I need help and have some questions about setting up a contest/giveaway. 150 USD

Discussion in 'Promo Codes and Contests' started by magicgamestudio, Dec 3, 2014.

  1. magicgamestudio

    magicgamestudio Well-Known Member

    #1 magicgamestudio, Dec 3, 2014
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2014
    Hello,

    I am a new developer here with my app on the App Store.

    I was reading the sticky but could not find my answers.

    I need help and have some questions about setting up a contest/giveaway.

    I want to set up a contest with the following rules. I have a minimum budget of $150 USD. Will run it by you guys and let me know what you think.

    For the record I edited this post because I couldn't edit the title. I am not giving away 150$ USD for the suggestions LOL. Misleading title. It's what I have to spend on the contest/giveaway.

    Another edit: I also have a paid app coming out soon. Do you think it would be better to do this for my free or paid app in your experience? I can even throw in promo codes I think but yeah.

    ==================================================

    1) I have 150 USD right now in cash. What do you think would be the best way to proceed to make the contest and the amount of reviews a success for me as well as the contestants?

    2) I would like a max or min if possible of 20 reviews per $25 gift card or whatnot. Like say, the contest would end in 1 or 2 weeks or would end as soon as I got those 20 reviews. Is this feasible? I want to make it worthwhile.

    Like ending the contest once that minimum cap is reached, as long as no one cheats.

    What do you think would be the best prize options to accomplish this?

    3) I need more reviews in the US App store so the contestants for now will be limited to people who can review in the US App Store only. Is this ok?

    4) I would like honest and fair reviews but not dishonest as well as very negative reviews. In your experience are most of the reviewer here honest and fair? Mostly positive feedback? I don't want my rating to get tanked. I know there is probably no way to ensure this.

    5) How do iTunes gift cards work (the 25$ ones or whatever)? How do paypal ones work? I don't want to send any personal info over to the prize winner like my address or whatnot. Is it just a code that I can give them at the end of the contest through PM or whatnot without giving away any info? I would ideally like to offer cash prizes if that's even possible but I don't like paypal!

    Thank you.
     
  2. ramzarules

    ramzarules Well-Known Member

    Sep 13, 2014
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    What i would do in your place, would be

    1) Give promo codes in exchange for reviews for the paid app - EDIT: SPECIFY that you will send promo codes to certain people who PM you, promising to review your game in exchange. If you list them here, lurkers will ninja them all with 0 reviews-

    2) hold the contest with itunes cards for the free app reviews (you can buy them, reveal the number and send the code via pm to the winners)

    3) from what i've seen from others and myself reviews, unless your app is really horrible, at worst you will get mediocre rating and constructive critisism sometimes. At best, you will get 5starred and people will love your game. -but that also depends on you and your game.

    4) lastly, i would advise you to be as honest as possible in your app description. When we see a description promising the "most epic legendary game with deep gameplay and fantastic graphics" and we play a one touch game with no mechanics and horrible graphics.. well, think about it. What would you do in this position?

    I hope my post helps you.
     
  3. dreadnok

    dreadnok Well-Known Member

    Jun 8, 2011
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    #3 dreadnok, Dec 3, 2014
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2014
    Good luck to you

    1) a lot of devs have review contest that offer Gift Cards to a random reviewer or offer the prize to the best review. Problem is you might end up with a lot of "best game ever" reviews from people who just want to win whch is why random seems better.

    2) That amount sounds fair but because most developers use these random number generators to pick the winners and because the number 1 almost never wins, a lot of the people here will not enter ontil near the very end of the contest or due date

    3) That's fine for us in the USA but some people from other countries might not like it. But there's not much you can do about that

    4) I have found that most people here a pretty fair but again the need to win can and will effect people's reviews and should payment of the prize be a little late or communication from you become non existent be prepared to have some people change their reviews to 1 star ( a practice I really don't approve of)

    5) You can PM the code behind the Gift Card that activities it, same with Amazon GC, PayPal will require your info but it will not go out to anyone you send money to. Your email will be the most anyone will receive if you decide to email the codes to people

    Lastly people are pretty cheap and you will get more reviewers for a free game, also people are more willing to take a chance in a review contest by an unknown developer if it does not cost them anything. I mean it would really suck to have purchased an app with the sole purpose of entering a contest only to have the the winner never receive anything. Another thing is if you offer promo codes to use in the contest be aware that Apple has blocked the ability to do a review if you've used a promo code to get the app. This might have something to do with people getting promos in exchange for 5 star reviews.

    I hope your game does well and is actually worth buying, hopefully it's good and that alone helps you with those reviews.
     
  4. Aseret

    Aseret Well-Known Member

    Oct 8, 2012
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    #4 Aseret, Dec 3, 2014
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2014
    Hey Dev, it was summed up above pretty nicely, but I'll add my two cents too.

    1) Hmm having more than one grand prize can allow for more winners and a higher chance to win something, rather than one huge prize for one person? I don't think it matters too much, but people may be more likely to enter if their chances are higher? Or you can host more than one contest for your paid app and one for your free app. If you have other apps, you can do other contests for those too if you want. Usually the best way is to pick a winner at random (using things like a random number generator, etc).

    2) Rather than a deadline then, you can say that every time you reach 20 reviews, you'll pick a winner. Cause sometimes you might not get 20 reviews in those two weeks, it'd all depend.

    3) Most of the reviewers usually review with the US appstore, so I don't think that should be a problem. If someone doesn't have a US account, I think they can make one anyways to enter? I'm not too sure of how the process goes, but I do think it's possible. Either way, if it's only US appstore, the final decision is yours. And it should be fine.

    4) I don't often read everyone else's reviews, but for me - I'm a pretty easy to please person since I take a long bus ride every day. So I like anything that is able to hold my attention and keep me playing haha. It should be a decently made game though. Sometimes people do give 5 stars just to win, but others are always honest (in a good way). It's an assortment of participants. I feel constructive feedback is important without actually giving very negative feedback. There's always room for improvement, so one shouldn't dismiss a game without giving it a second chance.

    5) For iTunes, you can just scratch off the code and send the code by PM/email to the winner. It's probably the best option if you don't want to send any personal info over. Paypal is good too, the participant will only see your email and sometimes your name - that's all. Yeah, cash prizes without paypal wouldn't work. So the best would be iTunes cards, and paypal is good if you're okay with them seeing your email and name.

    RE: Paid vs free. To be honest, I wouldn't mind if it was a paid or free app review, if it was something like $0.99. But I'd need to have played the free version first to see if it was worth spending money on. However, most people on here would rather just enter a contest by reviewing a free app. That way, I suppose there's nothing to lose? As dreadnok mentioned, people can not review games that they got with promo codes. So while promo codes are great to spread awareness about the game and stuff, you can't review the game if you got it with a promo code.

    Hope this helps and best of luck on your contest :)
     
  5. magicgamestudio

    magicgamestudio Well-Known Member

    Suggestions and ideas

    Thanks for the great feedback and suggestions =)

    Since it may take a while to get 20 reviews, I will set a goal of getting 80 reviews minimum before the contest ends or more. Plus the forum members would be able to have 4 chances of winning, rather than 1 chance per card per 20.
     
  6. Aseret

    Aseret Well-Known Member

    Oct 8, 2012
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    #6 Aseret, Dec 3, 2014
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2014
    No problem!!
    But tbh, I don't think you're gonna get a minimum of 80 reviews. The contests on these forums usually get up to 20 reviews on average in total. Maybe 30 if you're lucky, but even 30's pushing it. There simply isn't that many people who enter :p
     
  7. magicgamestudio

    magicgamestudio Well-Known Member

    #7 magicgamestudio, Dec 3, 2014
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2014
    Reviews

    That's ok.

    We'll see what happens.

    As a plus if you think about it a 4 out of 80 chance mathematically translates to 1 out of 20 so if I need to change something based on how many participants there you go. That would be absolutely last resort for me though without trying first.
     
  8. Aseret

    Aseret Well-Known Member

    Oct 8, 2012
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    Makes sense :) I'll enter when I can!
     

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