How to Create an Online Advent Calendar

1. Introduction.

2. How the Advent Calendar works

3. Ideas and examples.

4. How to set up your calendar

5. Other specifications.

6. Related content.

1. Introduction.

An online Advent Calendar is an interactive marketing campaign that recreates the classic Christmas calendar format in a digital environment. Each day, users visit the campaign landing page to "open" that day's window and discover what's inside: a giveaway, a game, a discount, an instant prize…

With Cool Tabs, you can set up your own online Advent Calendar and publish it across your brand's digital channels: social media, website, blog, app, or newsletter. The mechanic is designed to keep your audience engaged throughout the campaign, encouraging them to come back every day.

You can go for the classic 24 or 25-day format, running from December 1st to the 24th or 25th, or shorten it and run a 10-day or one-week countdown, whatever best fits your campaign and resources. There is no limit on the number of windows: you decide the duration.

It is one of the most effective Christmas campaigns if your goals are:

• Capture leads and grow your database.

• Generate engagement and increase interaction with your brand.

• Build customer loyalty with daily prizes or exclusive content.

• Drive purchases with daily discounts or coupons.

• Give visibility to products or services during the Christmas season.

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2. How the Advent Calendar works.

The Advent Calendar is built on Cool Tabs' Campaign Group feature. In practice, each window of the calendar is an independent campaign, with its own mechanics, its own dates, and, where applicable, its own prizes, and the calendar landing page is the container that groups them and presents them under a single URL.

This is what makes it possible to open and close windows automatically by date, and for users to register just once and come back to participate every day without having to log in again.

What does the user experience?

Here is the journey a participant goes through during the Advent Calendar:

1. Visits the calendar landing page. The user arrives at the Campaign Group landing page and sees the full calendar with all its windows. Windows from previous days appear closed or with a finished image. Today's window is open and ready to participate in. Future windows are locked until their date.

2. Opens today's window. The user clicks on the active window. They can only access the current day's campaign. Future windows are not accessible until their opening date.

3. Registers. The first time they participate, the user completes the registration form. They can do so via social login (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Microsoft/Hotmail, Yahoo…) or by entering their email manually. From that point on, the platform recognises them automatically on the following days; they simply access and participate, no registration required.

4. Participates in that day's mechanics. Depending on what you have configured for that window, the user enters a giveaway, plays a game, receives a coupon, or finds out instantly whether they have won a prize.

5. Sees the final screen. They receive confirmation of their participation or the result. If there is a prize, they are notified at this point. They can return to the calendar to check the status of the other windows and wait for the next day to open.

Below you can see an example of how an Advent Calendar landing page looks.

3. Ideas and examples.

The main advantage of the online Advent Calendar is its flexibility. You can configure a different mechanic for each window or repeat the same one throughout the entire campaign.

Since each window is an independent campaign, you can use any mechanic available in the Cool Tabs catalogue: giveaways, instant wins, quizzes, games, coupon validation, surveys, photo contests…

Here are some of the most popular combinations:

• Calendar with daily giveaways. Each day's window hides a giveaway among all the users who open it. This is the option closest to the traditional format: a different winner every day, building anticipation and encouraging users to come back and try their luck.

• Calendar with Instant Win (the most popular and engaging option). You set up a campaign using the Instant Win mechanic and schedule prizes to be distributed automatically on the days or moments you define. Users find out instantly whether they have won, with no need to wait for a draw. This is the most recommended option for longer calendars as it significantly simplifies management.

• Calendar with games. Each window hides a different game: puzzle, memory, word search, hangman, hidden objects, Matching Cards… Participants accumulate points, and at the end of the campaign, the highest scorer wins, or a draw is held among all participants. Ideal for brands looking for a more playful and interactive experience.

• Calendar with coupons or direct discounts. Every day, all participants receive a discount code or a direct benefit when they open their window. There is no draw — the reward is guaranteed for anyone who takes part. This is the best option for e-commerce brands and campaigns aimed at driving purchases during the Christmas season.

• Combined calendar. You can mix mechanics within the same calendar: some days a giveaway, others a game, others a direct discount or a quiz. You can also combine daily prizes with a big final draw among all participants at the end of the campaign. This variety enriches the experience and can boost participation throughout the whole campaign.

4. How to set up your Advent Calendar.

The Advent Calendar is configured using Cool Tabs' Campaign Group feature. The process has two parts:

1) Create the individual campaigns for each day.

Each window of the calendar is an independent campaign, so the first step is to create them in your account one by one. You can start from any template in the catalogue (giveaway, instant win, quiz, game, coupon…), so you don't have to start from scratch. When configuring each campaign, keep two key aspects in mind:

• Registration. Use social login so users only need to identify themselves on the first day. On subsequent visits, the system recognises them automatically.

• Participation dates. Define when each campaign will be active. This determines on which days users can participate in each calendar window.

2) Create and customise the calendar landing page that groups them.

Once your campaigns are ready, create the Campaign Group, add all the campaigns that make up the calendar, and configure the following for each window:

• Access dates: the exact day that the window will open, regardless of the campaign's participation dates.

• Images: customise each window in its three states (before opening, during the campaign, and after it ends) to reinforce the Christmas look and feel of the calendar.

Also customise the general design of the landing page: header image, colours, typography, and legal terms.

For the full step-by-step detail, see the tutorial: How to configure a Campaign Group.

5. Other specifications.

Winner selection

You can manage winners for each day independently. If you have set up daily giveaways, run the selection at the end of each day. You can also hold a final draw among all participants at the end of the calendar, or combine both options. To run the selection, see: How to select winners and obtain your Certificate of Validity.

Available templates

To create the individual campaigns for each day, you can start from any of the templates in the Cool Tabs catalogue. There are templates for giveaways, instant wins, games, quizzes, coupon validation, and more. Each template comes pre-configured so you can adapt it to your design without starting from scratch, getting each campaign ready in just a few minutes.

Which plan do I need?

The Cool Promo and Cool Promo White Label applications, included in the Gold and Diamond plans respectively, are what you need to configure a Campaign Group and, therefore, an Advent Calendar. You can also try it out with the 7-day free trial, which gives access to any of the plans.

If you have any questions, contact us at help@cool-tabs.com.

6. Related content.

How to access your campaign URL to publish it.

How to embed your campaign on a website.

How to embed your campaign as a pop-up on your website.

Full list of campaign type tutorials.