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Marketing›Ecommerce & DTC

Giveaway campaigns to build a list before a big sale

Instead of a "join the VIP list" campaign before Black Friday or a holiday sale, run a 2-week high-value giveaway on a conversion objective with an offer on the thank-you page, judged on ROAS, then draw the winner live just before the sale opens.

Updated 2026-10-24·2 sources·ecommercelead-generationmeta-adspromotionsblack-fridayemail-list

Giveaway campaigns before a big sale

TL;DR

  • Run a high-value giveaway for ~2 weeks before the sale instead of a VIP-list promo.1
  • Prize = your product bundle or something your niche wants but you don’t sell (qualifies the leads). Never a generic laptop.1
  • Use a conversion campaign, not a lead objective, and put something to buy on the thank-you page — so you can judge and scale it on ROAS, not an arbitrary cost per lead.2
  • Draw the winner live (Instagram Live/Zoom) just before the sale (e.g. the Tuesday/Wednesday before Black Friday); non-winners get the sale offer.2
  • Well-qualified giveaway leads tend to have high lifetime value.3

Details

Who. Tip from Attila, a senior Smart Marketer media buyer, relayed by Molly Pittman (July 2025). It worked for a client’s Father’s Day sale and is now recommended to all their clients before Q3/Q4 promotions.13

Prize examples. Antler Rings (Western/hunting/fishing audience) gives away a rodeo trip or an antler chandelier rather than its own rings, which can get stale. Smart Marketer gives away course bundles or a business makeover with Ezra and Molly — attractive only to its audience.13

Thank-you-page offer options: early access to the sale, another offer, a catalog, or the hero product.2

Why it beats “join our VIP list”. Consumers know a VIP sign-up means being sold to; a giveaway offers value up front and puts the conversion opportunity close to the lead capture.23

Disagreements / caveats

  • Check giveaway/sweepstakes rules in your country and Meta’s promotion policies before running one.
  • Results are anecdotal (one client’s Father’s Day sale); no numbers given.
  • CTC’s BFCM plan builds pre-sale demand through email and SMS instead: ≥3 emails a week pre-sale and 48-hour VIP early access. Joy Sharma cites Taylor Holiday’s rule that half of Black Friday is built by who you acquired in the prior 60 days.4 See BFCM prep — housekeeping, offer, homepage and email plan (CTC checklist).

See also

Footnotes

  1. How We Doubled Ad Spend + Boosted Revenue 65% in 60 Days @ 01:02 — Molly Pittman ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. How We Doubled Ad Spend + Boosted Revenue 65% in 60 Days @ 02:37 — Molly Pittman ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. How We Doubled Ad Spend + Boosted Revenue 65% in 60 Days @ 04:12 — Molly Pittman ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. The BFCM Prep Checklist: From Least to Most Impact @ 01:59 — Joy Sharma ↩