Optimize an Online Contest Entry Form

Online video contests can be a cost effective means of lead generation for your business. One of the key objectives is capturing the right information from the contest entrants without being overbearing. If the form is too long, and asks for too much information, fewer people will enter.

How many entry fields are ideal in your online contest entry form? According to a study by Eloqua, 5 to 10 fields produces the best results, with 7 fields being the optimal number.

mailVU provides an online video contest service. Part of the service is creating a custom form with up to 12 fields. In almost all cases the contest entry form will ask for the person’s name and email address. Beyond those two fields you need to consider the purpose of the contest and your overall objective.

Considerations in attracting Contest Entries from Businesses

If the contest is to build top-of-the-funnel sales leads from businesses, asking for the person’s work phone number, job role, company name, and company web address would be appropriate. Perhaps ask how they heard about you, are they considering a service such as the one you offer, and their time-frame for making a decision. According to a recent Experian study, the most popular pieces of data collected by marketers are first (75%) and last (73%) name, ZIP code (57%), country (35%), date of birth (34%), and full mailing address (32%). You may want to include a download on your contest entry form. It could be a white paper, case study, or anything else of value to the entrant.

Sit down with your sales team and ask them what information would be most helpful to obtain. After all, they are the ones who will follow up on the leads! Just make sure not to overdo it. Include the must-have fields, and avoid nice-to-have fields whenever possible. Too many fields may alienate the entrant causing them not to enter the online contest.

Considerations in attracting Contest Entries from Consumers

Other than name and email address, consumers will likely drive a different set of contest entry form fields. Location may be important to you, particularly if your business is geography based. You may have an active direct mail marketing program, or market with local radio stations and TV, so knowing the contest entrant’s physical address is important. If you need to see a sample of the contest entrant’s other work include a field for the URL for where it can be found.

If students are of interest you may include a field for the school they attend. Consider adding a download on your entry form. One of mailVU’s online video contest customers included an MP3 music download that the contest entrants needed to use in the video contest submission.

Every online contest entry form will be different. Remember to keep your form fields in the sweet spot of 5 to 10. Track the results from each contest to see what works and what doesn’t work. The more contests you run the better you will get in determining the best questions to ask.

Interested in running an online video contest with customized entry form?

You can run contests right on your website or Facebook page. mailVU makes it easy with our video contest software. We’ll create the custom form to your requirements, provide a video uploader that works on smartphones, tablets, and computers, and include a download button for any file you select. Contest entries are private so you may moderate the responses before you make them publicly. Contact sales at mailVU.com to get started.

Related post: Run a Video Contest on your Website