6 Tips We Followed To Help Successfully Fund Our Kickstarter!
Launching a Kickstarter or Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign can be an overwhelming and daunting endeavor. So much so, that there are now companies you can hire to run it for you! But before you think about hiring anyone, think about your financial goal and ask any friends who have run a successful campaign about what tips you should follow. Speaking of tips, here are our six tips that helped Versattire exceed our goal.
( Before we begin, we would just like to add a huge THANK YOU to the 124 backers that made our campaign a success. We could have not done it without you! )
How did we do it?
1. Do not be afraid to personally message friends and family.
It's one thing to ask for money for a cause or for a Gofundme but raising money for a Kickstarter rings a different bell. If your product or idea is truly creative, people will respond with genuine enthusiasm. We created Versattire; a breathable, sweat wicking, wrinkle resistant, 4-way stretch dress shirt that is super comfortable and stays tucked in! We witnessed friends and family open up their support in a way that was not expected. They were not only impressed with our product but also impressed with our dream. We literally messaged everyone on our facebook friend list. Remember, make the message personal. It takes more time, but your friends can tell the difference between a copy and paste and a personal message. Below is an example of our message:
{FIRST NAME}! Not sure if you heard, but I just launched VERSATTIRE on kickstarter! I'm hoping to raise $10k for my first large production run, and need your support. I think the hubby would love to rock one! Anything helps! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1043968005/a-dress-shirt-made-for-athletes?ref=creator_nav
2. Don't latch on to every offer from third parties
The day after you launch, and throughout your campaign, you're going to get tons of emails from third parties saying they will help you raise more funds for your campaign. Kickstarter tries to avoid this but obviously we got inundated. You have to take each email with a grain a salt. That is, do your research, ask others about their experiences with said company, and even better, negotiate! These are unaffiliated Kickstarter companies trying to get your money with the promise of helping you reach or surpass your funding goal. They will follow up multiple times if you do not reply. Some are legit and some are let downs but nevertheless, you can negotiate a rate to partner with them. How? Here is an actual text read of an email conversation we had with an established crowdfunding support platform (Yes, his name was Matt):
I'd be happy to offer you 10% off for any of our plans, and on top of that, a 100% satisfaction guarantee if you're not happy with results. Our guarantee is If you are not satisfied with the results within 30 days, we’ll re-promote your product for free to get you the best possible results. I don't think that would be an issue as the average ROI we see for our customers is between 3:1 to 15:1 the past few months. You can also check our latest Case Studies here.
pricey. Is that the best you can do? I'm certainly interested but that
is high for me right now.
Sincerely,
Matteo
3. Create an email campaign to keep your backers in the loop
Collecting emails is very important to the success of your campaign. It's not a death blow if your email list is not established or very big but it certainly helps. Send out periodic emails from mail applications such as Mailchimp or Constant Contact to help you create and design attractive emails that will help increase your open and click rate. Also, don't forget to also Post Updates within your Kickstarter Project. All followers and backers will automatically receive an email from Kickstarter with the Post Update. I sent out around 8 throughout my 60-day campaign.
4. Social media sharing helps
This is a huge tip. Sharing is key to help your campaign have and maintain some mini virality amongst your networks. Remember, Linkedin sharing is also important! A tip within a tip, create incentive to share, such as the most shares will get a $25 gift card to Apple.
5. Have good rewards!
This is so important! People are more willing to donate/back your project if they know they will get something out of it. Offer your product at a discount, give them special access to features, there are so many different reward ideas out there. Look at successful campaigns and get inspired for what can work for you. Don't skimp out on your reward tiers. This is your bread and butter to retaining people who come to your Kickstarter Project and it will most likely be the reason they back your project.
6. Have a launch party!
After I hyped all my friends and family about my crowdfunding effort, I invited them to a Launch Party! I had champagne, snacks, and physical product available for the attendees. I partnered with a local start-up work space downtown called Palm Beach Tech to help attract other fellow entrepreneurs to my Launch party. At the party, I launched my professional marketing video, gave a 5-minute pitch on why we were raising funds, and then had an amazing question and answer session which really propelled people to back the project. In total, we had around 100 people attend and it really set the tone for the momentum and buzz for Versattire. We raised about $1,500 in the first day because of the Launch Party.
There are so many other great tips and helpful guidelines from a variety of sources but these are five that were the difference makers for me. Kickstarter itself has a great FAQ section and Promotion section to give you valuable insights of what works too. Overall, read up, research, and don't give up
Leave a comment