promoter. Assuming a level playing field, single entry per household contests generally offer the fairest odds of winning depending of course on a multitude of factors including geographic limitations if any and duration of the contest. Single entry, short duration and limited geographic participation will likely yield the best odds.
Take a few minutes to consider the various possibilities and dedicate your time and effort to improve your odds of winning. Many people wading into the sweepstakes pool have a somewhat limited understanding of the lengths entrants will go to win a prize. Taking a few minutes to read a sampling of sweepstakes and contests rules provided by the sponsor or promoter will give one a sense of the volume of entries that will likely be submitted. The idea here is not to spend your valuable time perusing contest rules but rather to give you a sense of what occurs in the real world. Clarity of rules and limitations provided by the sponsor vary greatly from crystal clear to vague at best, contradictory et al. The key variables for submission are generally frequency, age and residence.
Single Entry per Household – Generally speaking, this type of sweepstake gives all entrants an equal chance of winning. The odds of winning will be determined by the number of entrants. What constitutes a “Household” will normally be defined the rules for the contest. One key component here is what the sponsor does when receiving more than one entry per household? Are duplicates discarded or does the sponsor disqualify the household for more than one entry? Keeping track of single entry contests can be the most difficult and if not done carefully the most self-defeating. If you are a serious player, low-cost software is available to help you manage and keep track of your entries.
Single Entry per Email Address or IP Address – This type of entry can be very specific and the sponsor of the sweepstakes links the email address to your residence address and therefore generally limits entry. Others link the email address to the IP address to prevent multiple entries from the same computer, but certainly not in all cases. Those contests that don’t require your residence address can therefore be less than compelling to enter because more sophisticated entrants use multiple variations of their email address to submit virtually unlimited entries, each with a unique email address with thousands of entries depending on the value of the prizes being offered.
Daily Entry per Household – This is the most desirable of the daily entries from an odds of winning perspective. When entering this type of contest, it is best to consider there are hundreds or thousands of sweeps players that are entering daily for the duration of the contest. If the duration is one month, typical for many contests, than consider how many times you are likely to enter the same contest. If only one entry, than the sweeps player entering daily has a 30 to 1 edge on you of winning. Very long odds…
Daily Entry per Email Address – Less desirable entry unless linked to either IP address or residence. If residence information is not required and unique IP address is not required, then the odds of winning a valued prize are slim at best. Consider for low value prizes of interest or very short duration contests.
Limited Number of Daily Entries – Even less desirable unless you are willing to submit the maximum number of entries for each day the contest runs to gain an equal chance at winning the prize. Assume there are hundreds or thousands of sweeps players submitting the maximum number of entries per day.
Unlimited Number of Entries – Least desirable of all the entry frequencies and while the prizes offered may be spectacular, in most cases you will be better served by avoiding these contests or submitting one or two entries every few days for the duration of the contest. This way, you are “in” the contest but not wasting your time submitting entries when you can be entering other contests where you have better odds of winning.
There are a number of frequency variations not mentioned above including weekly, monthly, annual with a seemingly endless number of rule twists that must be read and then reread to be understood. Unless the contest is very unique and/or a prize you can’t resist, your time can usually be better spent on sweepstakes and contest with a more level playing field.
Things to Consider Before Entering a Sweepstakes
The Reach and Scope of the Sweepstakes – An old but worthwhile adage is to enter those contests and sweepstakes limited to those residing in a specifc geographic area such as a city only, state only or a specific region of the country. Contests and sweepstakes open to entrants of the United States cast a pretty big net when it comes to the number of submissions. If the contest allows entries from countries other than the USA, then the odds get even longer and a given sweepstakes may have a million or several million entries.
The Duration of Sweepstakes or Contest – Some contests have a submission duration of only hours and while the prizes associated with this limited duration contest are usually lower in value, assuming single or limited entries per household, your odds of winning are quite good compared to longer running contests. A number of sweepstakes run for a 24 hour period and entry submission times will depend on contest rules and the indicated time zone. Weekly and monthly contests are more common and again, when compared to multiple month durations, are superior when it comes to the odds of winning a given prize.
Newsletters and Mailing Lists – The motivation for many sponsors and promoters of contests and sweepstakes is to obtain your permission to add you to their email and/or postal mailing lists. While adding your email address is a relatively painless procedure, the removal may be more involved and time consuming. Some promoters specially state in their contest rules that if an entrant removes their email address from the list, they will be disqualified from winning the contest. Many variations of the rules but the intent is generally the same, that is to retain you on their mailing. Some sweepstakes over the opportunity to opt out of newsletters and mailings but chances are that if you enter a promotion more than once with the same sponsor, you will eventually forget to opt out and your inbox will begin gaining volume. Read the rules carefully and you may find that all previous entrants from other contests may also be eligible to win. That may mean you are entering a contest that has millions of entrants and a low probability of ever winning.