7.2% conversion is strong for a prize draw. Industry benchmarks sit between 3% and 8%. People who saw the page were entering. The problem was that not enough people saw it.
To hit £6,000 at a £15.60 average entry, the draw needed ~385 entrants. At 7.2% conversion, that means ~5,350 page views. The draw received roughly 806. That's a traffic gap of about 4,500 visits.
| What was needed | What happened | Gap |
|---|---|---|
| ~5,350 page views | ~806 page views | ~4,500 |
| ~385 entrants | 58 entrants | ~327 |
| £6,000 raised | £905 raised | £5,095 |
The audience map for this draw included millions of potential impressions through corporate partners and indie coffee shop networks. In practice, only Change Please's own channels were activated: their email list, their social accounts, and QR codes at their own sites. Partner audiences were never reached.
The result was ~806 page views. The page converted those at 7.2%, which is strong. The problem wasn't what happened on the page. It was how few people got there.
QR codes were the strongest channel. Flyer A alone drove 41% of the total raised. Daniela A/B tested two designs: Flyer A (her design, leading with the word "Win", simpler layout) vs Flyer B (graphic designer's, featuring coffee packaging imagery). In a coffee cart environment, people already associate the setting with coffee, so "Win" is the hook, not more coffee imagery.
QR codes were placed at card readers, sugar/lids stations, and in toilets (high dwell time spots). Only placed at Change Please's own sites, not partner locations.
Barista promotion was limited. Many baristas are trainees focused on getting the coffee right. They don't have the confidence or bandwidth to promote outside their core role. Lead baristas were expected to promote, but it naturally slips when customers are in a hurry.
Email performed solidly. Open rates averaged 26% with around 10% CTR, which is respectable. The best performing email was sent to the Indys (hot and warm contacts) asking them to share the draw, and achieved a 3.7% click rate. However, there's no evidence that clicks on that email translated into actual sharing or promotion by the Indys.
Web/organic was modest. 20 entries from direct traffic suggests limited social sharing, PR coverage, or partner amplification.
Referral was negligible. Only 2 entries from link referrals. This is where partner sharing (Top 10 companies, indie coffee shops) would have shown up. It didn't.
The £10 tier (3 entries) was the most popular by a clear margin. Nearly half of all entrants chose it. The two entrants at £100 each contributed 22% of the total raised, showing the value of higher tiers.
This was Change Please's first properly planned prize draw. Despite missing the target, there are genuine wins here that shouldn't get lost in the headline number.
LinkedIn was the strongest social channel. Four posts during the draw:
| Post | Date | Impressions | Clicks | Engagements | Eng. Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Win 2 Years of Free Coffee" (image) | 19 Feb | 933 | 57 | 6.11% | |
| "Win 2 Years of Free Specialty Coffee" (image) | 23 Feb | 755 | 47 | 6.23% | |
| Matthew Torbitt thank you (video) | 2 Mar | 542 | 180 | 40 | 7.38% |
| Sharon Gaffka thank you (video) | 4 Mar | 689 | 282 | 25 | 3.63% |
The Matthew Torbitt video was the best performer. Change Please's view is that it felt more personal and emotionally resonant. The Sharon Gaffka post had the most clicks but the lowest engagement rate, suggesting initial curiosity but not enough to convert to interaction.
The "Matthew effect." Videos featuring Matthew (a popular Change Please team member) consistently get 3.8k to 4k+ views on social. Prize draw content without Matthew underperformed. Daniela said she should have used Matthew as the mascot for the draw but he was too busy. For future draws: having a recognisable face front and centre matters.
LinkedIn tracking was unreliable. Click metrics don't distinguish between clicks on "see more", clicks on media, and clicks on links. 20 entries came via the Crowdfunder link but it was impossible to tell if they originated from Instagram stories or LinkedIn posts.
Instagram outperformed TikTok overall, accumulating 16,000+ views including collaboration posts.
TikTok was limited. Content got decent views (up to 2.5k) but Change Please has under 1,000 followers, so they can't add links to profiles or videos. Users would need to copy/paste a link from the comments, which nobody does. Instagram also isn't linked yet for the same reason. Daniela sees TikTok as exposure only until they hit the follower threshold.
Daniela contacted several influencers. Most didn't reply. Sharon Gaffka (ex Love Islander, now politically driven) posted a story with her partner who had been homeless at one point, relevant to Change Please's mission. But her audience isn't food/bev aligned, so it likely didn't convert. One food/bev creator replied but could only film five days before the draw ended and posted on the final day.
Daniela's takeaway: food and coffee focused creators would convert better, but they weren't responsive. Influencer content needs to land early in the draw, not as a last push.
Daniela's view on partners: "Realistically if we're giving them this prize draw and we'd like them to have assets, we should actually print them and send it to them, just like we do with all of our other assets."
The page converted at 7.2%. The prize resonated. The pricing was right. QR codes proved that in-location marketing works. Email open rates were solid. These are not the numbers of a failed draw. They're the numbers of a draw that didn't get enough traffic.
The original target was £6,000 to £8,000, based on a conservative read of the audience map. This was later revised upward to £15,000 based on the total potential reach across all partner audiences. That revision assumed partners would actively participate. They didn't.
No physical assets were sent to partner locations. Emails went to a single contact at each partner organisation, not to staff on the ground. No responses came back from key partners like Hobsport. Partners didn't post on their socials. The entire partner channel, which underpinned both the audience map and the inflated target, produced just 2 entries from referral links.
The single lesson from draw #1: Partner reach is not your reach until you've confirmed it, resourced it, and activated it. Sending an email to one contact at a partner organisation is not activation. Printing QR codes and putting them next to the coffee machine at a partner site is activation. Getting a named person to commit to posting on a specific date is activation. Until that work is done, partner audiences should not be counted in the audience map or used to set the target.
Illustrative scenario: The Top 10 corporate partners have combined audiences in the millions. Even if just one partner shared the draw once to their social following, the resulting impressions would dwarf everything Change Please's own channels achieved. At 7.2% page conversion and a £15.60 average entry, even a modest fraction of that traffic would have closed the gap to the original £6,000 to £8,000 target. The channels that did work (QR codes, email, social) raised £905 between them. Partner activation was the missing multiplier.
Everything else that went wrong (influencers too late, graduation day missed, social not converting, no final week momentum) is secondary. Fix the partner gap and the numbers change fundamentally.
| Gross raised | £905.00 |
| Crowdfunder fees | £0.00 |
| Transaction fees | -£33.54 |
| VAT | -£6.76 |
| Net payable to Change Please | £864.70 |
Draw #1 proved the model works. The prize converts. The page converts. QR codes are a standout channel. The pricing is right. These are strong foundations that most first draws don't have.
What draw #2 needs is not a different approach. It needs the same approach with one critical change: partner participation must be confirmed, resourced, and activated before it counts as reachable audience. Physical assets at every location. Named contacts committed to specific actions on specific dates. A target set against confirmed reach, not potential reach.
Do that, and the original £6,000 to £8,000 target is realistic. The foundations are already built.