Flashbase.com has reworked itself as a complete solution to create sweepstakes, mine data and create opt-in e-mail lists, the company said this month. The site allows companies to make an entire customized sweepstakes – with back-end data collection and mining tools – in 20 minutes or less.
The site had been positioned as an inexpensive data collection tool that allowed users to collect, manage and publish information via their Web browsers. However, a large segment of Flashbase.com customers were using the site’s capabilities to manage their sweepstakes databases, prompting the company to add the customizable sweepstakes tool, said Andrew Erlichson, CEO at Flashbase, New York.
“Basically, people were using Flashbase to run sweepstakes more than anything else,” he said. “We realized there was a desperate need.”
Sweepstakes and data collection are a perfect fit, Erlichson said. “There’s a natural synergy because a successful sweepstakes means you do something with the names after you’re done. You don’t just throw them away.”
Flashbase.com is expected to receive a fair amount of competition from ePrize, which recently announced a sweepstakes creation offering that can be turned around for customers in 24 hours. The pre-designed sweepstakes are loaded onto the client’s site along with a link. If a consumer clicks on the link, a pop-up window appears. Prizes include a Porsche, a trip to Hawaii, a jet ski and an offer to pay a consumer’s mortgage for a year.
The back end of the sweepstakes captures demographics, purchasing patterns and other information helpful for permission marketing programs. The cost for the sweepstakes is $5,000 to $10,000 per quarter. ePrize, a division of Rare Medium Group Inc., New York, began offering the service at the end of January.
Unlike ePrize’s standard template offering, Flashbase.com’s sweepstakes tool allows users to customize their contests by adding their logo, editing questions and creating various backgrounds. The tools automatically pick random winners for each of the prizes, generate legal prize affidavits and contact the winners.
At the end of the sweepstakes, clients can use prospect management technology to mine the database of potential customers generated from the sweepstakes for direct marketing campaigns and targeted promotions. Users can search for specific groups of individuals, view aggregate statistics and download demographic information. The data gathered is controlled via the user’s Web browser.
Currently, clients choose the prize. However, the site is working to establish relationships with choice vendors. The fee to run a sweepstakes for three months is $5,000.
