How ELLE Suisse turned a prize draw into a qualified WhatsApp audience

A prize draw shouldn't just generate entrants. It can also become a powerful lever for audience acquisition and CRM enrichment. Here is how ELLE Suisse used Sandra to turn a WhatsApp campaign into a lasting relationship with its readers.

The challenge: turning a marketing operation into a lasting relationship

Prize draws usually generate plenty of traffic… but little relationship. Once the winner has been announced, entrants disappear and the value of the operation often stops there.

For ELLE Suisse, the objective was different: to use that window of attention to build an owned audience, enrich its CRM and collect the consents needed to continue the relationship, both by email and via WhatsApp. The challenge was also to offer a simple, smooth, mobile-first experience, without piling on complex forms.

The solution: a conversational journey on WhatsApp

Sandra made it possible to build an entirely conversational journey. From the competition page, entrants were redirected to WhatsApp where they were guided step by step:

• an introduction to the prize draw
• acceptance of the terms of entry
• a structured conversational form collecting the essential information (first name, surname, email, date of birth, canton) directly inside WhatsApp
• separate consent collection for the ELLE Suisse newsletter and for future WhatsApp communications
• immediate confirmation of entry

Alongside the main flow, an AI agent automatically answered entrants' spontaneous questions (rules, how the draw worked, dates, how the winner would be picked), providing round-the-clock support without calling on the ELLE Suisse teams.

All the data collected is structured and synchronised with the CRM to build a qualified base that can be used directly for future campaigns.

The main use cases

Acquiring a WhatsApp audience

Turning a prize draw into a genuine entry point to an owned communication channel.

Collecting qualified data

Replacing a traditional web form with a conversational experience that is simpler, more engaging and fully structured.

Consent management

Collecting email and WhatsApp opt-ins separately, so campaigns can be targeted according to each entrant's preferences.

AI conversational support

Answering the most frequent questions automatically for the whole duration of the campaign.

The results

The campaign allowed ELLE Suisse to build a qualified, re-engageable audience:

• 88% of entrants agreed to receive future communications via WhatsApp
• 60% also agreed to receive the ELLE Suisse newsletter

Beyond campaign performance, Sandra helped ELLE Suisse understand its audience better. The reporting shows that 47% of entrants are aged 25 to 44, with a median age of 44. More interesting still, WhatsApp is adopted across every generation: the opt-in rate stays in the majority in every age bracket and reaches 82% among 18-24s. Concrete proof of WhatsApp's potential to renew an audience and engage younger readers, who are often less receptive to traditional channels.

The lessons

A prize draw should no longer be treated as a simple acquisition operation. By combining WhatsApp, a conversational form, consent management and an AI agent, it becomes a genuine lever for building an owned audience.

The experience also shows that close attention must be paid to Meta's best practices: gradually ramping up the account, the quality of interactions and maintaining a good Quality Score are essential to sustain channel performance over the long run.

With Sandra, we turned a simple prize draw into a real conversational experience. We were able to collect qualified data, grow our WhatsApp audience and offer our entrants a modern, seamless experience.

ELLE Suisse

Key takeaway

The prize draw was only the starting point. With Sandra, ELLE Suisse turned a one-off campaign into an owned, qualified audience that can be used directly for its future prize draws, events, exclusive content and partner operations.