Sending Out Prizes
First, if you’re responsible for sending out your prize, or have any amount of control around when your prize is sent out, send it out as quickly as possible. Receiving a prize to a giveaway that you won 6 to 8 weeks after you were told you were a winner isn’t nearly as exciting from the winner’s perspective than receiving it the week they won.
Next, whether you’re using USPS, UPS, FedEx, or whoever, it would be a good idea to get insurance and tracking on your shipment, especially if the prize is over $100 in value. In the grand scheme of things, paying the small additional fee to get tracking and insurance is worth it. Getting tracking and insurance is similar to having a solid terms and conditions written up; chances are your package won’t get lost, but getting the insurance and tracking really comes in handy if the package is lost and causes a conflict.
It’s not a bad idea to include a section in your giveaway’s terms and conditions that discusses what were to happen should you find yourself in that predicament.
Finally, it’s always fun to see the prize in the hands of the winner. While not all winners will participate, you should ask your winners to contact you when the prize arrives and see if they can take a picture with the prize to share with your fans. Seeing the winner using the prize makes the giveaway more tangible. You can ask your winners over email if they’d share their prize on social media upon receiving it or you can just have them send you a photo.
As an example, when prizes are sent out of Rafflecopter HQs, each package includes an insert that asks the recipients to share their new prize on social media using a hashtag. In addition to something like this, consider including a short hand-written note. It’s all part of the fun! Below is an example insert you might expect if you win some Rafflecopter swag:
