If you had a crystal ball that’d show you if you’d be successful, would you use it?
I’m betting you’d say “yes.”
Well, that’s pretty much what the Droplet team had and they went on to raise $114,507 on Kickstarter.
Here’s how they did it.
Meet Julia, Emilie, Taishi and Thorsten – the co-founders of Droplet.
They saw an opportunity to tackle a growing problem: water scarcity.
With at least 40 states projected to face water shortages by 2024, they knew something had to change.
Their solution?
Droplet – a smart home water sensor that uses ultrasonic technology to monitor real-time water usage, detect leaks, and help users save water, all from a single point in the home.
But having a great product wasn’t enough. They needed a great launch strategy too.
That’s when they partnered with my team at LaunchBoom.
And on March 19, 2024, they launched on Kickstarter.
Within just 11 minutes, they were fully funded. By the end of the first day, they had raised $68,033. And when the campaign closed 30 days later, they had made $114,507 from 644 backers.
Like I said before, their success wasn’t a surprise. The Droplet team followed a methodical process to give them confidence that they’d be successful before they hit the launch button. Here’s how it worked.
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How Droplet used “micro-testing” in the pre-launch
A Kickstarter campaign won’t be successful without the right pre-launch marketing strategy. More specifically, building an email list of real buyers before you launch your campaign. If you’ve read even a little bit of our content, you’ve probably heard that already. So here’s something new.
Another huge benefit of following our pre-launch marketing strategy, is getting both clarity & confidence before a launch. That is possible because our system shows product creators how to run “micro-tests” to learn very important stuff… stuff like the best audience to target, the right messaging to use, and how to get the lowest cost to acquire a customer.
Here’s how it worked.
1. Droplet drove traffic with Meta Ads
Meta ads are the first step to build a pre-launch email list and also the first place where you can start testing.
We test in the following order:
- Imagery: the ad photo or video
- Headline: the text below the imagery
- Body text: the text above the imagery
Where each test is focusing on only one of the three.
First, Droplet figured out the best image their audience liked, then the best headline, and finally the best body copy.
After all the tests, this ended up being their best ad.
2. Droplet collected email addresses on a landing page
The landing page is where people go if they click on the ad. This is where you can get into more detail about the benefits and features of your product. It’s also an area where you can continue to test.
Landing pages can be fairly long, but in most cases, you’ll only want to test differences to the top section.
After going through multiple tests of headlines, subheadlines, and imagery, Droplet landed on this page performing the best.
By the way, this is a screenshot from our LaunchKit software that all LaunchBoom Creators get access to.
3. Droplet collected $1 reservations
This is the most important step because it allows you to understand who on your email list is most likely to buy. It requires creating a “VIP Offer” where you give something valuable to the backer in exchange for $1 in the pre-launch.
Droplet had this VIP offer for putting down a $1 reservation:
- A guaranteed 35% discount
- An invite to their VIP Facebook group
The most important thing to know is that people who put down the reservation were way more likely to buy.
Droplet got funded on day one
Because Droplet used “micro-testing” throughout the pre-launch, they were able to learn the best way to position their product. And because they knew that, they were able to collect 1,020 $1 reservation deposits. We still haven’t found a better predictor of launch success than the number of reservations a creator has.
And just like we thought, their launch was a success.
Within just 11 minutes, Droplet was fully funded and by the end of the first day, they made $68,033.
Flash forward 30 days later and that number had ballooned to $114,507 from 644 new customers.
This was all possible because they followed the LaunchBoom system, which is laser focused on getting creators the highest return on their investment.
Because at LaunchBoom, our goal is not to launch a successful product, but to launch a successful business.
Do you have an innovative product like Julia and Emilie?
We can help you turn it into a real business (or dramatically grow your existing business).
We’ve worked with over a thousand product creators.
If you want to be the next one…
Click here to talk with a LaunchBoom expert.
