Spin Wheel
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A gamified pop-up turns a sign-up into a small moment of play. The three common games all do the same job. A shopper plays, wins a prize from your store, and leaves an email address or phone number to claim it. They feel quite different, though, and the right one depends on what you sell, who buys it and the time of year.
Key takeaways
- Choose a wheel when you have several prizes worth showing off, and a scratch card or gift box for one or two.
- Match the game to your brand's mood: lively wheels for sales, calm scratch cards or gift boxes for premium or minimal stores.
- Give a wheel six to eight slices, and fill any gaps with decoys set never to come up.
- Keep spins short, offer a tap to reveal for scratch cards, and show the prize as copyable text.
How each game feels
Spin-to-win wheel
A spin-to-win wheel puts every prize on display before anyone plays. The shopper sees the whole range, from an everyday discount to the rare headline prize, then watches the wheel slow down. Those few seconds of suspense are the appeal. It feels lively and a little loud, like a fairground stall. It shines when you have a spread of prizes worth showing off. For the full flow, see how spin-to-win pop-ups work.
Scratch card
A scratch card hides one prize under a layer the shopper rubs away with a finger or a mouse. It feels quieter and more personal, and the shopper sets the pace. Scratching with a thumb feels natural on a phone. Because only the winning prize is revealed, you don't need a full list of prizes on show.
Mystery gift box
A gift box is the quickest of the three. The shopper taps, the lid lifts, and the prize appears. It feels like being handed a present, which suits gift shops, birthdays and the holiday season. It's also the gentlest option for shoppers who don't want to play anything elaborate.
Side by side
| Spin wheel | Scratch card | Gift box | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it plays | Tap to spin, watch it stop | Rub to reveal | Tap to open |
| Time to a result | A few seconds of spinning | As quick or slow as the shopper scratches | One tap |
| Prizes on show | All of them | Only the one won | Only the one won |
| Mood | Lively, festive | Calm, personal | Warm, surprising |
| Works best with | Several prizes of different sizes | One prize or a few | One prize or a few |
| Watch out for | A big prize on show raises hopes | Small scratch areas on small screens | Feels thin if the prize is small |
If your store runs on Shopify instead, myuser.ai compares a simple form with spin and scratch sign-up forms on Shopify and connects each new sign-up to AI welcome messages.
Best fit by store type
- Fashion, accessories and general gift shops. A wheel suits a range of everyday prizes and a steady stream of new visitors.
- Premium or minimal brands. A scratch card or a gift box keeps the mood calm. A spinning wheel can clash with a quiet, spare design.
- Beauty, skin care and food. A gift box holding a sample or a gift with purchase feels like opening a little package, which matches the product.
- Stores with lots of phone traffic. All three work on phones. Scratch cards suit thumbs especially well, and a gift box is quickest for a shopper on the move.
- Stores with one standard offer. A wheel needs several real prizes to look right. A scratch card or a gift box can reveal a single prize with a bit of fun. If you'd rather skip the game entirely, you can sketch a plain form with a free email pop-up editor.
Matching the game to the season
The mood of the season can tip the choice.
- Black Friday and big sales. The wheel's energy matches a bargain-hunting crowd.
- Holiday gifting. A gift box fits the season without any explaining.
- Valentine's Day. A scratch card's hidden reveal feels like opening a note.
- Summer. A wheel or a scratch card both feel light and playful.
- Your store's anniversary. A gift box doubles as a birthday present from you to your shoppers.
For prize and copy ideas for each season, see these seasonal pop-up ideas.
Put a spin-to-win pop-up on your store
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How many prizes each game needs
Wheel
A wheel looks best with a full ring of slices, usually six to eight. Fewer than that and it looks sparse. More than that and the labels get hard to read. If you only have four or five prizes, decorative slices such as "So close!" can fill the gaps, as long as they're set never to come up. Every spin should still land on a real prize.
Scratch card and gift box
Both work with a single prize for everyone, or a small set of prizes with different chances. Since only the winning prize is shown, there's no empty-looking wheel to fill. That makes them a good fit for a store just starting out with one or two coupons.
What each game asks of the shopper
Each game asks for a different kind of effort, and that matters for comfort and access.
- A wheel asks for patience. The shopper taps once, then waits. Keep the spin short, and respect phone and computer settings that ask for reduced motion, so a long animation doesn't bother anyone sensitive to movement.
- A scratch card asks for a drag. Rubbing a surface can be awkward for someone using a keyboard, a screen reader or a shaky hand. A tap or key press that reveals the prize in one go keeps it open to everyone.
- A gift box asks for one tap. It's the lowest-effort game of the three, which makes it a sensible choice when you're unsure.
Whatever you choose, the prize should be readable as text once it's revealed, with the code easy to copy.
Signs it's time to switch games
The game you start with doesn't have to be the game you keep. A few signals suggest a change:
- Your prize list has shrunk. If you're down to one or two coupons, a wheel starts to look thin. A scratch card or gift box shows a single prize without looking sparse.
- Your store's look has changed. A redesign toward a calmer, simpler style may sit better with a quieter game.
- A new season is coming. Swapping the game is an easy way to make the pop-up feel fresh for returning visitors, with no new prizes required.
- Shoppers aren't finishing. If people often start the game and close it before the prize appears, a quicker game may suit them better.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, a spin wheel or a scratch card?
Neither is better for every store. A spin wheel suits stores with several prizes worth showing off and a lively, playful style. A scratch card suits calmer or premium brands, stores with one or two prizes, and shoppers on phones, where scratching with a thumb feels natural. If you're unsure, a gift box is the simplest option, since it takes a single tap.
How does a scratch card pop-up work?
A scratch card pop-up shows a card covered by a foil layer. The shopper rubs it away with a finger or a mouse to reveal one prize underneath, then enters an email address or phone number to claim it. Some stores ask for the email first instead. Once revealed, the prize should appear as a code that's easy to copy.
How does a mystery gift box pop-up work?
The shopper sees a few closed boxes, picks one, and it opens to show a prize. In a well-built game, the prize is drawn from the chances the store sets, so the box a shopper picks doesn't change the outcome. It's the quickest game to play, with no spinning or scratching. In Spin Wheel, the game can show two to five gift boxes, treasure chests, balloons or envelopes.
Try it on your store
Spin Wheel includes all three games, plus a classic email sign-up pop-up, and every prize is a real coupon from your store. Compare them on the scratch card and gift box pages.
We build marketing apps for online stores: myuser.ai writes and sends emails and texts from a store's own products, and we make Spin Wheel and Session Recordings for Wix sites. Product details in our guides are checked against the apps themselves.
