How to Boost Your Crowdfunding Campaign in the Last 48 Hours

You clicked “Launch.” You felt the day-one rush as backers came surging in. You rode the crazy rollercoaster watching the numbers day after day, and now your campaign is drawing to a close.

Just like on your first day, you should see another crowdfunding boost in the final few days. That’s because if someone doesn’t back your campaign now, they know they might miss out on the discount forever.

Having an effective crowdfunding countdown strategy helps you enhance pledges in the final stretch and close out strong. Let’s dive into some last-minute crowdfunding strategies for how to boost your crowdfunding campaign in the last 48 hours.

Amplifying communication for a funding surge

The two most effective communication channels during the last 48-hour crowdfunding push will be your email list and Meta ads.

During the last week of your campaign, send three emails to your email list. We suggest segmenting your emails by VIPs and non-VIPs (if you don’t know how to build a VIP list, start with our guide here) so you can craft more specific messaging for each audience.

Email 1: Three days left

Send at: 11AM EST three days before the campaign ends

• Announce the campaign’s end date and time.
• Focus on the urgency to back the campaign before it ends.

Email 2: Final morning

Send at: 11AM EST on the last day

• Let your audience know that the campaign ends at midnight.
• Focus on the urgency to back the campaign before it ends.

Email 3: Final evening

Send at: 8PM EST on the last day

• Apologize for sending another email, but let them know it’s the final reminder that the campaign ends at midnight.
• Focus on the urgency to back the campaign before it ends.

Even if you plan to continue your crowdfunding on Indiegogo InDemand right after the campaign ends (more on that later!), you can still lean into the fact that the “live” campaign will end at midnight and the price will go up. This urgency is an incredible motivator for people to buy.

Your ad copy should similarly leverage urgency.

Take a look at this ad for our campaign AIR PIX, which raised over $1M on Indiegogo.

Using words such as “ending soon” and “last chance” makes it extremely clear that readers need to purchase now to take advantage of the discounts.

Facebook ad strategies in the final hours

Your Meta ads during the last stretch of your crowdfunding should focus on remarketing.

Remarketing is when you target audiences that have previously interacted with your brand in some way. Focus on the following remarketing audiences:

• VIP email list
• Non-VIP email list
• Visitors who added to cart but didn’t buy
• Web traffic from the campaign page that didn’t purchase or add to cart

These audiences are much more qualified. And they have the best conversion rate at the beginning and at the very end of your campaign. In the final countdown, focus on getting as many of these people as possible across the finish line.

Use your best-performing creative from previous ads. Now is not the time to reinvent the wheel. Put your best material to work in the final hours.

Harnessing social proof in the final stretch

As you transition from crowdfunding to e-commerce, you will begin targeting the early and late majority, which make up the bulk of the mass market.

Unlike innovators and early adopters, early and late majority backers aren’t the first to get on the new popular thing. They jump aboard the train that everyone else is jumping on.

These people may like your product, but they aren’t risk-takers or true believers. Because your product doesn’t yet exist, new customers can’t make buying decisions based on reviews the same way they can on Amazon or other e-commerce sites. That’s why social proof is a powerful campaign endgame tactic for converting more risk-averse backers during the final stretch.

Here’s how to boost your crowdfunding campaign through social proof.

In your ads, lean into the key achievements and metrics from your crowdfunding campaign. For example, you can say things like:

• Funded in 22 minutes!
• Over 352% funded!
• Raised over $532,032!

See how this ad for the VAVA 4k Laser Projector (which raised over $1,8M on Indiegogo) highlights key metrics from their crowdfunding campaign.

Introducing last-minute incentives

Utilize last-minute crowdfunding tactics like stretch goals, add-ons, and upgrades to get a final funding surge.

Unveil New Stretch Goals

Stretch goals are additional targets set by project creators after the initial funding goal has been achieved. These goals go beyond the basic necessities of the project and add extra features, upgrades, or enhancements. They incentivize backers to further support the project and help it surpass its original expectations.

Here’s an example from our campaign, Give’r Gloves, which raised $270,942 on Kickstarter and Indiegogo InDemand.

Unveiling new stretch goals during the last-minute phase can reignite enthusiasm among backers. The prospect of reaching new milestones can motivate backers to rally behind the campaign for that final 48-hour push.

Upsell with add-ons

Upselling is an incredible last-minute crowdfunding strategy because it targets your highest-quality audience, existing backers.

Add-ons allow customers to obtain special rewards after buying your campaign’s core product.

As Kickstarter describes them:

“Add-ons are optional rewards backers can choose to add to their pledges: accessories, game expansion packs, movie posters, copies of an earlier publication—any extra item that complements the primary reward without distracting from the core mission of the project.”

Here’s how we introduced add-ons through private messaging during our Alpha Shovel Kickstarter campaign. On Kickstarter, all private messages will go directly to the receiver’s email inbox as well as their Kickstarter account.

Notice how personal this strategy is. We thanked the backer for their support. And we use their first name in the message, which we’ve found leads to a much higher click-through rate.

Introduce flash sales

A flash sale is a heavy discount that is only available for a limited amount of time. It’s a great last-minute strategy for converting people who are still on the fence in the last 48 hours.

To avoid angering customers who have already backed your project at a higher price, be careful to only send your flash sale offer to leads who haven’t backed our campaign yet.

The best way to selectively market your flash sale is through Secret Perks on Indiegogo. Secret Perks are only visible to someone who clicks on your campaign page through a unique link. They do not appear on your public Indiegogo page.

As a last-minute tactic, you can use our $1 flash sale. Here’s how baKblade used flash sales to raise $15,619 in two days.

The first day, we offered our email list the chance to buy at a discount. This sale ran for one day and expired at midnight. The next day, we announced a second flash sale for only $1 more. Again, this offer was only available until midnight.

One of the most surprising parts of this strategy was that the second day flash sale actually performed better than the first day.

Because the price only increased by $1, people don’t feel like they really missed out and made a huge mistake not pulling the trigger the first day. If the price were to go up by $10, it’d be a different story. $1 feels like nothing, but it’s enough to motivate customers to not miss out a second time.

Mobilizing your team for final efforts

Even in the last 48 hours of your campaign, the party is far from over. Begin mobilizing your team to transition to your post-campaign strategy.

We highly recommend moving your crowdfunding to Indiegogo InDemand as soon as your campaign ends. This is our best tip for nailing your crowdfunding grand finale.

InDemand enables any campaign that meets its initial goal to continue raising funds after the live campaign is over. And we do mean any campaign—whether you launched on Indiegogo, Kickstarter, or another crowdfunding site, Indiegogo will start your InDemand campaign by including the funding amount from your live campaign.

Let’s look at our campaign for LoftTek, which raised $757,079 on Kickstarter.

Immediately after we finished on Kickstarter, we transferred over to Indiegogo InDemand.

InDemand included the $757,079 we raised on Kickstarter. We then went on to raise a grand total of $1,041,308 in presale revenue.

If you launched on Kickstarter, you should start setting up your Indiegogo InDemand campaign during the final week of your campaign. If you are on Indiegogo, your campaign will automatically change to InDemand when the campaign ends as long as you “opt-in” to InDemand in the backend of your campaign.

Transparency and updates in the eleventh hour

As you enter the final countdown, it might be tempting to blast more campaign updates. However, it is possible to send too many campaign updates.

We’ve actually seen a correlation between campaign updates sent in the final week and backers canceling their orders. That seems to be because updates can serve as a reminder that the backer can cancel their pledge before the campaign ends. For this reason, we advise against sending any campaign updates during your final week. Hold off until after the campaign ends.

At the same time, communication is key. In your last 48 hours, stay even more on top of comments, direct messages, and emails. Make sure you are answering questions and concerns as quickly as possible.

Trust is the #1 issue affecting people’s decision to back a crowdfunding campaign. Trust starts with being transparent and responsive to the backers, and it carries you through your final 48 hours and beyond.

Final thoughts

Having an effective closing strategy for your crowdfunding campaign will help you make the most of the last 48 hours.

Today, we discussed these last-minute techniques to create a funding surge in your final hours.

• Using urgency in your emails and ads
• Harnessing social proof
• Introducing last-minute incentives
• Mobilizing your team for post-campaign strategy
• Communicating transparently with backers

How to boost your crowdfunding campaign in the last 48 hours: FAQ

What are effective last-minute funding surge techniques?

Our last-minute tips on how to boost your crowdfunding campaign in the final 48 hours are:

• Use urgency in your email and ad copy to get customers to act now
• Focus on remarketing to audiences who have interacted with your brand already
• Highlight existing campaign metrics to capitalize on social proof
• Upsell to existing backers through stretch goals and add-ons

How can I create urgency without seeming desperate in my final hours of crowdfunding efforts?

The beauty of crowdfunding is that urgency is built straight into the premise. Customers have a limited amount of time to place an order before the campaign ends and they lose out on the best discount.

This incentive to act now is exactly how crowdfunding increases a customer’s likelihood to purchase compared to a traditional eCommerce site.

To avoid seeming desperate, pair urgency with a sense of exclusivity. Use flash sales and Secret Perks to increase urgency, renew interest, and make customers feel like they’re getting an insider special. Everyone likes to feel like they’re part of an exclusive in-group, so emphasize that in your copy and communication.

Can rewards or goals be adjusted in the final stretch of a crowdfunding campaign?

Your funding goal cannot be adjusted after you launch your campaign. That’s why determining an appropriate funding goal before launch is key to your campaign’s success.

Rewards and add-ons can be adjusted after launch, but only if they have not been backed. That means you can introduce new add-ons and perk tier upgrades in the last 48 hours, but you can’t renege on rewards that a backer has already claimed.

How to motivate backers for a crowdfunding campaign endgame?

We can’t emphasize enough the importance of keeping your existing backers motivated through the final stretch of your crowdfunding campaign. Stay on top of comments, private messages, and emails so backers continue to feel confident supporting your product.

In the final hour, keep backers engaged and excited through stretch goals. Not only do stretch goals generate additional buzz, they give your backers more incentive to rally behind your campaign.