Emotional design in prize promotions

How emotional triggers in promotions can influence decisions, reduce friction, and make every interaction feel rewarding

When people enter a prize promotion, it’s usually because the idea of winning feels good, not because the math adds up. In their mind, it’s all about the win, excitement, and experience.

This highlights the power of emotional marketing in promotions and contests. It creates a powerful story in someone’s head and lets them imagine what winning would look and feel like, which then translates into a click.

The impact of emotional marketing in prize promotions

Emotional marketing in contests requires that you deliberately shape how someone feels at every stage of the promotion. Even before they consider the mechanics of the contest or their logic kicks in, you need to prompt an emotional response.

This emotional design strategy requires choosing an emotional angle to build around.

• Desire – the “I want this” reaction: This one is strongly tied to the prize, but it goes beyond the object to something they find valuable. For example, if you are offering a smartwatch, you can find a way to add something like ‘Hit your goals without checking your phone.’
• Anticipation: You need to create small moments that make the participant feel like they are making progress. This is easy to do with a progress indicator or even a simple encouragement like ‘Almost there…’ With every click, the participant should feel like they are moving closer to the goal.
• Belonging (social motivation): People naturally feel safer when joining something that others have already validated. So, show how many people have already entered or highlight the user-generated content you’ve received. It will make people feel like they are part of something.

When you trigger these emotional aspects, it will be easy to convince a person to take part in your prize promotion. It will also make your contest more memorable.

Applying emotional design strategy in prize promotions

A proper emotional design strategy means turning people’s interests into action, and it should be part of the entire participation process.

Capture emotion immediately

Your entry is your best tool to capture emotional response and turn a viewer into a participant. Don’t explain mechanics or list prize details here, as this will take a good chunk of the page.

Instead, show the lifestyle or experience behind the prize. Make the headline short and emotional, then have a single call to action that people can’t miss. The best way to convince people is to make them feel something instantly.

Keep emotion alive during the form or task

Once a person decides to enter your contest, your main goal should now be to maintain anticipation and reduce hesitation. Don’t overwhelm them by asking for too much, and have a microcopy that assures participants about how their data will be used. Then, you can encourage them with subtle progress cues like “One more step” or a visual progress line.

End with a moment worth remembering

When a user goes all the way, don’t just end everything with a flat confirmation page. At this point, you need to reinforce that entering was the right choice. You can have something that signals completion, like confetti, then acknowledge the user with something like a thank you and good luck wish. If it fits your contest strategy, you can also offer a final step, like sharing the promotion.

This way, you’ll have tapped into a user’s emotional response throughout the whole journey, which helps significantly improve participation.

Want to boost participation and user experience in contests?

Promosfera helps apply emotional design strategy to guide attention, reduce hesitation, and keep users moving forward. Tap into our expertise to strategically boost your marketing efforts!