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How to Do a Giveaway on Etsy

How to Do a Giveaway on Etsy: a Guide for Small Businesses

Written By: author image Stacey Corrin
author image Stacey Corrin
Stacey has been writing about WordPress and digital marketing for over 10 years and on other topics for much longer. Alongside this, she's fascinated with web design, user experience, and SEO.
     Reviewed By: John Turner
reviewer image John Turner
John Turner is the co-founder of RafflePress. He has over 20+ years of business and development experience and his plugins have been downloaded over 25 million times.

Do you want to learn how to do a giveaway on Etsy?

As an Etsy shop owner, you can use giveaways to generate excitement and buzz around your products, increase your social media following, and gain new potential customers.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to do a giveaway on Etsy so you can grow your small business with viral giveaway marketing.

Can I Do Giveaways on Etsy?

You can definitely do giveaways on Etsy! They’re a great way to generate excitement and interest in your Etsy store and are a powerful tool for attracting new customers and engaging with your existing audience.

While Etsy doesn’t have a specific feature for creating and managing giveaways, there are several ways to promote your giveaway on Etsy and make it easy for people to participate.

One way is to create a listing specifically for the giveaway prize. This listing can include information about the giveaway, such as the rules, deadline, and how to enter. You can also use a third-party tool like RafflePress on WordPress to manage entries and choose a winner.

The only condition is you’ll need to follow Etsy’s guidelines and policies and any relevant laws and regulations. For instance, the guidelines state that Etsy sellers can run giveaways and contests on the platform if they comply with Etsy’s policies and applicable laws.

For example, giveaways must be free to enter and must not require participants to purchase to be eligible. Additionally, sellers must clearly state the rules and terms of the giveaway, including the prize, the deadline, and any restrictions or limitations.

Overall, if you follow the rules and regulations, a giveaway on Etsy is a fantastic way to promote your shop and attract new customers.

How to Do a Giveaway on Etsy with RafflePress

Since we’ve already suggested using RafflePress to run your Etsy contest, this guide will walk you through doing exactly that. But first, here’s some information on how RafflePress works.

RafflePress best contest tool WordPress

RafflePress is the best WordPress giveaway plugin, allowing you to run contests, giveaways, and sweepstakes easily from your WordPress website. It comes with pre-made giveaway templates, a drag-and-drop builder, and countless ways for your target audience to enter for the chance to win.

These are called entry actions, allowing you to require entrants to:

  • Follow you on social media platforms
  • Share your giveaway with friends
  • Visit an Etsy product page
  • Subscribe to your email list
  • And more

Completing those actions grants users a chance to win your grand prize. You can also use this powerful marketing tool to manage giveaway entries, display your giveaway rules, and draw random winners right from your WordPress site.

So if you’re ready to dive in, follow these steps to run your first giveaway for your Etsy business with RafflePress.

Set Your Giveaway Goals

Setting clear and specific goals is essential in planning a successful Etsy giveaway. They help you define what you want to achieve and guide your decisions around the prize, promotion, and timing.

First, think about what you want to achieve with the giveaway. Do you want to increase your social media following, generate more sales, or promote your eCommerce store? Once you have a clear idea of your goal, you can start to think about how to achieve it.

Create smart goals to do a giveaway on Etsy

One approach to setting goals for an Etsy giveaway is to use the SMART framework. This stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

  • Specific goals are clear and well-defined, so you know exactly what you’re working towards.
  • Measurable goals are ones you can track and quantify, such as the number of entries or the amount of social media engagement.
  • Achievable goals are realistic and within reach, given your resources and timeframe.
  • Relevant goals align with your overall business objectives and priorities.
  • Time-bound goals have a clear deadline or timeframe for completion.

To use the SMART framework, start by identifying a specific goal that you want to achieve. For example, you might set a goal of increasing your Instagram following by 500 followers.

Next, think about how you’ll measure your progress toward this goal. You might track the number of new followers you gain during the giveaway period.

Then, consider whether this goal is achievable, given your resources and timeframe. If you only have a small budget or a short timeframe, it might be more realistic to aim for a smaller increase in followers.

Ensure the goal is relevant to your business objectives, such as driving more traffic to your Etsy shop or increasing brand awareness. Finally, set a timeframe for achieving the goal, such as running the giveaway for two weeks.

Using the SMART framework, you can set clear, well-defined goals for your Etsy giveaway that align with your business objectives and are achievable, given your resources and timeframe.

Choose a Relevant Prize

Once you have your goals in place, you’re ready to pick a prize to give away to your audience. This is a crucial part of your marketing strategy, and making the right choice is essential to ensure you get the best results.

Here are some hacks to help you choose the best prize for your giveaway:

  • Know Your Audience – Understanding your audience is crucial when choosing a prize. Consider who your customers are, what they find interesting, and what they value. Choose a prize relevant to your audience that they’ll be excited to win.
  • Set a Budget – It’s essential to set a budget for your giveaway, including the prize, shipping, and other pricing and costs. You don’t want to overspend on the prize and end up hurting your bottom line, so set a realistic budget and stick with it.
  • Make It Relevant – Your prize should be relevant to your brand and your products or services. Consider offering one of your products as a prize, a gift card, or a bundle of products that complement each other. If you don’t sell physical products, consider offering a service, consultation, or access to exclusive content.
  • Consider the Value – The prize’s value should align with your goals and budget. It should be attractive enough to entice people to participate but not so valuable that it will attract the wrong audience. For example, a discount code or coupon code may not be enticing enough to attract entries.
  • Make It Exclusive – Consider making your prize exclusive to your Etsy giveaway. This can increase its perceived value and encourage people to participate. You could offer a limited edition product, a personalized item, or an experience you can’t buy elsewhere.
Instagram Etsy giveaway example

Simply put, choosing a prize for your giveaway requires considering your goals, audience, budget, and the prize’s value. By following these tips, you can select a prize that will attract the right audience, generate excitement, and help you achieve your objectives.

Set Up Your Giveaway in WordPress

After planning your giveaway goals and prize, you’ll need to start setting it up on your chosen platform. As we mentioned earlier, this guide will show you how to do a giveaway on Etsy from your WordPress website using RafflePress.

If you don’t already have one, business owners can follow this guide on how to set up a WordPress website step-by-step. Otherwise, let’s get to it.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the RafflePress WordPress giveaway plugin. If it’s your first time doing this, you can follow this tutorial on installing a WordPress plugin.

Note: You can use the free version of RafflePress to do a simple giveaway, however, we’ll be using RafflePress Pro for its advanced features.

Once you activate the plugin, head over to the RafflePress » Settings page from your WordPress admin, and paste your license key.

enter rafflepress license key

This information is easy to find in the downloads section of your account on the RafflePress website. Now click the Verify Key button.

With your license active, you can start adding a new giveaway. So go to RafflePress » Add New, to launch the RafflePress giveaway builder.

click Add New to create an online contest

After doing that, you’ll see several pre-made giveaway templates for different giveaway goals, like growing your email list, Instagram followers, and more.

First, enter a giveaway name, hover over the template you want, and click the Use This Template button.

Choose a giveaway template

Afterward, you’ll see the drag-and-drop builder, where you can enter your giveaway details.

Enter Your Etsy Giveaway Prize Details

On this page, you’ll first want to tell entrants what they could win, so click on the ‘My Awesome Prize’ heading and type the name of your Etsy giveaway prize.

enter a prize name

Next, enter some details about the giveaway to encourage your audience to enter. For example, you could add more information about the giveaway and upload a prize image to show what you can win.

Upload a prize image for your giveaway on Etsy

To do this, simply click the Select Image button and choose an image from your computer or WordPress media library. From there, click the Done Editing button to save your changes.

On the same page, you can also enter the giveaway duration, including the start and end date, times, and timezone.

Etsy giveaway duration settings

Remember to click the Save button in the top-right corner periodically to save your progress.

Add Ways to Enter Your Etsy Giveaway

Next, click on the Actions tab in the left-hand sidebar.

Giveaway actions

On this screen, you’ll see various ways for visitors to enter your giveaway, such as:

  • Follow us on TikTok
  • Visit us on Instagram
  • Join an Email Newsletter
  • And more.

That said, choosing giveaway actions that align with your goals is important.

For example, if you want to drive traffic to a specific product page on Etsy, you’d use the ‘Visit a Page’ action. Or, if you want to boost brand awareness, the Refer-a-Friend action is an ideal choice.

refer a friend giveaway actions

Click any action to add it automatically to your giveaway, and then you can configure its settings in the left-hand panel.

Each action has several customization options, including making the action mandatory. This is handy if you want to offer multiple entry methods but also ensure users complete certain tasks.

Refer a friend action settings

Typically every action is worth 1 entry, but you can change the value to make specific actions worth more. Consequently, users will prioritize more valuable actions, even if they can choose multiple ways to enter.

Aside from these settings, you may also see some action-specific options. For example, in the Visit a Page action, you’ll need to enter the page’s URL so users can visit it.

Visit a page action settings

You can add as many giveaway entry options as you like, but putting the most important one first is best. For example, if your goal is to drive Etsy Sales, you’ll want to put an action to visit your Etsy page at the top.

You can do that by hovering over an action, clicking the dotted button, and dragging the action to its new place.

Customize Your Giveaway Design

Now click the Design tab, where you’ll see several options for customizing your giveaway’s look and feel.

giveaway design customization settings

Here, you can change your giveaway fonts, button color, background color, and more. You can also use custom CSS to add your own specific customizations, but it isn’t required.

Tweak these settings until you’re happy with how your giveaway looks, then click the Save button to save your changes.

Configure Your Settings

For the next step, you’ll need to click the Settings tab, where you can adjust how your giveaway runs. For example, the General section lets you change basic settings, like showing the contest winners, hiding the total entries, and limiting sign-ups.

RafflePress general settings

One of the most important settings to configure is your Giveaway Rules. In this tab, you can enter information about your giveaway and allow RafflePress to generate some rules automatically.

Easily generate contest rules in seconds

A few other settings to consider include:

  • Requiring participants to verify their email address
  • Adding tracking scripts such as Google Analytics
  • Redirecting users to another page after entering
  • Allowing contestants to sign up with their Facebook login
  • Activating a GDPR consent toggle
  • Enabling Recaptcha to combat spam entries

You can check out our Giveaway Settings documentation to learn more about these features.

Publish Your Etsy Giveaway on WordPress

With your giveaway set up and your settings configured, you’re ready to publish your Etsy giveaway on your WordPress site.

There are 3 ways to do this with RafflePress, which are as follows:

  • Add your giveaway to a post or page with the WordPress block.
  • Embed your Giveaway in any post, page, or widget area with the RafflePress shortcode.
  • Publish your giveaway on a standalone giveaway landing page.

The easiest and most effective way to publish your Etsy giveaway is on a landing page because they’re ideal for sharing across different online platforms. For example, you can add your giveaway page link to an Etsy product listing, share it in your Instagram bio, and post it on Twitter using popular hashtags to boost its reach.

More importantly, landing pages are free from distractions, making visitors more likely to enter.

To create a giveaway landing page, simply click the Publish tab from the giveaway editor, and choose the Giveaway Landing Page option.

Rafflepress lets you publish your contest on a distraction free giveaway landing page

From there, select the “Click here” link, which takes you to the General Settings page.

Here, find the ‘Page Permalink’ heading, enter a URL for your giveaway page, and click Save.

giveaway landing page permalink

RafflePress will now publish your Etsy giveaway on a high-quality landing page. To see it live on your website, click the View button.

example of how to do a giveaway on Etsy with RafflePress

Promote Your Giveaway on Social Media

After publishing your Etsy giveaway, it’s a bright idea to tell people about it so they can enter. You can even start promoting your campaign before it goes live so your audience is excited to join before it launches.

Additionally, you can use email marketing campaigns to tell your email subscribers, post about the giveaway on your social media accounts, or promote it on forums relevant to your brand.

giveaway promotion example

Plus, if there’s room in your budget, you can run Etsy ads linking to your giveaway page for an extra boost in visits and entries.

For even more helpful marketing tips, check out these proven contest promotion ideas.

Announce the Winner of Your Etsy Giveaway

When your giveaway ends, and you’re ready to draw the winner, you can use RafflePress to choose the winner randomly.

First, go to the RafflePress page in your WordPress dashboard, then click on the “Needs Winners” link. You’ll see all the people who entered the giveaway and how many entries they have on this page.

choose winner for your contest

From there, find the “Winner Selection” panel and type the number of winners you want to pick. Then, click on the “Choose Winners Now” button.

Pick a random giveaway winner

RafflePress will instantly draw a random winner and show you their name at the top of the list of participants.

email the giveaway winner

The final step is to announce the winner to let them know they won your Etsy giveaway.

There you have it!

We hope this article has helped you learn how to do a giveaway on Etsy to grow your small business. With RafflePress, it’s easy to run any giveaway campaign without the hassle of complicated settings or code.

So what are you waiting for?

Get started with RafflePress today!

Before you leave, you may also like this guide on how to promote candles on Instagram for even more Etsy sales.

If you liked this article, please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for RafflePress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

author avatar
Stacey Corrin Writer
Stacey has been writing about WordPress and digital marketing for over 10 years and on other topics for much longer. Alongside this, she's fascinated with web design, user experience, and SEO.

Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. We only recommend products that we believe will add value to our readers.

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Comments

  1. How to purchase a product like Rafflepress ? That last update was months ago with almost nothing new related to new features and big changes?

    Competitors have much more features… looks like the plugin was discontinued, can you confirm for all users that watch this blog and also like me are thinking in purchase a license?

    When a BIG new update will be released?

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