Suggestion to Encourage Contest Winners Picked and Closure
Suggestion to Encourage Contest Winners Picked and Closure
I have only been on Namestation for a few months and really enjoy
it, but the most frustrating thing is the number of contests that
go without ratings and no winner picked. It’s even more
frustrating when the CH has been involved and rated submissions but
then never picks a winner. Either way, all the effort represents
many hours of time invested by very creative people here. In trying
to figure out why so many contests were abandoned, I thought that
the CH just didn’t find a name they really, really liked.
However, not to long ago, I saw two similar contests held in
parallel by the same person. They picked a winner on one but not
the other. They registered at least a dozen names they received in
the contest that they did not choose a winner, so they obviously
did like a few names. Some of the names they registered also
weren’t even upvoted.
Anyways, this issue is not exclusive to Namestation. I’ve participated on other naming contest sites and they all have abandoned contests. They all handle them a little differently and I don’t think any have found a good solution. Namestation is different from all of them, so I don’t think their methods would work for Namestation. I’ve been giving this a bit of thought and would like to offer a suggestion. A contest on Namestation is very inexpensive. Raise the fee at least $5 and IF they choose a winner and close the contest, provide an addition month of PRO account. Of course this won’t be of interest to some CHs that are not in need of any additional names. But, maybe it would at least minimize the number of abandoned contests.
Perhaps it could be tried as a promo for three months – Spring into Action or Summer Sizzler. :) If it is well received and utilized, then keep the feature after the promo. If not and the number of abandoned contests doesn’t go down, then eliminate it at the end of the promo.
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Support Staff 1 Posted by Tauno on 19 Mar, 2013 04:13 PM
Hi Michele, I can see how this can be frustrating, I'll definitely have to do something about it.
We're a bit constrained by the contest price, I've tried rising the contest price to $40, which resulted in a 40% drop in the number of contests. For CH-s, a name contest is basically an experiment, there is no way to guarantee that they'll eventually end up using one of the names. $35 seems to be the maximum that CHs are willing to depart with to give it a try.
I'll have to give it a bit of thought. I can try and add additional steps to the contest process, although complexity tends to fence CH-s off a bit. I'll also try sending more reminders.
Tauno
Tauno closed this discussion on 19 Mar, 2013 04:13 PM.
Tauno re-opened this discussion on 19 Mar, 2013 04:13 PM
2 Posted by Michele on 19 Mar, 2013 09:54 PM
Well, I mentioned the extra $5 to help offset the costs of the provided PRO but if the cost can be covered by other resources (I assumed unawarded contest funds go back into NS for operating/improvement costs and complimentary PROs to the winners of other contests.) then perhaps the extra perk would provide incentive for more contests to be closed by the CH. There must be other factors that cause a drop in contests as well. I’ve noticed quite a drop in the past couple of weeks. For many, I’m sure they choose Namestation for the low cost. There is probably an equal percentage where this is not a determining factor based on the fact that they are running the same contest on another site and awarding $100+ to the winning name. I have seen these fairly often, but I know of one currently that is due to close on Namestation today. It was run on another site and closed a couple of days ago there. A winner was chosen and awarded $100. Will they also designate a winner and close the contest here? Interestingly, the name chosen on the other site is one that is also submitted on Namestation. Don’t know if it’s the same person using different usernames between the two sites or if it was taken by someone else since the names are publicly visible in the contest here. But the point is… cost obviously wasn’t the factor in choosing Namestation for this one and these are not that uncommon. On the other hand, it would be a shame to make any changes that would push those away that do choose Namestation for the reasonable cost.
I posted this subject hoping other namers might chime in with ideas too and perhaps CHs would also jump in to shed some light on anything that either namers or Namestation can do to make it more desirable and easier to choose a winner and close the contest that they paid for (and to make NS their service of choice for any future naming needs). Based on previously mentioned observations, it’s not that namers aren’t coming up with great names that they like. Also, I get the impression that the namers here really love Namestation (as do I) and want to do everything possible for Namestation to be one of the best choices for naming contests by providing the best experience and names to the CH. Is there anything we, as namers, can do to help the CH make a final decision and close the contest?