The importance of prize strategy in till slip campaigns

Till slip campaigns engage shoppers, drive sales and reward loyalty, especially in FMCG. They also attract people who will try to cheat. A thought-through prize structure protects the brand and keeps the spend pointed at real customers.

How people try to cheat

• Duplicate entries. The same till slip, sent again, hoping for another chance.
• Fake slips. A photo edited, or a slip made up in an image editor.
• The wrong purchase. A slip that never had the products on it, sent in the hope nobody looks.

Those entries make the competition unfair, muddy the results, and spend the prize budget on people who did not buy.

What that costs an FMCG brand

• Skewed data. You cannot tell whether the campaign worked, so the next plan is built on a lie.
• Reputation. If shoppers decide the draw was sloppy, they say so, and social media carries it.
• Wasted prizes. A reward that went to a bad entry is budget that should have gone to a real buyer.

A prize structure that lowers the risk

• A range of smaller prizes, given instantly once the slip is valid. People stay interested, and one bad entry cannot empty the budget.
• The large prizes held for a draw at the end, with a second check before anyone is named. That is where a cross-check or another look at the proof belongs.
• A validation system on every entry. Smartslip.ai checks the slip, the products and a second photo of a slip already used, so the prize follows a real purchase.

Smaller rewards can go out through SmartRewards as soon as the slip passes. The draw prizes wait.

That mix does three jobs. It keeps entries legitimate, it can pay the small prizes immediately and hold the big ones, and it leaves you with data about people who actually bought. Fraud is a real risk. It is also manageable if the prizes and the check are designed together.

To plan one, email andrew@brazenlabs.co.za. The short version of how these campaigns work is in till slip campaigns explained.