An Ongoing contest stays open without a final end date and draws a winner every week, month, or quarter. Entrants remain in later draws until they win. Ongoing contests are available on Pro.
Set up an ongoing contest
- Create a contest or open a draft, then go to Build > Contest settings.
- Under Schedule, set Contest mode to Ongoing. Choose a Start date and Draw frequency: Weekly, Monthly, or Quarterly. The editor shows the next draw in your store's timezone.
- Under Winner confirmation, choose Manually confirm winners or Confirm winners automatically.
- Add at least one prize under Build > Prizes. The first prize in the list is awarded at every draw, so plan for repeated awards.
- In Contest settings > Prize delivery, choose how each winner receives the prize. For a Shopify product, you can create a discounted draft order for review or create the order automatically. You can also collect delivery details only, or choose Handle it myself. Shopify order creation requires you to click Approve Shopify access when prompted.
- If UserLoop will contact winners, choose how long they have to claim (3, 7, 14, or 30 days). You can customize the winner email subject and message, or leave them blank to use the standard email in the contest's language.
- Review your terms and storefront preview, save, then activate the contest from Launch.
There is no end-date field in Ongoing mode. Weekly draws occur at the start of Monday, monthly draws on the first day of the month, and quarterly draws on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July, and 1 October, using your store's timezone. The first draw is at the next such boundary after the contest starts.
How entrants and draws work
Each scheduled draw randomly selects a confirmed entrant who entered before that period closed and has not already won this contest. Entrants stay eligible for later periods without submitting again. More earned entries, including bonus entries, increase their chance of being selected. If nobody is eligible, Draw history records No entries and no winner is chosen.
Open Results (on mobile, tap Draw winners) to see Scheduled draws, the next draw, frequency, confirmation setting, prize, delivery method, any proposed winner, and Draw history. A draw does not close the contest to new entrants. The dashboard also shows the next draw on an ongoing contest's card.
You can click Run draw now in Results when the contest is live, has a prize and eligible entrants, and has no proposal waiting for your decision. This draws from current entries without changing the regular schedule.
Confirm a proposed winner
With Manually confirm winners, UserLoop emails you the proposed winner. Open the email's secure decision link or Results (tap Draw winners on mobile), then choose Accept winner or Redraw. Redraw replaces the proposal and excludes that entrant from the same draw; up to five attempts are available. The proposal must be decided before the next draw or it is skipped. If three proposals go unanswered, draws pause until you click Resume draws in Results.
With Confirm winners automatically, the selected winner is confirmed without your approval and UserLoop emails you the result. A confirmed entrant cannot win this contest again.
When a winner is confirmed, the saved prize-delivery choice starts immediately. UserLoop emails the winner a secure claim link for the draft-order, automatic-order, or delivery-details options. If you chose Handle it myself, UserLoop does not email the winner: contact them using the winner card and arrange delivery yourself. Track claims and fulfillment from the winner card in Draw history.
Changes and troubleshooting
- Ongoing contests require Pro. If the store moves to Free, scheduled draws pause. Returning to Pro resumes future draws; missed periods are not drawn retrospectively.
- You can change draw frequency, confirmation, prize order, and delivery in Build. Once a contest has a draw in its history, it cannot be switched back to Fixed dates.
- A prize already associated with a winner cannot be removed. Edit it instead, or keep it and add another prize. Removing a confirmed winner does not return that entrant to future ongoing draws.
- If Run draw now is unavailable, check that the contest is live, Pro is active, a prize and eligible entrants exist, and no proposal is awaiting confirmation.
- If a winner email or Shopify order needs attention, open the winner card in Results. Check the email status, claim, product, and Shopify access; use Try again when the card offers it.
For the one-off winner workflow, see Selecting Winners. For claim and order details, see Sending and Fulfilling Winner Prizes. For status changes, see Contest Lifecycle.