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Ask HN: A small reward to everyone who signs up vs. a big reward to the best 3?

4 points by oglo ↗ HN
I am designing a promo campaign for my startup. have a budget of x dollars. Now the question is should I follow the give something to everyone rule and give a smaller reward to every guy who signs up. Or should I make it exclusive and give a much much bigger reward to the top 3 guys?<p>The Pros and Cons I could think of are:<p>1- If you give something to everyone, the reward is spread tooo thin to be attractive. 2- But if you're giving something to everyone who signs up and performs an action, people may think of it as sure fire money for which they dont have to wait for a contest, etc.<p>Can you guys share your opinion on it as well? It'd be great if you already have some experience running this sort of campaign.

10 comments

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heymario
I work at Zynga. If it's a cash/premium reward then you'll get the most sign ups for the biggest reward given to a few people. People consistently overcompensate for games of chance. The best is when they can take actions to increase their odds or tickets, like post on facebook, invite other people, etc.

And depending on what your reward is, I wouldn't be representing Zynga well if I didn't say you should test it. :-)

oglo
Hey, thanks.

Yes, its a premium reward. I am thinking of creating a bundle of useful resources like software licenses, ads space on top forums, etc.

The 'ability to take actions' point is a great one. I'll include that.

Would you mind telling me a bit more about the 'testing' part? I didnt quite get it =)

lsiunsuex
Had a conversation like this with a friend a week ago.

The conversation was about (insert major cable tv operator here) calling him up randomly asking him to take a quick survey, at which point he hung up the phone.

Now, had the same person / company called him asking the same thing, but offering a gift card of $x amount (regardless of what $x is), it would be worth his time. X could be as low as $5 with the sky being the limit, but the point being, if you want something from him that would waste his time, any gift, no matter how small, would make it worth his time / effort.

Moral of the story; most people would be willing to do something, so long as a gift / award was involved, no matter how small the gift / award might be. The more you ask them to do; the bigger the gift should be.

oglo
Hey, thanks =)

OK. So you're saying is that the 'presence of reward' is the major factor and magnitude is minor (although it should be proportional)? Makes sense.

DanBC
The con about big prizes is you have to make sure you're complying with any laws about lotteries and gambling.
oglo
Erm .. even if I am not talking any money from them and its not on 'chance'?

Basically, I'll just ask them to sign up and integrate a piece of software in their games which will track their game's performance. In the end, the games with the best usage stats would win. The data will be open for everyone to see so there are no concerns about the fraud.

Do I still have to follow lottery/gambling-related laws? :|

japhyr
You might start by getting away from referring to you users as 'guys', unless you are making a male-only site. If you have language like that anywhere near your site, there is a good chance you are turning off many potentially interested female users.
oglo
Oh .. sorry, I am not a native English speaker and in my society, such issues usually dont arise. But thanks for pointing out, I'll analyze all the content on my site from this perspective =)
japhyr
That's quite understandable. In English, we often say 'guys' and it refers to everyone. There are more inclusive ways to speak, but it often goes unaddressed. In writing, it is much more alienating. Good luck with your project!