Instant Win

Instant Win allows you to award prizes to folks instantly upon submission of a form on your campaign. So if you are looking to award multiple of the same prize or just want people to know if they lost or won instantly - Instant Win will work for you. Here's how to set it up:

Activating Instant Win

Getting Instant Win set up is super easy. To start, open the Form Editor in your Campaign Builder by clicking on your Form Widget, then clicking Edit Form.

Once you have the Form Editor open, click on the Settings tab.

Then, on the left, you'll see the section for Instant Win. Check the Enable Instant Win box to activate Instant Win on your form.

Instant Win Settings

Once you've clicked the checkbox to activate Instant Win, there are specific settings that you'll want to adjust for your specific contest:

Total Prizes

This is the total number of prizes that you'll be giving away during the course of the Instant Win contest. The system will disperse these prizes and spread out the winners evenly so that the prizes aren't all given away right in the beginning or end of your contest.

Start/End Date

This is where to set the start and end dates of the Instant Win contest. The platform uses this information to determine how it will evenly distribute your prizes.

Time Zone

By default, the time zone will be set to the time zone established in your account settings. However, if you'd like the time zone to be set to somewhere else (for example, if you're building a contest for a client in a different area), you'd change that using this dropdown.

Winner Label

When you export your entries, each entrant who won will be marked with a special label. By default, the platform sets that label to "winner" - but you can customize it to any label you'd like.

Setting Win and Lose Messages

Like nearly everything on ShortStack, the message that your winners see is completely customizable. You can display your win and lose messages in two ways; in the Form Widget itself, and in a pop-up using an Action Widget.

In the Form Widget

The default way that winners will know they've won is by a message appearing in the Form Widget itself. To change what this particular message says, start by clicking your Form Widget in the Campaign Builder, then clicking Edit Widget.



In the settings for your Form Widget, click Text in the menu on the left side.



In the Text section, scroll all the way down and the bottom two options will be for the Instant Win feature; in one, you can set what message displays when the entrant is a winner, and the other will be the message that shows when the entry is not a winner. Simply type your custom messages in the field to the right of each one, and then click the blue Save & Exit button to save your changes.



When someone wins, they'll see your message like so:



And when they don't win, they'll see your other customized message:



You can change the text color and placement of your in-form winner message by clicking on your Form Widget (to highlight it) in the Campaign Builder, then clicking on the All Form tab in the Style Panel. From there, click open the Submit Messages section and make your changes there.

By Showing a Hidden Widget

One of the most popular ways to display a win/not a winner message is simply by using an Action Widget to show some other widgets (or containers) that you've created - one for each message - depending on the outcome.

How you start depends on you; if you want more than just a simple text message, you can create a new Container Widget and add whatever you'd like inside; for the purpose of this doc, we're just going to set up a couple of Rich Text Widgets that will show upon form entry.

In the two widgets, you'll set the visibility to Starts Hidden. For more information on visibility settings, check out our Widget Visibility doc.

Once you have the visibility set up for both widgets, you'll add a couple new Action Widgets to your campaign.

In the IF section of the Action Widget that shows the winning message, you'll select your Form Widget in the first drop-down, then an entrant is an instant winner in the second drop-down.

In the THEN section, you'd then select the Rich Text Widget containing your winning message in the first drop-down, then Show in the second drop-down.



You'd then repeat this same process in a second Action Widget for your losing message, making sure to select the same Form Widget and an entrant is not an instant winner in the IF section, and the Rich Text Widget with your losing message in the THEN section.

If everything's set up correctly, you'll see either message in a pop-up when your form is submitted:

In a Pop-Up

You can also choose to display your win/not a winner message in a pop-up, if you choose. To do so, start by setting up a couple of new Rich Text Widgets; one with your winner message, and one with your not a winner message.

For both of your new widgets, you'll set the visibility to Pop-Up. For more information on visibility settings, check out our Widget Visibility doc.



Once you have the messages set up in their own Rich Text Widgets, you'll add a new Action Widget to your campaign.

In the IF section of the Action Widget that shows the winning message, you'll select your Form Widget in the first drop-down, then an entrant is an instant winner in the second drop-down.

In the THEN section, you'd then select the Rich Text Widget containing your winning message in the first drop-down, then Show in the second drop-down.



You'd then repeat this same process in a second Action Widget for your losing message, making sure to select the same Form Widget and an entrant is not an instant winner in the IF section, and the Rich Text Widget with your losing message in the THEN section.

If everything's set up correctly, you'll see either message in a pop-up when your form is submitted:



To make changes to the style of the pop-ups, click the Global tab in the Style Panel, then open the Popups section and make your changes there.

Note: If you make a copy of a campaign that uses the Instant Win feature, please note: You will have to set up the Instant Win feature again in the new campaign's Form Widget. The new campaign copy will not pull over the Instant Win settings from the original campaign.