How to Have a Successful Indiegogo Campaign

So, you’re thinking about launching an Indiegogo campaign. Well, the good news is that almost anyone can launch one, the trick is to launch a successful Indiegogo campaign. No worries, we’ve got your back with tips and tricks that are sure to give your campaign a boost.

Crowdfunding has been around for centuries, although it wasn’t always as revolutionary as it is now. While pooling resources for the greater good has been historically recorded since the 13th century, the internet really blew it all out of the water. 

Modern online crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo help regular people support and bring ideas to life. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a creator, or an innovator, there’s a place for you on Indiegogo. But it takes a strategic approach, a solid plan, and lots of hard work to run a successful Indiegogo campaign. 

That’s why we’re here to guide you through the exciting and challenging journey of launching a successful Indiegogo campaign. Let’s give it a go. 

Key Takeaways

• Indiegogo is one of the most popular crowdfunding platforms. 
• A strategic approach, a solid plan, and lots of hard work are necessary for a successful crowdfunding campaign. 
• Crowdfunding consultants and crowdfunding marketing agencies can be helpful when launching a campaign. 
• LaunchBoom can help boost your Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. 

What is an Indiegogo Campaign?

Indiegogo is an online crowdfunding platform that lets individuals and businesses raise money for projects. Indiegogo has become one of the most popular crowdfunding platforms and has grown a whole lot since its humble beginnings. 

When Indiegogo was founded, it was a crowdfunding platform for independent films. Over the years, a lot has changed. Nowadays, you can pick any creative, entrepreneurial project your heart desires as long as it fits within one of the three main categories: Tech & Innovation, Creative Works, or Community Projects (plus an additional 28 subcategories). 

With Tech & Innovation being the category that brings in the most success on Indiegogo, it’s definitely worth launching on this platform if your project falls within this category. But whatever your product or idea may be, the advantage of crowdfunding on a platform like Indiegogo is that it comes with an established community of millions of backers who are always looking out for new projects to support. 

How does Indiegogo work? The model boils down to this: you, an individual or business, set up a campaign on the website. You’ll have to fill in all the information Indiegogo asks of you and set a funding goal. Once the campaign goes live, backers can support your project by making contributions in return for the incentives that you pick. 

Crowdfunding allows you to raise funds for your project without the need to rely on traditional methods, like loans and investments. By building your brand with the help of potential future customers, you’re also creating a community of like-minded individuals that will help your brand to succeed even after your campaign has ended. 

There are quite a few crowdfunding platforms online, some with a wider organic audience and different perks, but that doesn’t make Indiegogo less effective. At the end of the day, you have to take into account what the best option is for your project.

How Long Do Indiegogo Campaigns Usually Last?

Indiegogo campaigns can last up to 60 days, however, you have the final say. Our personal recommendation (as well as Indiegogo’s) is to run the campaign for 30 to 40 days. A campaign too short might not give the global community enough time to back your project, but allowing your campaign to go on too long creates a lack of urgency for your backers. 

When you decide how long your crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo will be, you need to take into account the promotional strategies used. Much of this work is going to be done in the pre-launch phase as you validate your product and build a reservation funnel, with a mailing list, that will allow you to rally an army of supporters behind you to quickly reach your funding goal.

7 Tips: How to Have a Successful Campaign on Indiegogo

While your project may be innovative and offer unique solutions, sometimes a unique product is not enough to attract backers on its own. Luckily, there are certain things you can do to boost success in crowdfunding no matter what you have to offer. Let’s get into some tips, tricks, and secrets about how to have a successful campaign on Indiegogo. 

Define Your Campaign Goal and Target Audience

First things first, you need to have a clear idea of what your campaign goal and target audience will be. This means identifying an unmet need and clearly communicating how your product fills that need for your backers. Knowing who you are talking to and how your product will improve their lives should be at the forefront of your pitch.

To do this you’re going to want to validate your product idea. We’ve written a guide on how to do that here. 

Choose a Product or Service to Offer as a Perk

A must-do in the world of crowdfunding campaigns is offering perks that incentivize people to back your project. The trick is to be creative and unique while staying relevant to your project. If you’re racking your brain right now, don’t fret: here are a few ideas that’ll help get the brainstorming sesh started:

• Limited edition versions of your product. 
• Early bird perks like special deals and discounts to the first backers. 
• Behind-the-scenes and VIP experiences. 
• Personalized products, like your product with the backer’s name on it. 
• Add-ons like merchandise.
• Early access to your product or service. 

Create a Campaign Page and Video with a Clear Message and Appealing Visuals

One of the most essential parts of your campaign will be the page and video because this is how you communicate your project and its value to potential backers. You need a well-designed and complete campaign page and a compelling and concise video that grabs the attention of someone scrolling through projects they’d like to back.

Here is a guide on how to craft the perfect campaign pitch. 

Develop a Marketing and Promotion Plan

While Indigogo has a massive community of backers, relying on organic traffic offers no guarantees that your project will get to where you want it to go. So you’re going to have to market your campaign, build awareness across different platforms, drive traffic, and create a sense of urgency that can help you reach your funding goal. There are plenty of ways to do this including the use of services like Kickbooster, Facebook Ads, and even Indiegogo’s own newsletters and featured campaign placements.

For a more in-depth look at how to boost your campaign check out our guide here.

Set a Realistic Funding Goal and Campaign Duration

As tempting as it may be to ask for the millions to roll in, it’s important to set a realistic and achievable funding goal that takes into account your project as a whole. Ultimately, You should choose a funding goal which is the minimum amount required to create your product. This means taking into account your fixed costs, variable costs, average order value, break-even count, and funding amount.

For a closer look at how to set your funding goal, check out our guide here.

Consider Legal and Financial Preparations

Before launching, it’s also crucial to consider all the legal and financial preparations that need to come together. First, think about your project: do you need to file for a patent or copyright? Does it comply with state and federal laws and regulations (as well as Indiegogo’s)? Making sure it’s on legal high ground can save you a lot of hard work and tears down the road. 

Managing financial risks is also imperative, and it starts with setting a realistic funding goal. During and after the campaign, you’ll need to keep an eye on cash flow and make sure you keep accurate financial records so you don’t end up spending on something you don’t need or mismanaging funds.

Launch and Actively Promote Your Campaign

This step may be obvious but don’t underestimate the power of putting work into your campaign once it launches. You’ve got a bomb promotion and marketing strategy in place and now all that you need to do is follow it. Reach out to the mailing list you’ve built, and let them know it’s go time! Sent regular updates and reminders. Stay on the ball until your goal is met.

Should You Use Kickbooster for Indiegogo?

Kickbooster has been around since 2015 and has since helped a lot of crowdfunding campaigns reach their funding goals and raise more money. Kickbooster has created a community of Kickbooster affiliates that has helped many a crowdfunding campaign find success. These affiliates are essentially a shortcut to media coverage for your campaign. Kickbooster helps the press get a hold of your project – which promises more traffic. Plus, it’s an affordable way to get your project out there – just $29 a month plus commissions. For example, our client Stealth Wallet raised over $20,000 from 111 boosters just through the Kickbooster program.

Should You Hire Crowdfunding Consultants?

Crowdfunding consultants are pros in the crowdfunding game and can provide support and guidance to your project. From creating a marketing and promotional strategy and figuring out the target audience to building a community and figuring out perks, consultants definitely know what they’re doing. So should you hire one?

It all comes down to what your needs are, starting off with your crowdfunding experience. Crowdfunding consultants can be helpful whether it’s your first or tenth campaign, but the first few times might require more professional support.

A reason to consider hiring crowdfunding consultants is to work through all the complex details that go into a campaign. While you might think you’ve got everything ready to go, there are many small and big things that could use some polishing up. 

Crowdfunding consultants can help you develop a campaign strategy, and marketing and promotional development, figure out the rewards and perks system for backers, make sure the project is legally and financially secure, and ultimately help you build a community. 

Successful Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign Examples

Now that you’re ready for success on Indiegogo, it seems like a good moment to show some examples of successful Indiegogo crowdfunding campaigns that went above and beyond. Here are some of our favorite success stories: 

LOMI – Turn Waste To Compost With A Single Button

Food waste is not only gross, but it’s also a huge global problem. This is where LOMI comes in – an at-home device that turns food waste into compost. This project was worth the hard work though since they raised over 7000% above the original funding goal! LOMI managed to raise over $7.2 million from over 18 thousand backers. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFKAV4DD5ZY

VAVA – 4K Ultra Short Throw Laser Projector

What kind of project is so cool that it manages to raise $2.14 million from only 800 backers? Well, it’s VAVA, a 4K cinematic laser projector that leaves TVs in the dust. They managed to reach their funding goal in only 22 minutes and have now managed to raise over 1,000% of the original objective. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqcbcW11iRE

COFFEEJACK – The Pocket Sized Barista

A good day often begins with a cup of coffee, and the folks behind COFFEEJACK know it. The innovative pocket-sized and portable espresso machine perked up the ears of coffee lovers everywhere, and the community paid off: COFFEEJACK raised over 9,400% of their original funding goal, amassing over $1.8 million from nearly 15 thousand thirsty backers. 

Learn How to Boost Your Indiegogo Campaign with LaunchBoom

At LaunchBoom we’ve helped hundreds of campaigns raise millions through our proven strategy. From researching the market and validating the project to creating effective launch strategies and using community-building tools. So how do we do it?

There are three main phases of LaunchBoom’s strategy: TestBoom, LaunchBoom, and ScaleBoom. In the first phase, we validate your product before the campaign is launched. We test the positioning of the product and find the right target audience before the fun actually begins. This can help reduce risk!

In the second phase, we LaunchBoom… meaning the focus is on pre-selling your project to the market before the campaign goes live. We do this a lot of different ways: by building a community through promotional strategies, creating a buzz that can help you reach your crowdfunding goals within hours, making the most of free traffic by rising to the top on Indiegogo rankings, driving traffic through ads, email lists, and PR, and continue pre-selling and upselling even after the campaign is over. 

Last, but not least, it’s time to ScaleBoom. This comes about once the campaign is over and done with, and your project is ready to go. So, if you have a product, you should have inventory ready and now it’s time to build off of the campaign success to drive traffic and sales to your e-commerce site. 

Running an Indiegogo campaign is anything but easy, but a positive outcome can make every drop of sweat and tears worth it. If you really want to bring your project to life, the right strategy can make a world of difference. Using LaunchBoom can help you get there.