How to create a spin-the-wheel popup with Nudgesmart

TL;DR

Pick a spin-the-wheel template (or start from scratch and choose Spin the Wheel as the campaign type), then answer What should shoppers win?: The same gift for everyone, or A surprise prize with a few prizes and how often each is won. Nudgesmart balances the odds for you. Connect each slice to a real Shopify discount code so the reward redeems at checkout. Set the email-capture form so shoppers enter their email before spinning — that's the actual conversion. Publish and watch the email list grow.

When spin-the-wheel wins

Spin-the-wheel works when you need to grow an email list AND you're willing to give a real discount in exchange. The "game" element converts ~3-5x better than a static "10% off when you sign up" popup because shoppers feel they're earning the discount, not just being given one.

It does NOT work when:

• Your margins can't support discounts (luxury goods, single-SKU brands).
• Your audience is enterprise/B2B (gamification reads as gimmicky).
• The popup runs everywhere — on a blog post, on About-Us, on the homepage with no shopping intent. Restrict to product pages and category pages.

Step 1 · Choose what shoppers win

The wheel's Content tab with 'What should shoppers win?' showing The same gift for everyone and A surprise prize

Screenshot coming soon

The same gift for everyone

Every spin lands on your gift. Pick the Gift type (percentage off, amount off or free shipping), type How much off?, check the Name shown to shoppers (filled in for you, like "15% OFF"), and choose Slices on the wheel: 4, 6 (recommended) or 8. Eight slices need a name of 8 characters or fewer. Nudgesmart fills every slice with your gift, keeps your slice colours, and sets each shopper to one spin. The wheel still spins, so the moment still feels like a win.

Under Codes, pick One code, or More off for bigger orders to give a set of codes unlocked by spend. See Give several codes by spend.

We also recommend turning on One code per shopper in the Code section, so a shopper who comes back with the same email sees their code again rather than a new one. It turns on by itself when you choose More off for bigger orders.

A surprise prize

Shoppers win one of several prizes. For each prize, choose How often is it won?: Often, Sometimes or Rarely. Nudgesmart turns that into whole-number chances that add up to 100, and shows a summary like "About 85 in 100 shoppers win a prize". Want exact numbers? Click Set exact chances.

A recommended starting setup for a 5-slice wheel:

• 5% off: Often
• 10% off: Often
• 15% off: Sometimes
• Free shipping: Sometimes
• 20% off: Rarely

A slice switched to No prize — shopper sees your 'try again' message. gives no code. On a wheel there is no Never choice: to stop a prize being won, remove the slice. You can't remove the last winning slice, so the wheel always has something to win.

Step 2 · Connect Shopify discount codes

You have two options:

• Auto-generate codes per shopper — Nudgesmart creates a unique single-use code each time someone wins. Best for limiting redemption (one shopper, one code).
• Use a shared code — every shopper who lands on the same slice gets the same code (e.g., WHEEL10 for the 10% slice). Simpler, but be aware shoppers can share codes.

Either way, the codes appear in your Shopify admin → Discounts page like any other code, with full reporting on usage, redemptions, and revenue.

Consolation codes (the code shown on a "try again" result) must already exist in Shopify admin → Discounts. If Nudgesmart can't find it there, the code isn't shown to shoppers, so nobody gets a code that fails at checkout. Leave it blank for none.

Step 3 · Set the email-capture flow

The standard flow:

1. Popup opens with the wheel and an email field.
2. Shopper enters email and clicks Spin.
3. Wheel animates and lands on a slice.
4. Win state shows the discount code and a copy-to-clipboard button.
5. The email is captured to your subscribers list.

If you let shoppers spin without entering an email, you've turned the popup into a discount machine with no list-growth value. Always require email first.

Step 4 · Style the wheel

Style panel showing color pickers for each slice, the spin-button text field, and the Wheel size choices

Screenshot coming soon

Wheel size has three choices: Small, Medium (the usual size) and Large. This choice sets the size on computers; phones have their own size setting. If your wheel was set to another size before, it keeps that size and shows as a custom size.

Style guidelines that consistently convert:

• Use 4-6 slices (3 feels stingy, 8+ feels chaotic).
• Avoid pure white slices — they disappear against light popups.
• Use high-contrast slice colors so each is distinguishable.
• Keep the spin button large and action-oriented ("Spin to win!" beats "Submit").

Step 5 · Save, and let Nudgesmart check it

Step 6 · Email follow-up

The first 24 hours after a shopper wins is when they'll redeem the discount. Have your welcome email queued and ready to fire — ideally referencing the discount they won. If your welcome email goes out a week later, you've lost most of the urgency. See Create an email capture popup for the welcome-email setup.

Common pitfalls

• The wheel works but no emails appear in your list. Check the integration with your email service provider — emails may be captured to Nudgesmart but not flowing through. Visit Integrations in the admin and verify the connection.
• Shoppers complain the discount code doesn't work at checkout. Almost always a Shopify discount-code mismatch — the code shown by the wheel doesn't exist in Shopify admin → Discounts, or it has expired, or its conditions don't match the shopper's cart. Test by winning a code yourself and using it.
• A shopper landed on "No prize" and got no code. That's correct: only winning slices give a code.
• Returning shoppers see the wheel every visit. Adjust the frequency cap. Once per day or Once per shopper prevents the same shopper from spinning every visit and accumulating codes.

Frequently asked questions

What's a good spin-the-wheel conversion rate?

8-15% of shoppers who see the popup will spin and submit an email. That's notably higher than static email-capture popups (typically 3-5%). If you're below 5%, the offer is probably too small or the wheel is firing on the wrong pages.

Can I run the wheel only during a sale?

Yes. Use date-range targeting in the campaign settings — set a start and end date and the wheel only displays during that window.

Should I use "Try Again" / "No Prize" slices?

Generally no. Choose The same gift for everyone if every spin should win. Shoppers who land on "No Prize" feel cheated and don't return. The exception is if you're doing a legitimate sweepstakes-style giveaway (where most prizes are intentionally rare) — but for everyday email-capture, "every spin wins" with a small base prize converts better.

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