How to restrict or limit participation in a campaign

1. Introduction
2. Types of restrictions
  2.1. Restriction by number of participations
  2.2. Hourly restriction
  2.3. Restriction by IP
  2.4. Restriction by country
  2.5. Restriction by Spanish region
  2.6. Restriction by age
3. Other specifications
4. Related content

1. Introduction

When setting up a campaign with Cool Tabs, you have several features designed to control or restrict user access. This lets you prevent, for example, underage users from participating, or mass participation from a single IP address.

These options can be enabled from the 'Participation' section > 'Restrictions' tab in the campaign editor.

Below, we show you which restrictions you can set.

2. Types of restrictions

2.1. Restriction by number of participations

You can set the maximum number of entries allowed per user in your campaign.

• Each user can only participate once in the whole campaign. Only one entry is allowed.

• Each user can participate a set number of times. When you enable this option, a text field labeled 'Maximum participations per user' appears, where you set how many times each user can enter.

• Users can participate as many times as they want. With this option, participation is unlimited.

• Users can participate once or several times within each time period you define. Select this option if you want to launch a campaign with different phases or stages. You'll need to set how many hours each phase lasts and how many times users can participate in each one.

• How many users do you want to allow to participate in your campaign? (Leave empty for unlimited). You can also set the total number of entries allowed across the whole campaign. Once that number is reached, no further entries will be accepted.

2.2. Hourly restriction

Another way to limit participation is by setting a maximum number of entries per hour.

You can enable the campaign form only during certain hours of the day, or limit how many users can participate across different time ranges throughout the day. You can set a fixed number of entries for any given hour — for example, enter 100 to limit entries to 100 per hour — or use a variable format, such as '8:50,9-18:100,19-21:50'. In this example: no entries are allowed from 0:00 to 7:59; 50 entries are allowed from 8:00 to 8:59; 100 entries per hour are allowed from 9:00 to 18:59; 50 per hour from 19:00 to 21:59; and entries are unrestricted from 22:00 to 23:59.

When a user tries to enter outside the allowed hours, they'll see this message: "Sorry, this campaign has reached its hourly participant limit. Please try again next hour."

2.3. Restriction by IP

You can limit participation per IP address to a set number of times. This lets you prevent a user from entering under different identities, for example, 10 times using different valid emails belonging to them or family members.

Keep in mind that several users may legitimately share the same IP address, such as members of the same household or office, and this restriction could prevent them from participating.

You can combine restrictions, for example, allowing one entry per email but up to three per IP. This way, 3 users living in the same house can each participate once with their own email. It's also possible for a single user to participate three times from the same IP, each time using a different email.

How this restriction behaves depends on the type of campaign you set up:

• Campaign without phases: all entries per IP are counted globally.

• Campaign with phases: entries per IP are counted separately for each phase. For example, in a campaign with 24-hour phases that allows one entry per email but 3 per IP, a user could participate with 3 different emails each day.

When a user fills out the personal data form after the limit has been reached, they'll see a message warning that the entry limit has been met.

2.4. Restriction by country

You can limit participation to one or more specific countries, to better define your campaign's target audience. Only users accessing from the countries you specify will be able to participate; others won't even be able to access the entry form.

In voting-based contests, invalid votes are also recorded, since they help you detect whether a participant has joined a vote-exchange network: if someone receives many votes from a country that isn't their own, they're likely cheating. Votes from countries not included in the campaign settings appear as invalid, and you can choose to keep them blocked or validate them.

Leave it blank to allow participation from anywhere in the world.

2.5. Restriction by Spanish region

You also have the option to exclude or allow participation from certain Spanish provinces. This way, only users located in the regions you specify will be able to participate or, conversely, they'll be blocked from participating if they try from those regions.

This feature is configured from the 'Form' section of the campaign editor.

Check the fields 'Region', 'Required field', and 'Activate a drop-down menu with Spanish cities'.

Doing so will display several options:

• Use autocomplete. The user types the province name, and matching suggestions appear as they type.

• Allow participation from any province.

• Allow participation from these provinces. In the text field that appears just below, specify the provinces from which participation is allowed.

• Do not allow participation from these provinces. In the text field below, specify the provinces from which participation is not allowed.

2.6. Restriction by age

You can restrict participation to users above an age you specify.

This restriction is enabled from the 'Form' section.

Check the fields 'Birthdate' and 'Restrict participants to those older than a certain age', and set the minimum age required to participate.

3. Other specifications

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

4. Related content

How to avoid fraud in a campaign.