The OpenWater Blog

Unwelcome Surprises New Awards Admins Experience During Submissions

Brace yourself for the hard truth: when working on your awards program planning, things will go wrong. Before you freak out, and believe me, there’s no need to, it’s important to recognize why this is happening, and it can be summed up in one word: procrastination.

This doesn’t mean your awards program is doomed to fail. In fact, when you choose to plan for your awards program effectively, considering things like press releases and budgeting, among others, you can brace for impact and prevent problems as they surface.

Common Problems and Solutions

There are several issues that awards administrators all face during their awards season. Check them out below to see if anything sounds familiar. If so, good news: we’ve got the answers for you.

1. Problem: People submit their entry minutes or hours after the submission deadline closes.

Solution: Time zone differences are often the cause of this issue. Instead of setting your deadline for midnight, try setting it for 3 a.m. instead. And don’t forget to include the appropriate time zone when listing your deadline on your website i.e. 3 a.m. EST.

2. Problem: Credit cards are declined or the payment gateway hasn’t been tested, leading all entrants to be declined.

Solution: Include a FAQ section on your site instructing entrants to call their credit card company if declined. Also, check the payment gateway often to ensure it still works, especially if there is a lapse in submissions before the final submission rush.

3. Problem: A surge in traffic causes your site to shut down.

Solution: A cloud-based solution can easily prevent this from occurring again. However, if you’re already fixed on a system, you can try to set early deadlines with discounts to encourage submission spacing to avoid that final surge.

4. Problem: Receiving an overwhelming amount of last minute questions regarding entries, the criteria, and qualifications.

Solution: Avoiding these basic questions, especially in large quantities, is as easy as putting together an amazing awards site from the get-go that includes all important information.

5. Problem: Receiving an insufficient number of entries.

Solution: I feel your pain, I really do! Typically, insufficient entries are the result of poor planning and poor marketing. However, you can just extend the deadline and go into advertising overload on social media to get the amount of entries you need. But to be proactive and avoid this fate, begin your awards marketing early on!

Planning is Everything

Problems happen when it comes to awards programs. However, how you deal with it is up to you and your ability to plan for easily foreseen problems that crop up year after year.

What are you doing to ensure the planned success of your awards program? Tell us in the comments below!

Miriam Hancock

Miriam Hancock
Miriam is the Marketing Coordinator for OpenWater. When she isn't writing and designing content she paints and cooks for her own personal blog.

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