One of the key pain points when running a business is getting leads with a high probability of converting. Saastronautics faced this problem which prompted them to run an UpViral campaign.
Because, according to Saastronautics, conventional marketing isn’t enough to accomplish this goal – not to mention, it’s tedious. 😓
If you’re in the SaaS industry and wondering if doing a giveaway is worth it, the answer is yes. This case study is proof that giveaways, when done strategically, can generate thousands of leads in a short time.
After running a 1-month giveaway, Saastronautics enjoyed:
- Over 7,000 leads
- 99,544 landing page visits
- 6,644 total actions completed
- 79% user interaction
These results were more than what they originally expected.
Saastronautics co-founder Parker Casio Patty mentioned that the best part was that they took place in just one month. 🙌
Before we get into the details, here are quick facts about the giveaway:
(Bonus resource: Towards the end of this case study, we’ll also be revealing the first place winner and the strategies he used to score 138K points in 38 days as shared in a live Facebook video. Hopefully, this part offers valuable insights to those who want to know how to win in any giveaway the proper way.)
Saastronautics and Why They Decided to Use UpViral
Saastronautics is a platform that gets the best new SaaS tools into as many businesses as possible. They help their partners promote their new software tools and offer them as great deals to users (business owners or companies) looking to automate their workflows.
Cofounder Parker Casio Patty thought that running an UpViral campaign will help them generate more high-quality leads at an affordable cost. Aside from the fact that UpViral’s referral marketing platform is simple to use, he liked that it detects fraud.
(For those who want to know about Parker and check out his resources on business and marketing, you can head over to his blog Parker Casio.)
What Was Their End Goal?
A successful giveaway should start by setting a clear goal. This sets the tone for the rest of the campaign. It helps you decide what prize to offer, how participants will win, where to promote the giveaway, etc.)
While you can set many goals, Saastronautics’ goals were to:
#1 – Get new leads
#2 – Build partnerships and nurture strong connections with SaaS companies
Giveaway Prize
Let’s start by discussing the prize. Instead of just one prize, Saastronautics gave away multiple SaaS software and tech prizes in bundles to 10 winners. The winners would be chosen based on who got the highest number of points. To win points, participants needed to do the following:
- Complete the actions on the giveaway share page
- Refer others into the giveaway
The screenshot below shows the giveaway landing page. Visitors immediately saw a beautiful image of the software and tech prizes. Above it, they also saw the total worth of those prizes – over $20,000.
These were the prizes (in order):
- 1st place – iPad Air 4 + PACKAGE + 30% Coupon Code
- 2nd place – Logitech C922 Pro Stream Webcam + Blue Yeti Nano Mic + PACKAGE + 30% Coupon Code
- 3rd place – Logitech MX Master 3 Mouse + PACKAGE + 30% Coupon Code
- 4th place – Sony WFXB700/B Wireless Earbuds + PACKAGE + 30% Coupon Code
- 5th place – PACKAGE + 30% Coupon Code
- 6th to 10th place – $20 SaastroCredits + 30% Coupon Code
- Over 100 lucky winners with at least 250 points – LTD (lifetime deals) from one of their partners
- All participants – 15% discount coupon
Their prize strategy worked well because they resonated with their target audience who were SaaS enthusiasts. These were people who would find the tech products and software tools helpful for running their business.
Our success stories here at UpViral also show that a relevant prize generates massive engagement from the right audience. If you are doing a giveaway for the first time or haven’t seen results with a previous one, you might want to reconsider your choice of prize/s.
👉Read this article for more tips on selecting a prize.
Time of the Year
Black Friday is one of the best times of the year to offer huge discounts and attract customers. Saastronautics took advantage of this holiday shopping event. They understood that timing is key in giveaways.
During Black Friday, entrepreneurs are also on the lookout for discounted tech products and tools. That would make the giveaway even more enticing because not only can they take home awesome prizes, but they’d also get a discount for just participating, in case they don’t win.
The Giveaway Landing Page
Saastronautics nailed their landing page. It was visually appealing and used straightforward copy. According to Saastronautics, the way they constructed the landing page definitely helped them capture more leads.
We posted this screenshot above but let’s have another look at it here.
Our team at UpViral thinks that it’s a great landing page for the following reasons:
- Brand experience. Notice that the landing page uses brand colors so that visitors will be able to identify that the giveaway is run by Saastronautics.
- Credibility. Saastronautics featured the SaaS brands that made the giveaway possible. See the screenshot below. (An UpViral user Gabe Schillinger used the same strategy in his viral Snoop Dogg contest.)
- Writing. Saastronautics kept their writing simple and well-constructed. They used separate sections for everything that participants needed to know about the giveaway – the list of prizes, the steps on how to win, and the terms and conditions.
Getting the Word Out
Putting a giveaway together and hoping that people will see it once it’s live is not enough. You need to promote it to make it stand out. Saastronautics implemented the following strategies:
- Social media. They posted the giveaway on their Facebook and private Facebook group. Below is a screenshot of one of their posts. It created a sense of urgency as the giveaway was nearing its end.
- Email. Saastronautics used email as an opportunity to educate their leads and increase the urgency to win the giveaway. To boost their email open rates, they made sure that their subject lines were personalized and catchy.
- Incentivizing the referrer. Those who joined the giveaway were not the only ones incentivized, but also those who referred them. Referring more people meant earning more points.
Siddharth Pal On Winning the Giveaway
In case you’re wondering who Siddharth Pal is, he won first place in this giveaway. Saastronautics had a chat with him on a live Facebook video to ask him how he scored 138K points in 38 days and won first place.
We watched that video (you can check that out here), and one thing we can say is that Siddharth is a highly qualified lead. Now enjoying the prizes he won, he told Saastronautics that the software helped him save a lot of money on monthly bills.
He did not try to game the system and even mentioned that he knew how UpViral worked that’s why he trusted the giveaway.
When it comes to winning in a giveaway, Siddharth said, “Every step is powerful and important.”
Here were some of the strategies he used to collect points:
- Understand the giveaway. That meant knowing who the target audience of the giveaway was – people who were truly interested in the tools and software and wanted to save money on those.
- Trust the system. Siddharth admitted that it’s hard to stay committed to winning in the giveaway if you don’t trust the people and system used to run the giveaway. He said, “I have enough information about UpViral and how it works.”
- Have a winning mindset. Siddharth advises that participants should prepare their minds every day so they always feel the excitement of winning.
Because of his effort, he was able to bring more qualified leads into the giveaway.
Final Thoughts
As you’ve seen in this case study, giveaways are effective for helping businesses in the SaaS industry grow their leads. More importantly, a giveaway doesn’t have to be complicated or advanced to accomplish goals.
We also think that Saastronautics succeeded because aside from offering a relevant prize that solved a common pain point, they increased the number of prizes. Multiple prizes tend to generate more engagement. Also, knowing that everybody wins something, gets them pumped up.
So, there you have it. All you need to do now is to take these lessons and use them. Need more inspiration? Check out more UpViral case studies. Or join now for only $1 by clicking the button below.
