How to run a trade show contest that collects qualified leads

The prize is on a pedestal at the front of the booth: a pair of good headphones, a sign that says "Enter to win," and a fishbowl half full of business cards. By the end of day two, the bowl is full. Back at the office, someone types 340 cards into the CRM and finds that most belong to people who stopped for the headphones and have no use for what you sell. A trade show contest that collects qualified leads needs two things the fishbowl doesn't have: a question that sorts buyers from prize hunters, and a way in that doesn't need a rep.

Textiful runs the contest by text. Visitors scan a QR code on the booth sign or text a keyword to 33777, answer a question or two, and get a text confirming they're entered. At the times you set, you draw winners at random on the booth screen, and each winner gets a text telling them how to claim the prize.

The problem with booth contests

A contest pulls in traffic, and most of that traffic wants the prize. That's fine as long as you can tell the entries apart afterward. A business card or a badge scan tells you a name and a company. It doesn't tell you whether the visitor is shopping this year or just likes headphones.

The draw itself is often an afterthought. Someone pulls a card at 4 p.m. on the last day, the winner has already flown home, and nobody outside the booth saw it happen. A contest that could have drawn a crowd at a set time draws nobody.

Why the usual fixes fall short

• A fishbowl of cards means typing every entry in by hand, and visitors without cards can't enter.
• A badge scan per entry needs a rep with the scanner, and the rush after a session is when the line forms.
• A tablet entry form serves one visitor at a time and becomes its own queue.
• A web form behind a QR code asks for typing on a small screen in a crowded aisle, and nothing stops the same person entering five times.

How to set it up in Textiful

1. Start from the "Run a giveaway" template. It asks for a first name and an email, then enters the visitor into a new giveaway and texts back a confirmation.
2. Add one qualifying question before the entry. The template already asks two questions, so add a custom data step that sorts buyers from prize hunters, such as "When are you planning to buy? Reply A for this quarter, B for this year, or C for just looking." Across Textiful flows over 90 days in 2026, three-question flows were completed 85.0% of the time, while four-question flows fell to 66.0% in a small sample. If you also want the company, drop the first-name step and show the last four digits on screen instead.
3. Set up the giveaway. Name it, add the prize, choose how many winners to draw, and set a closing time. Write the winner text, such as "You won! Come to booth 412 by 5 p.m. to pick up your prize." If you have official rules, add the link.
4. Add actions. Send each entrant to HubSpot, Mailchimp, Kit, or ActiveCampaign, or a CRM through Zapier, and tag them with the show name. Turn on "email me a notification" so the booth team sees each entry and its answer as it arrives.
5. Set the trigger and print it. Use a free QR code with a pre-filled message such as "Enter me to win the headphones," and download it as an SVG for the booth sign. A keyword gives aisle traffic something to read from a distance. One keyword is included on your plan, and more are $10/month.

Draw on the booth screen at set times

Put the giveaway's live page on the booth monitor. It shows the prize, the number of entries, how to enter, and a countdown to closing. Put the draw times on the sign too ("Drawings at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m."), and the countdown gives visitors a reason to come back.

At draw time, click Draw winners in your account. Entries close first, and each winner appears on screen as they're picked. You choose what the screen shows: a first name, the last four digits of the phone number, or just "A winner has been selected." Then click Text the winners, and each one gets your winner text once. If a winner can't be texted, the app lists them so you can reach them another way.

Want a draw every day of the show? Set up one giveaway per draw, each with its own closing time and prize. After each draw, point the flow's giveaway step at the next one. Your printed QR code keeps working, because it belongs to the flow rather than the giveaway.

Make the prize do the qualifying

How many visitors enter depends most on the prize. A prize everyone wants brings everyone; a prize only your buyers would want brings mostly buyers. A year of your product, a free audit, or a gadget tied to your category draws fewer entries than a tablet, but the people who want it are more likely to buy from you. The qualifying question does the rest: sort the export by the answer, and the A answers are where the follow-up starts. How to run an event giveaway that grows your list goes further on prizes.

Rules for drawings and contests vary by state and by how you run them, so check with your counsel and the show's exhibitor rules first. Textiful doesn't process payments, so it can't take an entry fee.

Before and after

	Fishbowl of business cards	Textiful contest by text
How visitors enter	Drop a card, if they have one	Scan or text, no rep needed
Entries per person	However many cards they drop	One per phone number
What you learn	Name and company	Email plus your qualifying answer
The draw	A card pulled on the last day	Live on the booth screen at set times
Telling the winner	A phone call or email later	A text with how to claim it
Where leads go	Typed in after the show	Your CRM or email tool, tagged by show

You pay per conversation: each visitor who starts the flow counts once, however many questions you ask. Plans start from $19/month, and extra conversations are added automatically at $15 per 100, so a busy show doesn't cut anyone off. See pricing and giveaways, and for the rest of the booth, see trade show booths.

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