Sorry, sequel’s are usually such a sell-out, but so much is going on in FPL HQ this may well turn into a boxset… Here’s another update for you.
Sponsor Draws
The Quidco and Groupon draws were such a success we trialled similar draws for Boom25, TheWorks, and Zeek. Sadly, it didn’t really work out for Zeek or The Works so we’re removing those at the end of this week (they will, of course, honour this week’s gift card wins). We’ll keep working on adding new sponsors and making the draws easier to navigate around.
Tuesday’s email woes
There was a (yet undiagnosed) technical glitch which somehow stopped all of Tuesday’s draw alert emails going out. I only realised on Wednesday morning, so we hurriedly sent out as many of them as we could (entitled “Tuesday (Belated) Draw Alert”). We prioritised people who had visited most recently so we could get to the people who were most likely to open them…. Sadly though, not everyone. And even more sad: even though Tuesday’s one winner did receive one, she didn’t respond in time to claim her win. The prize rolled over and was eventually claimed by Wednesday’s winner. It may seem harsh that we couldn’t find a way around this, but we do stress that the daily reminder emails are a service to help you remember, and you cannot 100% rely on emails at all times. Even when we do send them, some ISPs don’t let them through. We have introduced a new half-hourly alarm system to notify us if this ever happens again, so hopefully it won’t. We still recommend adding a reminder to your calendar, or even adding FPL as your browser homepage (if that’s still possible these days…)
Good stuff to come
Trying to end on a more positive note. We’ve been working so hard on getting the site rebuilt, and niggles fixed, we’ve finally got to a stage where we can be creative again. Here are some of the things which will (most probably) be launched in the next few months:
Survey Draw Overhaul: There aren’t enough surveys available so we’re looking at creating our own ones. One of our advertising challenges is that we know nothing about you. We cannot target offers depending on what kind of person you are and what kind of things that you like. So we’ll be asking you. Don’t worry, any information you give us will be kept safe and NOT passed (or sold) on. It just helps us to know whether you’re a cat or dog person before we show you an offer for free cat or dog food. In return for giving us info, we’ll give you access to more ways of winning… somehow… Make sense?
Push notifications: Emails are becoming less relevant and easier to ignore. We’re experimenting with push notifications to remind you to check if those emails haven’t got through. We’ll make sure they aren’t annoying and can be stopped easily 🙂
Alternative Prizes: We’re seeking sponsors to donate or discount prizes that we can offer as alternatives to cash. It would then be the winner’s choice. Take the money, or the prize? Imagine: Win £500, or a new laptop worth £750!
Auto-claim facility: This might be a bit controversial… so we’ll keep discussing it and are happy to take your feedback on board. What if you are a busy type and unable to check the site every day? What if you could pay a small amount every month for a facility that would claim on your behalf? We understand that this is against the spirit of the site, but what if the extra cash enabled us to double the prizes for everyone? Any thoughts?
As always, we’d love to hear any feedback on any of the above. Please be gentle 🙂
Cheers!
Chris