Giveaway campaigns are highly effective at attracting new customers, increasing sales, and boosting brand loyalty. Data shows that giveaways can lead to more than 34% higher conversion rates than other forms of content. But, without the right app, a giveaway can be labor-intensive and time-consuming to manage.
The right eCommerce social giveaway app can help your brand maximize ROI and minimize the effort required to make your campaign a success. In this guide, we’ll outline some key factors to consider when selecting a giveaway app, as well as review the top social giveaway apps on the market in 2024.
Avoid the potential technical issues, compliance problems, and low engagement by taking the time to choose the right app for your next giveaway. Here’s how.
5 factors to consider when choosing a social giveaway apps
Social giveaway apps can make it easier to run a giveaway, but only if you find the one that best fits your business needs.
The Shopify app market alone has nearly 20 different apps to choose from. It can quickly become challenging to tell one app from the next once you dive into the universe of sweepstakes apps.
Organize your search by keeping the following key factors in mind:
Easy-to-use user interface (UI)
Look for a giveaway app that is intuitive for you, your team, and your future participants. It should be easy to set up, manage, and participate in a giveaway without any technical hurdles. Is the app’s interface easy to navigate? Are there any design barriers that could prevent someone from entering a giveaway?
Diverse features and customization options
Look for features that allow you to run various types of giveaways and sweepstakes, such as instant-win games, prize draws, referral contests, and more.
You also want to make sure your app allows you to add your unique branding: Can you brand the sweepstakes to match your store’s look and feel? Can you set custom rules, entry requirements, and prize options?
Likewise, you want a full set of features that makes running a giveaway easy. Compliance is crucial: does the app meet data privacy regulations? Do your research to make sure it can securely handle customer information to prevent risk to your brand reputation.
Check out our series on law compliance by states: Sweepstakes Laws
Analytics are also an important capability to consider. Look for built-in analytics tools that provide insights into participant demographics, engagement metrics, conversion rates, and ROI. This data will help you evaluate the effectiveness of your sweepstakes campaigns. It can also inform future marketing efforts and other giveaways.
Integrated with eCommerce platforms
Not all apps work with every eCommerce platform; some are specific to Shopify or Big Commerce, for instance.
Make sure the app you choose works seamlessly with your eCommerce platform, as well as your email marketing tools, social media, CRM, and other relevant systems to streamline data collection and communication with participants.
Pricing and affordability
Consider the pricing model of the app, whether it’s a one-time fee, subscription-based, or based on usage metrics. Factor in your budget and expected return on investment from running sweepstakes campaigns.
Customer support and reliability
Evaluate the level of customer support provided by the app developer or vendor. Responsive support can be crucial if you encounter any issues or have questions about using the app effectively. Look for options like live chat, email support, and comprehensive FAQs.
Of course, most apps will tout their customer service, but look to reviews from verified users for real information.
Top Must-Use Social Giveaway Apps Review (2024 updates)
We’ve compiled a list of some of the best giveaway apps available in 2024 to help you explore your options.
ViralSweep
ViralSweep is one of the most comprehensive sweepstakes tools available to help you run a social media giveaway.
Best features to use
ViralSweep is a powerful yet user-friendly giveaway platform that helps merchants build, run, and manage a variety of promotions, including sweepstakes, photo and video contests, product giveaways, raffles, waitlists, competitions, and more.
ViralSweep’s features provide everything you need to manage a social media giveaway from start to finish, including hashtag entries, a random picker tool for sweepstakes, instant win, and a way to track sales and reward entries or raffle tickets for every dollar spent.
This app works seamlessly with all major eCommerce platforms, including Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, and Squarespace. It’s also easy to integrate with 50+ email marketing and SMS platforms to make sure the results of your contest translate into long-term, highly impactful marketing campaigns.
What do users say?
Rating: 4.9/5
Reviewers rave about ViralSweep’s customer service. ViralSweep has a rating of 4.9/5 on the Shopify app market. As one business wrote, “Amazing customer service on this one. I made a mistake setting up one of our giveaways and they were very accommodating in helping me fix it. Wonderful service!”
Who can use this app?
ViralSweep is built for everyone who is looking for social giveaway apps. It has been used by airlines, sports companies, and beauty products to grow their engagement and reach new customers.
Pricing
ViralSweep offers tiered pricing starting at $49/month. Learn more about ViralSweep with a seven-day free trial.
Rafflecopter
Rafflecopter’s selling point is its ease of use. With Rafflecopter, any brand can set up a giveaway in three minutes – no coding required.
Best features to use
Rafflecopter’s features are very straightforward.
Simply select your prize, choosing your entry methods, and starting to collect entries. Rafflecopter doesn’t integrate with Shopify, but it can be embedded into your website as a widget. It does integrate with the major email service providers, including MailChimp and Constant Contact.
The branding and customization are somewhat limited: Rafflecopter provides a formatting language for attractive headlines and attention-grabbing titles and an advanced cropping system for images. But it’s a simple widget, and you won’t get many bells and whistles for creating a vibrant campaign.
What do users say?
Reviewers note that Rafflecopter offers limited functionality for integrating your social media contest into a larger marketing effort.
One business owner said, “I’d say that Rafflecopter is a good tool for a basic giveaway. It doesn’t seem like they’ve made any substantial changes in several years. If you’re looking to host a one-off or occasional giveaway, Rafflecopter will do what you need it to do, but if a giveaway platform is a major component of your marketing strategy, look elsewhere.”
Who can use this app?
As an early funnel solution, Rafflecopter is a good bet. Rafflecopter is a good solution for brands that are simply trying to reach as many people as possible as fast as possible.
Pricing
Rafflecopter pricing starts at $13/month. Learn more and sign up for free on their website.
Gleam
Gleam offers a suite of four apps that can be used to boost user engagement. These apps are Competitions, Rewards, Gallery, and Capture. If you’re looking to run a giveaway, the Competitions app is your best bet.
Best features to use
Gleam Competitions offers the standard features you want in a giveaway app, including verified actions, one-click entry, built-in referral links, and tools to help pick a winner. It offers more than 100+ integrations, including Shopify and WordPress.
Creating a contest with Gleam is easy. A drag-and-drop tool allows you to customize your contest types, entry methods, and more. However, advanced branding and customization require paying more.
What do users say?
Users appreciate Gleam’s flexibility but note that using Gleam’s tools requires some setup. As such, it can be a relatively basic way to start running social media contests.
One reviewer wrote, “This is well suited for entrepreneurs who are fine with the limitations of the free and basic plan…Having that said if your business is just starting out, some of these pricing plans are too high for entrepreneurs. Be aware of the limitations of the plans.”
Likewise, some reviewers feel the customer support is nonexistent. “Some users have expressed frustration with the slow and unhelpful support team, stating that they did not receive precise answers and were often directed to find solutions on the website, even if the information was not available,” wrote TrustRadius.
Who can use this app?
Gleam is a good fit for new businesses, start-ups, and entrepreneurs looking to experiment with giveaways on a limited budget. Start on a per-app basis to see if Gleam’s features are sufficient or if you should try a different option.
Pricing
Gleam prices the suite of all four apps starting at $97/month or on a per-app basis starting at $10/month. Learn more on Gleam’s website.
KingSumo
KingSumo specializes in giveaways in which participants submit their email addresses to be entered to win. It also encourages entrants to share giveaways with friends to get bonus entries, exponentially growing your email list.
Best features to use
KingSumo is easy to get up and configure with a step-by-step setup process and straightforward configuration options. Users get a clean dashboard intuitively designed for novices to create and launch giveaways.
Downsides:
There aren’t many bells and whistles to the KingSumo platform. Like others on this list, KingSumo simplifies tracking entries and offers anonymous winner selection.
You won’t find advanced giveaway features beyond random draws. And, there are limited social media connections available on KingSumo. Customization is also limited.
What do users say?
Users have found themselves quite frustrated by the limitations of KingSumo. “Users have expressed dissatisfaction with the limited range of appearance customization options available, including layout, color, and image sizing. Some users have also mentioned their disappointment over the inability to incorporate GIFs or videos into the landing page,” wrote TrustRadius.
Who can use this app?
KingSumo is one of the more basic giveaway tools on this list. As such, it’s a great tool for giveaway beginners.
Pricing
One of the reasons to consider KingSumo is that many of its features are free. This tool could be a good option for brands on a tight budget. Learn more on KingSumo’s pricing page.
ShortStack
ShortStack offers customizable contests, sweepstakes, hashtag giveaways, comment-to-enter contests, and more.
Best features to use
ShortStack’s strength is its integration with Facebook; brands seeking to increase engagement on this platform will find plenty of tools to simplify the creation and management of landing pages on Facebook.
ShortStack has various features that some users say can be overwhelming. It’s one of the most sophisticated tools on the market with capabilities that go beyond running contests. ShortStack’s analytics can provide insights that help improve overall marketing strategies with data mining and integrations with third-party analytics tools.
ShortStack offers 80+ templates in a drag-and-drop editor to make it easy to build your giveaway landing page.
What do users say?
Testers note that ShortStack doesn’t integrate with Shopify; you’ll need to manually publish your campaign on your eCommerce site. This can be annoying for businesses that are trying to run multiple giveaways.
Who can use this app?
ShortStack is a good fit for marketing agencies that manage giveaways across different clients or for advanced users who have design and coding abilities in-house.
Pricing
ShortStack is built for enterprise-level use, and the pricing reflects that. The lowest pricing tier is $99/month.
Woobox
Woobox helps create contests, sweepstakes, and coupons to help companies grow their audiences.
Best features to use
Woobox focuses on running social media giveaways on Facebook and Instagram, though the app also integrates with CRM and tools to build a contest landing page. It gives you control over how things look, the language used, and how forms are customized so you can collect the information you need.
Downsides:
However, the app isn’t regularly updated with new features, limiting its lifespan as a contest generator. Once you’ve used all the various contest options and templates it offers, there’s little else the app can do to further your marketing efforts.
What do users say?
Users say that Woobox’s interface is intuitive and user-friendly with a wide range of customization options available. It also gets high marks for responsive, helpful customer service. Unfortunately, some Woobox users report technical glitches while using the app.
Who can use this app?
Companies looking to run occasional, targeted giveaways on autopilot can get what they need from Woobox.
Pricing
Woobox pricing is competitive: there’s a free option that has all the basic features you need. If you decide to upgrade to get more features, pricing starts at $37/month. Learn more about Woobox pricing here.
Heyo
Heyo is a standard giveaway app that offers all the features you need to host your next campaign. Its functionality is basic; users say Heyo’s capabilities are limited but effective.
Best features to use
Heyo offers a user-friendly interface that makes campaign set-up easy. You’ll find easy-to-use tools for building multi-format, photo, and video contests, as well as random-draw, refer-a-friend, instant-win, and other sweepstakes.
However, Heyo’s product is comparatively limited. It lacks the customization features of other apps on this list.
What do users say?
Ultimately, if you’re seeking an app just to get the job done, Heyo could be a good bet. “[Reviewers] appreciate how easy it is to navigate through the software, especially since it is built into the Facebook app. This user-friendliness has been highlighted as a key factor in reducing the learning curve required to launch a campaign,” wrote TrustRadius.
“I have been using it within this one year but my experience has been satisfactory to say the least. The software has not inspired me a lot, neither it has anything fancy to offer,”
wrote one reviewer on TrustRadius.
Who can use this app?
Marketing teams that aren’t digital natives may find this app to be the easiest to adopt.
Pricing
Pricing is complex: the lowest tier starts at $25/month, but it’s tricky to know which option is right for your business, given the number of variables that change per pricing tier.
Best social giveaway apps for viral sweepstake campaigns in 2024 – A comparison table
| App | Pros | Cons | Best Features | Target Users | Pricing Level |
| ViralSweep | – Comprehensive features | – Higher starting price | – Variety of viral campaigns and promotions | Airlines, sports companies, beauty products – any businesses | Starting at $49/month |
| Rafflecopter | – Easy and quick setup | – Limited integration options | – Simple widget for basic giveaways | Brands aiming for fast reach | Starting at $13/month |
| Gleam | – 100+ integrations | – Limited support and customer service | – Drag-and-drop customization | New businesses, startups, entrepreneurs | Starting at $10/month per app |
| KingSumo | – Simple and intuitive dashboard | – Limited customization options | – Easy setup process | Giveaway beginners | Free (many features), budget-friendly |
| ShortStack | – Integration with Facebook | – No integration with Shopify | – Advanced analytics and data mining | Marketing agencies, advanced users with design and coding abilities in-house | Starting at $99/month |
| Woobox | – Wide range of customization options | – Limited lifespan with no regular updates | – Control over appearance and form customization | Companies running occasional, targeted giveaways on autopilot | Starting at $37/month |
| Heyo | – User-friendly interface | – Limited customization features | – Easy campaign setup | Marketing teams | Starting at $25/month |
Conclusion
The social giveaway apps on this list offer similar features to various degrees of complexity.
As you figure out which giveaway app is right for your business, evaluate your specific needs: is your team equipped to do some coding, or do you need an app that integrates seamlessly with your eCommerce platform? Are you prepared to design everything manually, or should you use a drag-and-drop editor? Will you be hosting campaigns frequently, or is this a one-and-done effort?
Choose an app that fits your needs and aligns with your business goals to get the best result. We recommend signing up for a free trial with the apps that seem like they can help you reach those goals. This will give you better insight into their capabilities and how easy they are to navigate.
For more inspiration, check out our guide, 15 Best Social Media Giveaway Apps Reviewed and watch a demo to learn more about ViralSweep.
