Introduction
Sometimes, there is more demand for an Event than spaces available. Configio has a system that allows your Customers to Order multiple Events from a Product Group, and to rank their preference. Admins can then receive a Report on Orders from that Product Group, and then define the precedence of the Participants. The System can then run a weighted lottery, and then place Participants in Events, based on their preference and their precedence. Whoever has the highest precedence will definitely get their preference; whoever has the lowest precedence is least likely to get their preference.
Getting Started
There is a configuration to show purchases of all lottery items on a single page rather than first selecting the participant and then the lottery and then the priority.
Creating Your Product Group
In the Admin, go to Settings --> Management --> Product Groups, and click on the Add New Product Group button.
The Edit Product Group screen will be displayed. Input a Title, choose a Location, and check the Enable Lottery checkbox if this is a lottery type group.
When you do check the Enable Lottery box you will be asked to provide a lottery date and lottery type. The two lottery types available are:
- One Product Win Per Lottery
- Multiple Product Wins Per Lottery
The lottery date is the date that we will run the automatic billing. This will charge any remaining balance for the product that the lottery places the participant into. Click the Save button.
You will then be presented with the Edit Product Group screen, and there will be an Assigned Products section. If you have already created your Products, you can search for them and add them here. You can also assign a Product Group via the Edit Product screen. If you add Products here, click to Save.
Creating Your Products
There are some unique fields for lottery Products, and there are also some unique uses for commonly used fields.The Product's Main Tab
Begin by creating your Product as normal, inputting values into the Required and Dates field of the Main Tab, and then clicking to Save. There are a couple of fields that have special meaning for lotteries:- Available: For Lottery Products, input the number of times that an lottery entry can be placed for the Product. This is NOT the number of people that can participate in the Event, it is the number of people that can request to participate in the Event.
- Purchase End: For Lottery Products, input the date the the lottery will close for the Product. No more lottery entries can be made after this date.
The Product's Advanced Tab
There are a number of fields on the Product's Advance tab that are related to this feature. After making the selections, click to Save.- Product Group: Choose the Product Group that was setup above. This is the group of Products that will be part of the lottery.
- Is Lottery: Check to make this a Lottery Product.
- Max Lottery Quantity: Input the maximum number of entries that can be chosen to participate in the Event after the lottery is run. This is the actual number of Orders that can be made for the Product.
- Requires Prioritization: Check to require the Customer to prioritize the Products in their Cart based on their preference.
- Allow Deposit: Check this. The Deposit feature is critical to the lottery process. *
- Force Deposit: Check this. This is critical to the lottery process. *
- Deposit Amount: Input "0". This is critical to the lottery process. *
Pro Tip: To avoid having to make the selections for each Product that will be part of your lottery, create one Product with all of the selections made, and then Clone the Product. Your selections will already be made on the new Product. Repeat for each Product in your lottery.
Adding an Optional Payment Fee
While it is not required, we suggest adding a Payment Fee to your database. This will allow your Payment Gateway to validate that the Customer's Credit Card is valid during the Checkout process. Please note that this fee would be on any order placed in your database, not just lottery Orders, and therefore we suggest adding a Form Answer Requirement, so that it can just be part of Lottery Orders.Creating the Form
Login to the Admin side of your database, and navigate to Settings --> Assignments --> Form. Click the "Add New Form" button.
Input a Title, and be sure to choose the type of Order Form. Click to Save.
We suggest having a single question, with a simple statement indicating that they understand that this is a lottery, and that they must choose "Yes" to continue Checkout.
Then, assign the Form to your Products.
Creating the Payment Fee
Login to the Admin side of your database, and navigate to Settings --> Management --> Payment Fees. Click the "Add New Fee" button.
Input a Title, an amount (we suggest "1"), choose your Gateway, whether the amount is a percent (we suggest not, so that it is just $1.00), and check to Pass Any Requirement. Click to Save.
Your Customer's Shopping Experience
Your customers will place lottery Items in the Shopping Cart the same as they would any other Item. There are no differences, so if you would like to highlight that it is a lottery Item, then we suggest adding that to the Items' Descriptions.Your Customer's Checkout Experience
Your customers will Checkout as normal. Depending on your setup, the may encounter the following.The Prioritization Tab
If you require that the lottery Product Require Prioritization, there will be a Prioritization tab during Checkout. They can order the Products by Prioritization. If there are multiple Participants, there will be a Prioritization section for each. They can drag and drop the Products to indicate their prioritization, and then click the Save & Continue button to move to the next checkout step.
The Forms Tab
If you are using a Form in relation to the Payment Fee, they will see that Form Question.
Payment Tab
If you are using the Payment Fee, on the Payment tab, your Customer will have an opportunity to enter a Credit Card number for validation. There will be a summary of all lottery Products in the upper-right. This will include a "Due Later Total" that is the sum of all Lottery items. This is a limitation of the System. There will be a list of the lottery Items. There is an Item Total field value. The default value is "Free", but this can be configured.
After Checkout
There will be Notification Icons indicating that a payment is due for each trip that they selected. You will need to educate your Customers that this is normal, and that they will only be responsible for paying for the trip that the lottery places them in.
The Lottery Participants Report
You can receive a Report that lists the Participants who will be part of the lottery. Using the Report, you can define your precedence for the Participants. This precedence is called the Lottery Number.Exporting the Report
In the Admin, go to Settings --> Management --> Product Groups. There will be an Export File Icon.
Click it to see the "Export from Product Group" modal. Choose "Lottery Participants" and click the Export button.
This will export a CSV file to your computer. Open the file. There is a Lottery Number column. Input the numeric precedence "1,2,3,etc" for every Participant in the Product Group. "1" is highest. Save the file.
Importing the Report
Return to the Product Groups page in the Admin. There will be an Import File Icon.
Click it to see the "Import to Product Group" modal. Choose "Lottery Number Upload", select the file, and click the Upload button.
If successful, there will be Success messaging. If not, please check your file and try again. Perhaps two Participants have the same Lottery Number? Perhaps a Participant has no Lottery Number value, or perhaps there is some data in that column other than a number? If you have continued trouble, please contact us at support@configio.com. Once you are successful, click the "Cancel" button to close the modal.
Running the Lottery in Test Mode
After you have determined the precedence of Participants by giving them a Lottery Number, you can run the lottery in test mode. This allows you to preview how the participants will be placed into events based on their self-assigned preferences and the precedences that you assign them. Return to Settings --> Management --> Product Groups. There will be a Run Lottery icon
Click the icon to see the Lottery modal. Choose "Test Mode", and click the Run Lottery button.
A file will download to your computer. Open it.
include this in the live mode section.
between live and lotto date, the order history is locked down. this protects your participants from learning too early what the outcome is, in case. for example, you have a special reveal party!