How do I add a spin-to-win popup to my online store?

To add a spin-to-win popup to your online store, use a popup tool with a lucky wheel, set the prizes and how likely each one is, and ask for an email before the spin. Show it to first-time visitors after a few seconds or when they're about to leave, and only once per visitor. Choose a few prizes, such as 10% off, 15% off and free shipping, and set the odds of winning each. Build the wheel. In OptiMonk, describe it in one sentence ("a lucky wheel for first-time visitors with 10% off, 15% off and free shipping") and the agent designs it for your brand, with a separate mobile version. Create one fixed discount code per prize in your store, then add it to the prize table. On Shopify, you create the codes in the Shopify admin. Show it once per visitor, only to people who haven't subscribed, then A/B test the prizes.

Gamified Popups: 12 Spin-to-Win & Scratch Card Examples

Most visitors close a signup form without reading it. Put a wheel to spin in front of them instead, and the same email field becomes the price of a game they want to play.

A gamified popup turns a signup form into a quick game. The two most common are the spin-to-win wheel and the scratch card: the visitor enters an email, plays, and wins a prize such as 10% off or free shipping. They work best for first-time visitors and limited-time offers.

Below: how the two formats differ, how to set prizes and odds, when to show them, and 12 examples from online stores.

A gamified popup is a popup with a small game inside. The visitor gives an email address (or phone number) for the chance to play, and every play ends with a prize they can use at checkout. Marketers also call it popup gamification.

The best-known version is the spin the wheel popup, also called a lucky wheel or spin-to-win popup. The other is the scratch card, where the visitor scratches a digital card to reveal a hidden prize.

In OptiMonk, gamification means these two formats: the lucky wheel and scratch cards.

To add a spin-to-win popup to your online store, use a popup tool with a lucky wheel, set the prizes and how likely each one is, and ask for an email before the spin. Show it to first-time visitors after a few seconds or when they're about to leave, and only once per visitor.

Choose a few prizes, such as 10% off, 15% off and free shipping, and set the odds of winning each.
Build the wheel. In OptiMonk, describe it in one sentence ("a lucky wheel for first-time visitors with 10% off, 15% off and free shipping") and the agent designs it for your brand, with a separate mobile version.
Create one fixed discount code per prize in your store, then add it to the prize table. On Shopify, you create the codes in the Shopify admin.
Show it once per visitor, only to people who haven't subscribed, then A/B test the prizes.

Spin-to-win wheel vs. scratch card: which should you use?

Use a wheel when you want visitors to see what they could win. Use a scratch card when you want curiosity to do the work.

Format	How it works	Best for	Prize tip
Spin-to-win wheel	The visitor enters an email and spins. The wheel stops on one of the prizes shown on its slices.	First-time visitors, welcome offers, exit intent. The visible prizes make the offer clear before the visitor commits.	Show 3 to 6 different prizes, repeated around the wheel. Every slice should win something.
Scratch card	The visitor scratches a card to reveal one hidden prize, then enters an email to get the code.	Seasonal sales, surprise offers, cart savers. The hidden reward makes people curious.	One reveal per card. Say in the headline what kind of prize is behind it ("your summer discount").

Both work on desktop and mobile, and both can use the same prizes. If you can't decide, build both and A/B test them against each other.

Why do gamified popups convert?

Gamified popups convert because they ask for the same email as a regular popup but give the visitor something to do. Three things help:

Interaction. A click to spin or a swipe to scratch is a small action, and people who start a game tend to finish it.
A visible reward. The prizes are on the screen, so the visitor knows what they're playing for.
The feeling of winning. "You won 15% off" feels better than "Here's 15% off", which makes the code more likely to be used.

Across OptiMonk campaigns, lucky wheels have a 13.23% average conversion rate, higher than the other email popup types we measured (popup statistics).

How to choose prizes and odds

Good prizes are ones your margin can afford and your shoppers actually want. Start with these rules:

Offer 3 to 6 prizes. For example 5% off, 10% off, 15% off and free shipping. More than that is hard to read on a phone.
Make the cheapest prize the most likely. Give the small discount the biggest weight and the big discount a small one.
Every slice wins. The visitor has already given you an email, so a "no luck" slice feels like a trick.
Only show prizes people can really win. If 50% off is on the wheel, give it a small chance, not zero.
Set one fixed code per prize. Create each code in your store and add it to the prize in the popup.

In OptiMonk, each prize has a weight from 1 to 99 that sets how often it comes up, and the chance of each prize is calculated for you. A weight of 0 switches that prize off.

OptiMonk prize table for a Vans lucky wheel with each prize's label, coupon code, weight and chance

Not every prize has to be a discount. Free shipping, a free sample or a gift with the order can cost less than a percentage off and still feel like a win.

Show a gamified popup to new visitors, once, at a moment when they're still deciding. The usual setups:

First-time visitors after a few seconds. The classic welcome wheel. Use time delay or scroll depth so it doesn't appear before the page loads.
Exit intent. Catch visitors who are about to leave, on desktop and on mobile. See how to create an exit-intent popup.
Shoppers with items in the cart. Use cart value or cart contents targeting to offer a discount or free shipping before they leave (see the Feastables and Agua Bendita examples below).
Seasonal campaigns. Use scheduling to start and stop a holiday wheel on set dates.

Whichever trigger you use, set a frequency limit (once per visitor) and exclude people who have already subscribed. A visitor who sees the wheel on every page stops seeing it as a game.

The first two are spin the wheel popups from OptiMonk customers. The other ten come from the OptiMonk Popup Library: each was designed by the OptiMonk agent for a real store's brand, and you can open it and build your own version.

Spin the wheel popups from OptiMonk customers

1. MotionGrey

MotionGrey's wheel mixes percentage discounts (5%, 10% and 20%), a fixed $20 off and free shipping. Mixing prize types makes every spin feel different, and free shipping is a prize shoppers value even when the discount is small.

2. PatchPanel

PatchPanel shows its wheel on exit intent, with discounts from 5% to 50%. The wheel only appears to visitors who are about to leave, so it reaches people the store would otherwise lose. A 50% prize works here only with a small weight.

Spin-to-win wheels from the Popup Library

3. Golden Hour Glow (designed for Sol de Janeiro)

An evergreen wheel: "Your golden ticket. Spin to win a little sunshine for your skincare routine." The wheel sits next to a product photo, so the prize and the product are seen together. See this popup

4. The Lucky Thread (designed for Buck Mason)

Built for exit intent: "Try your luck before you leave", with a discount on the first order. The wheel uses the brand's own colors, so it looks like part of the store, not a third-party game. See this popup

5. The Jibbitz Gamified (designed for Crocs)

"Feeling lucky?" with a chance to win 10% off or a Jibbitz charms offer. A product prize next to a discount gives fans of the brand something they want, and "One spin per customer" sets the rule up front. See this popup

6. The Ceramide Cycle (designed for CeraVe)

No discount at all: new visitors spin for a free sample or a full-size barrier-repair kit. Samples cost little and get the product into the shopper's hands, which suits brands that don't want to train customers to wait for codes. See this popup

7. Galaxy Crunch Gamified (designed for Feastables)

A cart-saver wheel: "Don't let your cart float away! Spin for a chance to win a discount or free shipping." It targets shoppers who already have items in the cart, so the prize helps close an order that has already started. See this popup

8. The Gamified Drop (designed for waterdrop)

A chance to win a free 12-pack or a hydration discount. One big product prize makes the wheel exciting; give it a small weight and let the discount be the common win. See this popup

Scratch card popups

9. Tropical Scratch Reveal (designed for Agua Bendita)

An exit-intent cart saver: "A tropical surprise awaits. Scratch the golden leaf below to reveal your exclusive cart-saver discount." The email field comes after the scratch, when the visitor already wants the code. See this popup

10. Tropical Scratch Card (designed for Farm Rio)

A summer sale reveal: scratch a gold ticket to find the sale discount. The trust line ("One use per customer. Valid on summer styles.") states the limits before the visitor plays. See this popup

11. The MVP Reveal (designed for Loop Earplugs)

A fullscreen scratch card for new visitors, themed around the Super Bowl, with 15% off behind the foil. Tying the game to a date people already care about gives the offer a natural end. See this popup

12. Modern Minimalist Melt (designed for Hershey's)

"You're one scratch away from a 10% discount." A clean layout with one product photo shows that a gamified popup doesn't have to be loud. The headline says what the prize is, so the scratch is about the fun, not the guesswork. See this popup

Browse more: spin-to-win popups and scratch card popups in the Popup Library.

You build it by describing it. Write one sentence, for example:

"Create a gamified spin-to-win popup where visitors spin a wheel to win a discount in exchange for their email address."

From there, the agent:

Designs it on brand, in your colors, fonts and logo, and writes the copy.
Builds a separate mobile version, so the wheel or the card is easy to play on a phone.
Sets the targeting: who sees it, when, and how often.
Puts it live on your store, with the prize codes you created in your store.

It doesn't stop at publish. You can A/B test the prizes, the copy, or a scratch card against a wheel, and run a holdout test to see how much the popup adds compared with no popup.

If you're comparing dedicated wheel tools, see our list of spin-to-win plugins for WordPress and how OptiMonk compares with Wheelio.

For more ways to use games in your store, read about gamification in ecommerce or see the gamification use case.

What is a gamified popup?

A gamified popup is a popup with a small game inside, usually a spin-to-win wheel or a scratch card. The visitor enters an email to play and wins a prize, such as a discount or free shipping. It's also called popup gamification.

Do gamified popups work better than regular email popups?

In our data, yes: lucky wheels have a 13.23% average conversion rate, higher than the other email popup types we measured (popup statistics). The result still depends on your prizes and targeting, so A/B test a wheel against your current popup.

How many prizes should a spin-to-win wheel have?

Three to six different prizes is enough. Repeat them around the wheel so it has more slices, and make the cheapest prize the most likely.

Should every slice on the wheel win something?

Yes. The visitor has already given you an email to play, so a losing slice feels unfair. Make the small prizes common and the big ones rare instead.

Can I use a spin-to-win popup on Shopify?

Yes. Install OptiMonk on your Shopify store, build the wheel, and create one fixed discount code per prize in the Shopify admin, then add the codes to the prizes.

Your first gamified popup is one sentence away. Describe the wheel or the scratch card and the prizes you want, and the agent designs it for your brand, with a separate mobile version and the targeting from your sentence.

Free to start. No credit card.

Gamified Popups: 12 Spin-to-Win Wheel and Scratch Card Examples

Spin-to-win wheel vs. scratch card: which should you use?

Why do gamified popups convert?

How to choose prizes and odds