Update: Best Entry Winner Selection Process

As communicated earlier, in case of abandoned contests, we have been sending the “Shortlisted Entries” to the CH for final consideration. We have concluded that this process is not effective in getting’s CH input. Perhaps it is because 30 days is too long a timeframe, or it is because the shortlisted names again include several names they had previously rated as “Love it” or “Like It”. We are evaluating a new offering, where we would assist CH in shortlisting names earlier in the process.

We have also concluded that the “Random” selection is not appropriate in several situations, especially when a CH has added clear comments in one or more entries that it is their top choice. In those cases we do not believe it is fair for that entry to compete with equal probability against other entries that were shortlisted.There are other scenarios as well, (e.g. when a domain registration matches the CH details, or when there is only 1 “Love It” entry ), where a random selection is not appropriate.

As a result, we are making some changes to the winner selection process to make it simpler while ensuring that the process is as fair as possible. You can read about the new process in the below help article. We have also added several examples for additional transparency on how this process will work:

We recognize that this process has changed quite a few times recently but we believe these changes are important in our goal to make this process as fair as possible. We will continue to focus our efforts on implementing additional changes that help minimize the contest abandonment so that we have lower number of contests where this process is necessary.

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I didn’t grasp the timing of your shortlist? My bad…That seems like a good idea.

@CherryPopNames, to be clear, we are referring to shortlisting entries earlier in the winner selection process - not while the contest is open but after it has closed. If a CH is about to give up on a contest because they are overwhelmed with too many names, offering assistance in shortlisting the names one week after a contest closes has a much better chance of CH choosing a winner rather than waiting 30 days after a contest closes when they have completely disengaged themselves from the contest.

There is no question that the goal needs to be on improving communication, and other aspects that can minimize contest abandonment in the first place. However, these two points are not contradictory. If a CH has not selected a winner for 7 days, we believe it is better to ask them if they need assistance in shortlisting entries so there is a greater chance they will end up selecting a winner and not give up on the contest.

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“All contestants are invited to mark up to 2 of their entries as Best Entries.
Squadhelp shortlists up to 10 submissions for potential winner selection based upon the following criteria:
If there are less than 10 entries in the contest with “Love it” ratings, all those entries are automatically added to Short List
If there are no “Love It” ratings, but there are less than 10 “Like It” ratings, all those “Like It” entries are added to the Short List.
Upto 5 additional entries are short listed from the pool of “Best Entries”.”

— 5 additional means 10 + 5?

THEN:

Example 1: A contest received total of 600 entries. 8 entries received “Love It” ratings, 14 received “Like It” ratings.

In this case, we will automatically shortlist the 8 “Love It” entries. We will select additional entries (up to 5) from “Like It” as well as “Best Entry” nominations. The love it entries will receive a higher “weightage” for winner selection.

– That means that up to 13 entries will be shortlisted? Wasn’t the limit 10?

So if there are 10+ “Love It”, the shortlist only looks on those names? Could SquadHelp please block the “Best Entry” button on those cases where it would be useless to mark best entries?

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@JCaceres, in the above scenario it is possible that we may end up shortlisting up to 15 entries (especially when we find that the CH stopped rating entries early in the contest and may not have seen all the entries). However, we will always give higher weightage to the CH ratings. So if you have an unrated name that you believe is a really strong fit for the contest, you can certainly select it as a Best Entry. However, in contests where a CH has already given lots of “Love it” ratings, the chances of a non- Love It name winning that contest is very low.

We plan to send out Best entry notifications for all abandoned contests - because we want to give the opportunity to creatives to highlight their names, especially if they feel that the CH might not have seen their name before abandoning the contest.

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if they didnt view some of the ratings at all would there be more chance of inclusion in the selection

Correct. Using Best Entry nomination for unrated entries is a better strategy than using them for entries that have already been rated.

Dan, as far I understood - abandoned contest with domain reported and confirmed, should not be out for best entry.

As per:
6.If a domain has been reported to be registered from the contest, and Squadhelp was able to see a match between Contest Holder’s information and “Who Is” information, that name will automatically be selected as the winner.

If that reported name will be winner, no space for best entry.

I did Best entry one today and noticed there is a domain reported on it.
I can not undo it…!!

the reported domain doesnt mean a match was found so its safe to best entry I think- it was probably me that reported it - none of mine have ever matched anything lol

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OK, thanks for clarification!!!

For the “Best Entry” selection of the “Name for a platform that helps people pay for healthcare services using their insurance and financial benefits” naming contest, my name was the only star listed as “I like It” and nothing was listed higher. What was the criterion for selecting the winner in this case???

@ricojsuave, unfortunately we do not comment on why one name was chosen vs another. However, since we have recently updated our policy, I would like to share some points that might be helpful:

  1. This contest holder had rated less than 10% of all entries. This is a perfect example of a contest where non rated entries should be given an opportunity to be considered, and in fact this is the main reason why we have the Best Entry process in place.

  2. The winner selection for this contest followed the earlier process which involved sending shortlisted names to CH ,and then picking one name randomly from the list of shortlisted names. Your name as shortlisted along with few other names but one of the other shortlisted names got selected as the winner.

@Dan, In the spirit of increasing the happiness index/entertainment value for the creatives I’d like to propose an unorthodox solution to shed light on the process of automated winner selection, hitherto shrouded in mystery, by video-broadcasting random draw sessions live either by producing the screenshot imagery capturing the moment of winner selection or by transposing the data from a randomizer onto virtual simulation of the lottery bowl.

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I think I actually preferred squadhelp choosing rather than this random business, we are certainly getting some odd ones

At least if someone chooses you end up with a name someone likes lol, the random way you could end up with names nobody likes(apart from the winner- even then maybe not ) :wink:

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As of 6 (?) days ago, I read that SH is choosing. I had to check. Unless something’s changed.

We now use random selection only in cases when all entries have an equal weightage ( for example when all are unrated and no comments from CH or when all have the same Love it rating and no comments from CH)

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Makes sense to have a little mix of each system, in some cases it is probably clearer cut and in some so arbitrary that randomizing would relieve that pressure,