If you’re a brick-and-mortar retailer, then you’d understand the struggle of trying to stay afloat due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But as the saying goes, “Wherever there is change and uncertainty, there is opportunity.”
For Fallon & Byrne, a Dublin-based food and wine destination business, that meant one thing: Being able to meet customers where they are. Online.
That’s what we’re going to show you in this case study.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Fallon & Byrne’s e-commerce and digital director, Eric Flanagan. (It was a special interview since we also celebrated our 1st anniversary at the Co-Pilot Show! 🎉)
Eric was so kind to show us all the details of Fallon & Byrne’s success. In fact, he agreed to share the campaign link with anyone who might need it for inspiration to create their own campaign:
https://app.upviral.com/dashboard/index/cs/MTQ1OTQ4SkhOa1ppaGVLaWxrWm5NM09EbG1jemRr/
Within 18 days, they got the following results using UpViral:
🔥11,006 total campaign visits
🔥2,898 total leads (2,286 direct leads, 612 referred leads)
🔥1,161 social shares
🔥Increase in traffic to their social media channels
What’s also amazing is that 70% of those who entered the campaign were brand new leads – not their existing customers.
See the screenshots below:
If you’ve watched this show on our Facebook page, note that at the time, Eric generated 2,484 leads for them within UpViral’s 14-day trial period. But since the whole campaign lasted 18 days, the numbers increased.
We hope you’ll enjoy this case study and take home lots of valuable lessons. Do watch and read until the end!
Fallon & Byrne and the Challenge
Before we dive into the details, let’s get to know a bit more about Fallon & Byrne. Fallon & Byrne is a destination food shop based in Dublin, Ireland.
Specializing in high-quality goods from across the globe, the company has established itself as “THE place to consummate your love of all things delicious.” Currently, it has two physical stores.
Because of the pandemic restrictions, customers who are outside of Dublin cannot travel and purchase from them. While Fallon & Byrne already had a website, it was small and wasn’t designed for e-commerce.
They’ve quickly pivoted, and within 6 months, they set up their ecommerce store which now has 2,000 products!
So, Why Use UpViral?
Eric Flanagan recently joined Fallon & Byrne as their e-commerce and digital director. Being the data-driven marketer that he is, he checked their online store’s customer base.
While it was doing good, Eric thought, why not reach a wider pool of prospects who are likely to buy?
He told us that Fallon & Byrne focused mostly on organic methods which included social ads. But for Eric, using that existing database would really help them capture a bigger “lookalike audience.”
He knew that UpViral could make that happen in such a way that no other traditional strategy would. Eric had previously used our tool and knew the kind of results it provided. 🔥
💡UpViral Tip: If you’re running a competition to generate leads, don’t forget to tap into your existing audience base. It’s always a great source of new referrals!
Overview of Fallon & Byrne’s UpViral Campaign
Now that you know their main goal, which was to further grow their audience, here are the basic facts about the campaign structure:
Duration: 18 days. According to Eric, this short duration was enough to create momentum for getting the word out and sharing.
Prize: “The Ultimate Picnic”. This prize pack comprised Fallon & Byrne favorites, a picnic table, and a picnic blanket from other brands they’ve partnered with.
Mechanics: Enter and share. It’s worth mentioning that this campaign was open only to those who resided in Ireland. We’ll discuss more of this later.
Let’s dive into the nitty-gritty. Read on.
The Competition Prize
The right prize will attract the right audience in your niche or industry. Some brands that run competitions offer their own product as the prize. Others, on the other hand, partner up with other brands that share the same audience.
For Fallon & Byrne, it was the latter. They partnered with two brands, namely, The Flying Elephant (that provided a picnic table) and Orwell & Browne (that provided a luxurious picnic blanket). At the same time, they offered their very own F&B favorites.
They’ve put together all these prizes to create The Ultimate Picnic prize pack.
According to Eric, this was the right combination of prizes to give away because they appealed to their target audience. These products complemented one another.
Think about it: Each product would serve a unique purpose for the same individual who’s going on a picnic!
Eric did not have a hard time finding the brands that matched Fallon & Byrne since he already knew them. He reached out and explained to them everything they needed to know about the campaign. More importantly, he kept them in the loop on the campaign stats.
💡UpViral Tip: Collaborating with other brands on a prize pool works. One of the benefits of doing this is doubling your audience reach. The key is to choose wisely. It helps to ask the question, “Would their audience be interested in my product, too?”
The Sign-Up Page
Using one of UpViral’s ready-made templates, Eric set up this beautiful sign-up page. It has the essential elements of a great landing page and is free from distractions.
Let’s take a closer look at each element of this page:
Attention-grabbing headline
The headline immediately conveys that this is a competition where people can win something. It’s direct to the point and uses the active voice.
💡UpViral Tip: If a headline is poorly written, people will likely skip the rest of the copy. Headlines should be clear and specific, especially when it comes to online competitions where you need to grab their attention fast.
Image of the prize
Below the headline, you can see the image of the prizes from the different brands. It’s a high-quality image and it stands out on the fresh green background color.
Description of the prize
The description tells what the specific prizes are from each brand. In addition, it links to each brand’s product page with all links being trackable. That way, Eric would be able to tell whether the UpViral campaign is also sending traffic to those product pages.
Form fields
The campaign asked for a participant’s first name, surname, and email address. In general, fewer form fields produce higher conversions as people can complete them in less time.
Location dropdown list
In addition to the fields that asked for a participant’s name and email, Eric added a dropdown list of the counties in Ireland. (With UpViral, you can easily add any type of custom field that fits your campaign!)
This was a brilliant strategy. It accomplished two things:
A. It helped Fallon & Byrne identify where their audience came from. That way, they can start engaging with these counties in their future marketing campaigns.
B. It pre-qualified their participants. Anyone who enters the campaign and doesn’t see their location from the dropdown will immediately know this competition isn’t for them.
Eric also mentioned that the campaign was open only to Ireland participants since they were also offering liquor, which had a different set of restrictions per country.
Consent checkbox (GDPR)
Eric explicitly asked for people’s consent to receive special offers from Fallon & Byrne and the brands they’ve partnered with as a GDPR practice.
Terms and conditions (T&C) checkbox
Underneath the consent checkbox is a terms and conditions checkbox. When you click the link, it shows a pop-up with a brief overview of the competition details – when it ends, the number of winners to be chosen, and eligibility. Then it provides a URL that leads to the full T&C page with more details.
Knowing that most competition entrants would view the campaign from their mobile devices, Eric kept the pop-up text short. But he made sure to link to the complete terms and conditions for those who needed more information.
Call-to-action button
After signing up, a participant can now click the call-to-action button that says, “Yes, I want to WIN!” We love how this campaign uses action-packed text instead of the usual words like “Submit” or “Enter”.
The Share Page
This page provides participants with different options to share the competition in exchange for points. Just like the sign-up page, this share page is simple, visually appealing, and uses the same style to maintain consistency.
Here are the reasons why this share page worked well:
Email confirmation pop-up message
Eric takes the signup process to the next level by using double opt-in. As you might have noticed in the screenshot, there’s a pop-up message that reads, “We’ve sent you an email! Please click on the link to confirm your entry.”
This required participants to complete their signup by clicking the link that Eric sent to their email. (He enabled double opt-in in the UpViral campaign set-up.)
Here’s why he did this:
Double opt-in ensures a clean email list. Spam, fake entries, and misspelled emails are common in giveaways. Requiring people to take that extra step protects that list from the get-go.
Higher points for higher priority channels
Based on Eric’s experiences in the previous UpViral campaigns he ran, he observed that WhatsApp performed well in terms of sharing.
At the same time, he considered the fact that this campaign entailed dining outdoors. So, that meant people would likely organize their outdoor dining activity using WhatsApp groups.
As for the rest of the channels, he assigned more points to those where people in the food industry were more active.
💡UpViral Tip: Mitch Aunger recommends that anyone who’s just starting out should include every channel they can think of. Then, they track the data to see which ones are actually helping the campaign. You’ll be surprised by the results!
Short and straightforward copy
The first version of this share page had more text. According to Eric, they had a look at the campaign after a few days and decided to reduce the text.
However, he mentions that what could have been done in this situation is to use split-testing. “For future UpViral campaigns, we would be doing a lot of split tests across all areas,” said Eric.
As for the rest of the text, he used the same prize description from the sign-up page. You can also see the same image on top.
Promotion and Engagement Strategies
In order to get more exposure for the competition and keep the engagement up, Eric mentioned using organic marketing strategies.
This included reaching out to their existing audience and encouraging them to share the campaign with their friends and family. A follow-up email was also sent to all participants in the middle of the campaign.
Below is a screenshot of the competition announcement post on Fallon & Byrne’s Facebook page:
As they were looking at their data, Eric also found that their promotional strategies resulted in spikes in traffic to all of their social media pages. People were not just signing up and sharing the campaign on social media, but they also came back to visit Fallon & Byrne.
Announcing the Winner and Post-Campaign
Note that Fallon & Byrne’s campaign didn’t end yet during our interview with Eric. But we asked him how they would announce the winner. He told us that they would email all their leads about the winner and post it throughout their social media channels.
At the end of the campaign, they will also be sending another email to the leads to once again ask for consent to send marketing messages moving forward.
Because, sometimes, people sign-up for something but may not want to hear from the brand afterwards. As Eric puts it, it’s about keeping their email marketing legally compliant.
Why Was The Campaign A Success?
Eric was very intentional with building every part of the campaign, making sure that they were tied to their business goals. Here is a list of reasons why the campaign generated great results:
1. Fallon & Byrne partnered with brands that complemented theirs
Their products, which were a picnic table and picnic blanket, aligned with Fallon & Byrne’s food and wine. Not just that, but Eric also kept those partners in the loop throughout the campaign.
2. Tracking the traffic that came to their partners’ product pages was crucial
Eric was able to prove to their partners that the competition generated traffic through the custom tracking feature. This established transparency.
3. They made a memorable impression on their audience
Eric gave credit to the amount of customization that UpViral allowed for building the signup and share pages. From the design to the colors, Fallon & Byrne was able to pick those that people would associate with their brand.
4. They did not ask for a lot of information
For someone to enter the campaign, they only had to provide their first name, surname, email, and then select their county. This simple process led to a high opt-in rate.
5. Using their existing database
“They (your customers) are your brand champions. Why would you not use them and share the opportunity?” said Eric. It’s always a great idea to reach out to leverage your existing audience as they’re more likely to share your campaign with everyone they know.
6. Being clear about the location restriction
The fact that people were supposed to select their county sent a clear message that the competition was open only to Ireland participants. Fallon & Byrne also stated this in their terms and conditions.
What Would They Do Differently Next Time?
We asked Eric what they would have improved if they did another campaign. Here’s what he told us:
1. Use a custom domain without the UpViral branding. On Fallon & Byrne’s competition sign-up page, you’ll notice the UpViral logo at the bottom right corner. While it’s not a problem, having a custom domain would give a more personal feel of the brand. (The best part is that you can enjoy this at UpViral for no additional charge.)
2. Re-engage those who sign up. For future campaigns, Eric would like to get competition participants more engaged. That way, they become highly motivated to share the campaign. (One of our best case studies at UpViral shows how this can be done – by incentivizing people along the way.)
3. Split testing. Eric mentioned that they made tweaks to the campaign as it was running, but split-testing things like the copy and image would have been better. (You can easily set up split tests in UpViral.)
Final Thoughts
You’ve seen how successful Fallon & Byrne’s first competition was. In just 18 days, they were able to generate 2,898 leads with Eric’s help and by using UpViral. This campaign also helps us realize how important online marketing strategies are for growing your business amid a pandemic.
Eric appreciates the UpViral software, from the set-up process to the tracking feature.
Overall, the UpViral team thinks that this is a fantastic campaign. Planning played a huge role in their success.
Plus, Eric didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. A lot of business owners who’ve used UpViral have shared their strategies for everyone to learn from. Eric looked at these campaigns and used them as inspiration. Feel free to check them out in our case studies section!
Excited to grow your brand using competitions? You can try UpViral for only $1 today.
