Never heard of a “holiday with your dog” giveaway yet? 🐾 Well today, you will. Because in this new case study, we’re excited to show you how Eline van Maanen did an evergreen UpViral campaign that resulted in:
- 64,748 total leads (23,539 direct leads, 41,209 referred leads)
- 70,424 total shares
- 360,245 total visits
- Increased bookings and brand loyalty
- A boost in publicity (national magazines and TV interviews)
Here are some screenshots from Eline’s UpViral dashboard:
TOTAL LEADS AND VISITS
SOCIAL SHARES
Inspired by this success? Keep on reading. This is, in fact, the first time we share with you a campaign that’s continuously running for two years. It’s still up and running to this very day.
Here are some of the recent comments on their Facebook post. Also, pay attention to the post’s engagement!
You must be wondering, “How is this possible?” We reached out to Eline to let her reveal all the details that led to her success.
Meet Eline van Maanen, founder of Van Maanen holiday homes
Eline van Maanen, together with her husband, run van Maanen Vakantiehuizen (van Maanen Holiday Homes) – a holiday resort with luxury chalets for dog owners and their dogs. You can check out their website.
They started this business because they knew how challenging it was for dog owners to find holiday homes that welcomed their pets. Having experienced this themselves, Eline mentioned that while some places allowed dogs, they weren’t nice. Others, on the other hand, were nice but didn’t make them feel very welcome.
Why UpViral? The Problem
Our users at UpViral choose us to help them solve a particular need or exceed their current results. Eline already understood the importance of growing an email list and even built one by offering freebies like ebooks.
However, she had two goals in mind:
#1: Get more people to know about their business.
#2: Attract more people into her marketing funnel which would increase their bookings.
To sum it up, Eline wanted a greater amount of exposure and leads. She saw that opportunity after watching Wilco’s video.
She also mentioned that before UpViral, she was more focused on turning every lead into a guest, which meant that she missed out on opportunities to acquire more leads.
💡UpViral Tip: Invest time and effort in continuously generating leads. This brings a flow of potentially qualified leads that become your customers. A platform like UpViral will help you create a system for this.
How Eline Came up With the Evergreen UpViral Campaign
Every successful campaign starts with a clear plan.
“It would have to be an automated lead generator. I had not seen any examples at UpViral, but it felt right from the beginning,” said Eline. Clearly, she made the right decision by taking action.
The Prize
Eline chose to give away a FREE WEEKEND STAY with their dog/s at one of the chalets. 🎉🎉🎉
IMAGE CREDIT: VAN MAANEN VAKANTIEHUIZEN’S FACEBOOK PAGE
Here’s the reason behind that prize choice:
Eline and her husband keep on building new chalets each year. Before they open those chalets to guests, they test them out themselves by spending a few days in the chalets. That way, they’ll be able to identify areas for improvement or items that need to be added.
In addition to that, they invite potential testers to be part of their exclusive tester list. This is important because their dogs would also be able to test the fencing.
For participants to be part of that list, they need to earn only 5 points and should have at least 1 dog. They should also join Eline’s “NewsBark” newsletter where the announcements on the new chalets will be made.
See the rules for entering here (found on the sign-up page, at the bottom):
What makes it a great prize? Here are some of our insights:
#1: Relevant.
A free weekend stay with their dog is something that Eline’s target audience is interested in winning. Eline knows her audience well. She mentions that Van Maanen Holiday Homes only focuses on dog owners and their dogs, and that their target audience is aged between 45 and 55 years old.
#2: Benefits their business.
One of the requirements was that the winner should provide extensive feedback on their experience before they leave the chalet. “I can videotape an interview with them so I can post that video on our Facebook page,” said Eline.
This helped the business boost its social proof to attract more customers. Negative feedback would also serve as a source of learning and improving the business.
#3: Easy to win.
Not only was the prize itself attractive and relevant, but it was also easy to win. That got their audience more excited. Those who entered were also given 1 point so they needed only 4 more to be part of the exclusive list of testers.
To score more points, participants should like the Van Maanen Holiday Homes Facebook page and successfully refer their friends to the campaign.
Sign-Up Page
Take note that this sign-up page was translated from Dutch to English by the Chrome web browser. The same applies to the share page.
Recall that Eline’s campaign got 64,748 leads. One of the reasons for that result was this high-converting sign-up page. Here were a couple of things we noticed:
#1: Only asks for necessary information
Only two form fields were used that asked a participant’s first name and email. The fewer the fields, the more likely people will want to complete the form.
💡UpViral Tip: If you want to gather more information from your audience, it’s best to do it in the middle of or after the campaign. Like Eline, you can require your winners to provide a testimonial or participate in a survey. Another successful UpViral user, David Fraser, runs surveys mid-campaign and incentivizes people with more points for answering them.
#2: Copy
Eline placed the information that mattered most to her target audience. Notice that the copy doesn’t beat around the bush.
On the left side of the page, you’ll see an image of two dogs with the text that reads: Will you and your dogs be our new test sleepers? (Translated from Dutch to English) It speaks to one target audience and is answerable with a yes or no.
On the right side of the page is the headline that reads: Would you like to be on our list of test sleepers for new chalets?
Below that is the text: Of course you must have a dog. This prequalifies participants to ensure that they’re getting higher quality leads.
#3: Call-to-action button
Eline uses a call-to-action (CTA) button that stands out. It invites participants to sign-up so they can find out what’s next.
Share Page
After entering their name and email address and clicking the CTA button, participants are taken to this share page. See the screenshots below.
The upper half of the page features a big headline encouraging people to share their link with other dog owners. It’s straightforward and speaks directly to its audience.
Also, notice that it emphasizes sharing on Facebook. Eline knows that the majority of her target audience is active on Facebook. (That’s also the reason why she chose to run only Facebook ads for this campaign – not ads on other social platforms.)
Below the headline, you’ll see instructions on how many points you earn for taking action such as getting people to register and liking the Van Maanen Holiday Homes FB page.
Eline also adds relevant emojis to add context to her message. Emojis add personality to your brand and help you become more relatable. They’re eye candy, too!
On the lower half of the share page, you’ll see a unique invite link that you can copy and paste so that any dog owner can sign-up. We like how the text emphasized that the referred person should be a “canine friend”.
Below the unique invite link are different social media sharing buttons and another button for email.
Notice that the button for liking the Van Maanen Holiday Homes FB page was emphasized. This button is a Custom Action – it’s an UpViral feature that lets you reward points to participants for taking certain actions. For example, liking your social media page, commenting on your post, taking a survey, and more.
Here’s more about the Custom Actions feature.
Promotion and Engagement Strategies
Eline was consistent in keeping everyone updated on Facebook. Again, take note that Facebook is Van Maanen’s most active platform and it’s where most of their audience is.
Facebook pinned post
For a start, Van Maanen Holiday Homes pinned a Facebook post of the campaign. To this day, it continues to get engagement. When you click on that post, you’re taken to the campaign sign-up page.
IMAGE CREDIT: VAN MAANEN VAKANTIEHUIZEN’S FACEBOOK PAGE
Facebook Live
Eline goes live on Facebook from time to time to show people that a new chalet is ready and that they can test it out by registering for the campaign.
“I include the UpViral link in the message and the UpViral campaign has been at the top of our Facebook page for over two years, for immediate visibility,” said Eline.
Running Facebook ads
In addition to the free strategies that boosted the campaign, Eline runs an ongoing Facebook ad. She spends around 15€ per day. Every lead she acquires costs 0.20 euros.
Here’s a screenshot of that ad:
In case you’re curious about the copy (which is great), we translated it for you:
GET YOUR CHANCE👇👇
✅ Do you have one or more dogs?
✅ Do you like going for a weekend with your dog (s) to a luxury chalet with a fenced garden?
We want every new chalet with us to be tested for free by dogs and owners before it goes into official rental. (maybe you don’t know us yet, but we rent out beautiful chalets all exclusively for dogs and their owners with well-fenced gardens next to the forest in Drenthe)
New chalets are regularly added to our offer. We like it when a really big dog lover comes to test the chalet for free. And of course your dogs belong in the test panel.
✅ Do you want to be on our exclusive icet for test sleepers? Then sign up (click on the photo)
✅Share your unique link you get with your registration with your canine friends.
Then you have 5 points in no time and you are automatically on our exclusive list. With every new chalet you have a chance to win a free test weekend with us.
Are you already curious about us? We are Van Maanen Holiday Homes 🐕🐾🏡
Why the Campaign Was a Success
Because of this funnel, Eline was able to attract an average of 75 new leads per day. “Sometimes, even more than 100,” said Eline.
So why do we think this campaign is a huge success?
#1: The campaign itself was continuous
First off, don’t think that you need to have an evergreen campaign for it to succeed. A lot of campaigns at UpViral were done at certain times of the year and lasted for a month or more. For example, on Black Friday, at the start of the year, etc.
However, an evergreen campaign is worth considering especially if it’s something your business already does. That way, you generate leads continuously.
Eline and her husband were already testing the chalets that they just built. Turning that into a campaign using UpViral made the difference.
And because the campaign was continuous, Eline and her husband were able to get more personal with their audience. They send informal emails where they introduce themselves, share their lives, and how they would also like to know their audience better – dog owners and their dogs!
#2: Social proof
The video interviews that Eline did with the chalet testers was a form of free advertising, as she puts it. “People see that we really give away a free weekend and that we are not just offering them a juicy carrot,” she said.
The pinned campaign on the Facebook page generated thousands of comments. When dog owners saw that high level of engagement, they became curious and felt compelled to join.
#3: Simplicity and clarity
Participants didn’t have to complete a lot of tasks to win in the campaign. All they had to do was to share it with their friends and reach 5 points. Aside from the simple mechanics, they knew what to expect because the message was clear.
Eline told us, “There are a lot of people that would like to award the weekend to their friends (with dogs) so the threshold for sharing is low. What dog owner would not want a wonderful, luxurious, free weekend away from home?”
Final Thoughts
If you want to build an evergreen campaign for your business to generate leads continuously and reach more goals, use Eline’s campaign as inspiration. You can also get ideas from other case studies we have.
Whether you opt for a simple campaign or a more advanced one, make sure you get a good grasp of what makes a successful giveaway. That includes knowing your audience well, setting clear goals, writing clear copy, and keeping your audience engaged.
Here’s what Eline says about UpViral:
And that wraps up this case study. If you liked it, share your thoughts with us. Ready to create an evergreen lead generation campaign? You can get started now for only $1.
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