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I am leaving the giveaway survey open since I’ve only received 72 responses, but the results are overwhelmingly in favor of the form.

7 of 72 said they don’t like the form, and the comments indicated that the reason was because they could not see the # of entries.  I wanted to remind you that I update giveaway posts 1-2 times per day with the # of entries received.  If you are ever wondering how many entries there are between my updates, feel free to email me and ask!  I did make the font larger and bold in case it was being missed.

Here’s why I like the form:

• It’s super easy to enter
• Email address stays completely private, only I see it.
• I can see a summary of responses received, which allows me to see the most popular bonus entries as well.
• I can also remove email addresses from the form, save a copy, and email it to the sponsor if they would like to see what people liked.  I will never share email addresses with anyone, including sponsors.
• Comments that are not entries can be left on the post, and I do not have to close comments after the giveaway is closed.

Someone did ask how exactly it works for me to choose winners.  All information entered goes in a spreadsheet, timestamped, in the order entered. 

Each entrant is on a line, and each entry is in a column.  As entries are received, I put a # beside their entry.  For example:  If the first entrant has the mandatory entry and 3 optional entries, I write “1-4” beside their name.  If the second entrant has the mandatory entry only, I write “5” beside their name.  At the end of the contest, I close the form to new responses, choose a winner with random.org, and look for that # on the spreadsheet. 

I always email the winner as well as posting the winner on the blog.  I’ve been listing the winner’s name as it was listed on the spreadsheet and I know that has some flaws.  I’ve been there when the winner was annouced as “Maria” only to find out it was Maria Q. not Maria M. (me).  Email addresses don’t always have a hint as to the last name, sometimes they appear to be a last name but are not, or are maiden names, and sometimes there are two Marias with the same last initial, so that’s tough!  Feel free to list your name as “Maria the Marvelous,” “Maria at change-diapers.com” or whatever will help you recognize it’s you, just in case you miss the email!

If you are interested in using the forms for giveaways on your own blog, I recommend playing around with the form to see how it will look to you on the spreadsheet depending on how you lay out the form.

Please remember, you can email me anytime, whether you want to check to see if you already entered, ask me to add a bonus entry you forgot, or see what the current entries are if it’s been a few hours since I updated.

I would love for you to leave comments on the post about what you like, what you think about the product or my review etc.

Since I allowed multiple choices, the % will add up to more than 100%.  I wanted people to be able to tell me they liked just a few methods, and still tell me which methods they preferred.

I of course want to please everyone, but that’s not always possible.  For those who don’t like the comment form because they can’t see the # of entries, is my updating the post daily or more sufficient?  Or do you want to see real-time updates?  The majority of my entries seem to be within a few hours of posting the giveaway, then they trickle in after that, so counts should be pretty reliable.

Here’s my plan: Keep the form and keep the entry methods simple.  There are around 10 giveaways coming in October, so count on a mandatory entry and 2-3 bonus entry methods.  One will always be there to benefit the sponsor (if it’s not self-sponsored) and the others I will try to change up a bit.  Though GFC follow seemed to be the most popular, I would prefer to allow people to choose the way they follow.

I would love to hear anything else you’d like to say about my giveaways.  I realized that I should have put an email address option in case you wanted me to answer a question for you, but I wanted the survey to be anonymous.

In other news: You may have noticed a new blog design.  It’s still a work in progress, I hope everyone thinks it is OK.  Let me know if you have any trouble with it!!

Also: I added a winner’s page.  Clicking this will take you to all winner announcement posts, just in case you missed one!

Be sure to check out the “A Year of Fluff” Post to see what’s in store!  I’ve added tentative dates and additional review/giveaway items!

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