1. when you place an order you could recieve an extra deck a v6 a black crown and so on at random
2 raffles same as d and d ticket with you order you could win rare decks v3 tungstene so on
3 buy a raffle ticket and you could win a rare deck
4 order rewards as you reach diffrent numbers of how many times you have ordred from me youll be sent a free deck to thank you for shopping with me
5 a request a deck e mail if you really cant afford a new release we may pick an e mail and send one lucky person a deck out
ill leave you all with these 5 ideas for now please let me know how you like them if they would sway you towards me and just your thoughts on them thank you
Idea #1 is great. Total random chance, gives people a reason to shop with you. If you can combine that with cheap shipping, you may even get people breaking up larger orders into a bunch of smaller ones to increase their chances!
Idea #2 is nice, but make the prize something bigger - you're already giving out random decks in idea #1. A Variety Box, some magic/cardistry DVDs, a pass to a local magic/cardistry lecture or convention... You want BIG prizes for raffles.
Idea #3 is BAD. Suddenly it becomes the Golden Rule - he who has the gold, makes the rules. Your less-wealthy clientele will feel gypped because the richer ones could purchase raffles like they're going out of style. A better idea - when holding raffles, let some buyers get a BONUS ticket or two, meaning they have a random chance of having their odds bumped up! It levels the playing field between the rich buyers and the average punters.
Idea #4 is already in use by a New York magic shop, Tannen's. Doing it by the order is a bit more democratic than the Ellusionist version, which is the more spent in a single order, the better the prize.
Idea #5 could work a little better like this: a new deck is coming out. Before it arrives, allow anyone interested to fill out an online form and get an email entry into a random drawing. You could take a brick and divide it thusly: Third Prize - a deck, Second Prize - two decks, First Prize - three decks, Grand Prize - a half-brick. Or just give out a half-brick. But have it as a random sweepstakes sort of thing, rather than soliciting emails from poor collectors wanting a free deck. I suggest a bigger giveaway for this because, as already stated, you're already giving out single decks with randomly selected orders.
Now, I don't know how the rules are for this in the UK, but in the US, for contests where the prize has a predictable set of odds for winning, you generally are required to post the chances of winning any given prize in the contest. It may not be mandatory there, but it's good policy to do so. For example:
For idea #1, you could say you have a 6:1 chance of receiving a "common" deck (market value under $10), a 24:1 chance of an "uncommon" deck (value $10-$30), a 72:1 chance of receiving a "rare" deck (value $30-$100) and a 300:1 chance of receiving an "ultra-rare" deck (value over $100). Provide a list of what decks are being given away at any given time, keep records of which orders received which prizes in the event you have a contest audited because someone wants to cry sour grapes and sue you for not winning despite spending an ungodly sum - that has happened more than once in the States with people shelling out thousands of dollars in lottery tickets who don't win a single prize, or nothing worth even close to what they spent.
For idea #2, set a maximum number of tickets issued, so the odds are a known quantity, and offer a second-chance drawing for prize that remain unclaimed after two fortnights or some other reasonable wait time.
For #4, give a list of what decks are being given out. One possible way to do this is to say that ten purchases gets you a common deck, twenty gets you an uncommon, then every ten thereafter alternates between a common deck and an uncommon deck.
For #5, you have no way of knowing how many entrants there will be, so you have to post the odds after the entry period is over, and this can be either before or after the drawing.
I would not recommend implementing more than TWO of these ideas when you first open up. Start with just one, in fact - the customer loyalty idea is the best to kick off with. Throw too many ideas out there at once and your customers will simply get confused, plus you have no idea what the economics of any of these giveaway models will be like until after you've been in operation a little while. You may find that it's simply impractical to give away so much stuff, and it would be a shame to have to scale back after offering so much when the doors first open up.
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