How to run a spin-the-wheel popup campaign

A prize wheel adds a game to the coupon popup: the visitor enters their email, spins, the pointer stops on a slice and they use the code they won straight away. Even with the same discount, “I won” feels different from a plain coupon. Set up badly, though, a wheel either strains your budget or dangles a prize nobody can win.

This guide covers how to choose prizes and odds, how coupon codes are protected, how to collect emails properly and when a wheel isn't the right tool.

How a prize wheel works

Here's what a visitor goes through with the ready-made template in Roigo:

1. Four seconds after landing, the popup with the wheel opens. The heading, a short description and the email field sit next to the wheel and stack on phones.
2. The visitor types their email address and presses Spin the wheel. On a wheel without an email field, they spin right away.
3. The server draws the prize according to the slices' chances, and the wheel stops on that slice.
4. The result screen shows the prize won and the coupon code, which the visitor copies with a tap. If you like, a button below takes them shopping.
5. Once the popup is closed, the code stays in a small corner card on every page until the visitor closes the card.

How to choose prizes and odds

A wheel can have between 2 and 12 slices, and you give each slice a chance from 1 to 100. A slice's probability is its chance divided by the total of all chances; the studio shows that percentage next to each slice. The six slices in the ready-made template add up to 100, so each chance is also its percentage:

• The most frequent slice sets your budget. Most spinners win the slice with the highest chance, so make it a prize you can comfortably give.
• Let the top prize be rare, but real. The minimum chance is 1; showing a prize that can never come up misleads visitors.
• Keep slice names short. Names appear in capitals on the wheel, can be up to 32 characters and shrink as slices get narrower; two words such as “10% off” or “free shipping” read best.
• Don't overdo the slices. The template comes with six; the more you add, the smaller the text gets.

Create the coupon codes in your platform first

Roigo shows the slice's code to the winner but doesn't create the discount in your store. Each slice's code has to exist in your ideasoft, ikas or Shopify admin, or the visitor won't be able to use the code they won. When you create the code, set the total and per-customer usage limits, the end date and, if needed, a minimum order amount:

The studio turns codes into capitals and removes spaces, so create the code in your platform in capitals without spaces too. A wheel with an empty code on any slice can't be published. Create a code for the free shipping slice too; on ideasoft, the gift certificate's free shipping option is there for exactly that. Showing the amount left to the threshold against the cart is a separate tool: the free shipping bar. If you change a slice's code mid-campaign, on a wheel with email, an address that already won that slice sees the new code when it spins again; the old code stays valid until you turn it off in your platform.

Collecting emails and the privacy notice

With Ask for an email to spin turned on in the studio, visitors can't spin without entering their address. The address is added to your subscriber list along with the prize and code they won, and you download the list as Excel from the Subscribers box in the widget list (email, prize, coupon code, date and page). If the same address tries to spin again, the wheel doesn't draw a new prize: it tells the visitor they've already spun with this email and shows their first prize.

If you turn the email off, anyone can spin without an address and no subscribers are collected. The number of spins from the same connection (IP) in a short time is then limited, but the only thing that ties a prize to a person is the email.

In the ready-made template, there's a privacy line below the form: a short text saying what the address is collected for, plus a link to the privacy notice on your store. The suggested text comes ready; you add the link's address. If the address is empty, the link doesn't appear and only the text remains.

Wheel or welcome coupon?

A wheel doesn't suit every campaign. Side by side, the two ready-made templates differ like this:

If you're giving one simple discount, collecting emails isn't a priority or your brand's tone doesn't suit a playful popup, the welcome coupon is the plainer choice. In busy periods such as November, a wheel can make the campaign stand out; for timing and preparation, see the November sales guide. To make a last offer to visitors who are leaving, read the exit-intent popup guide; you can also use the wheel as an exit popup by choosing the On exit trigger on the Behavior tab.

When and to whom to show it

The ready-made wheel opens 4 seconds after a visitor lands and, once closed, comes back once a day. Winners don't see it for 30 days: the result is stored in their browser and the code is shown in a corner card on every page; if they close the card, it doesn't come back either. That record is tied to the browser: if the same person visits from another device, they see the wheel again, and on a wheel with email, the same address still gets its first prize.

The wheel popup is wide and covers most of a phone screen. Google says promotional popups that cover content frustrate users and can lead to poor search performance, and it recommends banners that take up only a small part of the screen instead (Google). If you show the wheel on mobile, don't open it the moment the page loads; show it once the visitor has browsed a little by choosing On scroll or a longer delay on the Behavior tab. Besides popups, the wheel also works in a corner card and inline, so you could, for example, put an inline wheel on your campaign page only.

Pre-launch checklist

• Every slice's coupon code exists in your platform and is spelled the same on the wheel.
• The codes have usage limits and end dates, and the validity in the win text (7 days in the default text) matches the end date.
• Every slice's chance is a deliberate choice, and you can comfortably afford the most frequent prize.
• Slice names are short and readable on the wheel; the studio warns you when a slice's text is hard to read.
• If you ask for an email, the privacy line links to the privacy notice on your store.
• The button in the After winning section links to the right page; if left empty, it closes the popup.
• The timing and frequency were chosen with mobile visitors in mind.
• You've checked the After winning preview too: heading, code and button are right.

Setting up a prize wheel in Widget Studio

1. In Widget Studio, open Templates, pick the Spin-to-win wheel template under the Collect emails goal and click Continue.
2. In the Slices section, enter each slice's prize, coupon code and chance; the percentages appear alongside. You can add and remove slices.
3. Pick a color theme under Wheel look, and put your brand's logo in the center if you like.
4. Edit the texts, the privacy line and the After winning screen; switch the preview between Before spinning and After winning to check both.
5. On the Behavior and Targeting tabs, choose when, on which pages and on which devices it appears.
6. Add the install code to your site once and Publish. The wheel works on any site with the install code; it doesn't have to be ideasoft, ikas or Shopify.

The Free plan includes 1 live widget and 5,000 views a month, and the wheel can be that widget. Pro includes 5 live widgets and Business 25. When the monthly views run out, widgets stop showing on your site until the end of the month. All templates and display rules are on the Widget Studio page, and plans are on the pricing page.