Require A Certain Amount Of Entries For A User To Win
When picking winners for your SweepWidget giveaway, you can require participants to have earned a minimum number of entries to be eligible. This ensures that only engaged participants who completed multiple entry methods can win.
How to Pick Winners with Entry Requirements
Step 1: Go to Manage Entries
- Go to your Dashboard
- Find the giveaway you want to pick winners for
- Click the Manage Entries button
Step 2: Click Pick A Winner
On the Entries page, click the Pick A Winner button (blue button in the top row).
Step 3: Choose Selection Method
You’ll see a prompt asking: “How would you like to draw your winners?”
You have two options:
- Randomize the Selection – Let SweepWidget randomly pick winners based on your criteria
- Choose Yourself – Manually select winners from the entry list
Click Randomize the Selection to set entry requirements.
Step 4: Set Entry Requirements
After clicking “Randomize the Selection”, you’ll see the winner selection form:
“Randomly draw [X] winner/s (up to 250 at a time) who earned a [minimum/maximum] of [X] entry/s.”
Configure the following:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Number of winners | How many winners to draw (up to 250 at a time) |
| Minimum / Maximum | Whether users must have at least (minimum) or at most (maximum) the specified entries |
| Entry count | The number of entries required |
Step 5: Draw Winners
Click the Draw Winners button to randomly select winners from participants who meet your criteria.
You’ll see a confirmation message showing how many winners were chosen.
Minimum vs Maximum Entries
Minimum Entries
Select minimum to only include participants who earned at least the specified number of entries.
Example: “Randomly draw 1 winner who earned a minimum of 5 entries” will only select from participants with 5 or more entries.
Use cases:
- Reward highly engaged participants who completed many entry methods
- Ensure winners have followed you on multiple platforms
- Filter out participants who only completed the bare minimum
Maximum Entries
Select maximum to only include participants who earned at most the specified number of entries.
Example: “Randomly draw 1 winner who earned a maximum of 3 entries” will only select from participants with 3 or fewer entries.
Use cases:
- Give casual participants a fair chance to win
- Run a separate drawing for participants who couldn’t complete all entry methods
- Create tiered prize structures (one prize for high-engagement, another for everyone else)
Viewing Selected Winners
After drawing winners:
- Click View Winners in the success popup, or
- Click the View Winners button (orange) on the Entries page
From the winners page, you can:
- See all selected winners with their details
- Contact winners via email
- Disqualify a winner if needed (and redraw)
- Export winner data
Choose Yourself Option
If you select Choose Yourself instead of randomizing, you can manually browse through all entries and select winners yourself. This is useful when:
- You want to review entries before selecting (e.g., for photo contests)
- You have specific criteria beyond entry count
- You want to select alternates or backup winners
Tips for Setting Entry Requirements
- Check your entry distribution first – Before setting a minimum, look at how many entries your participants typically have. Setting too high a minimum might exclude most participants.
- Consider your entry methods – If you have 10 entry methods worth 1 entry each, a minimum of 5 entries means participants must complete at least half of them.
- Draw multiple times – You can draw winners multiple times with different criteria (e.g., grand prize requires 10+ entries, consolation prizes require 1+ entries).
- Up to 250 at a time – If you need more than 250 winners, run multiple drawings.
Important Notes
- Winners are selected randomly – Each eligible entry has an equal chance of winning, but participants with more entries have proportionally more chances
- Disqualified users are excluded – Users you’ve disqualified won’t be included in the drawing
- You can redraw – If a winner is disqualified or doesn’t respond, you can draw additional winners