In our last LaunchBoom Live of the year, we talked about product positioning and went over a case study for a product that raised $2 million, and we also did a Q&A with LaunchBoom’s own Kevin Liang and talked to Steven from Easyship about crowdfunding shipping. Don’t miss our jam-packed episode!
Contents
A $2M case study
I had Joe Piperni on this week to talk about the $2 million raise we did with VAVA! You can read an expanded version of the case study here, or you can keep reading for an overview.
VAVA is a great example of how our system works with high-end products. Their projector’s ticket price was $2,500, which is a far cry from the crowdfunding campaigns we run with products that are only $50 or $100. It works no matter what your price point is!
VAVA reached out to us for help with their 4K laser projector. They had done crowdfunding campaigns before, but wanted to work with us to raise even more for their newest campaign.
Our first step was to take the projector through TestBoom, where we tested their product through ads to see if the launch would be a success. We went through the messaging and positioning process to come up with some angles to test in the market, and then we found audiences to test it in. We then launched our reservation funnel to test the product, and we quickly found out that it would be a huge success.
VAVA then moved into our LaunchBoom program, working to build our leads and reservations now that we knew what audiences and messages worked best. We increased our ad spend to $15,700 during this phase, and we got over 18,000 leads and 136 reservations. That number might seem low, but remember that the price tag is $2,500, so it takes more for people to decide to put that dollar down. They know what kind of product they’re reserving, though, so they’re likely to actually purchase.
Once we had the leads and reservations that we needed, we launched. Thanks to our community, we raised over $110,000 in the first 48 hours. Since we raised so much more than our initial goal in the first few days, we were able to leverage that success into further success. We got enough organic traffic to get a 14.93x return on our ad spend!
In the end, the VAVA 4K laser projector raised $1,240,253 during the live campaign and an additional $907,214 on Indiegogo InDemand. To put it mildly, it was a very successful campaign!
Q&A with Kevin Liang
I talked with Kevin, the founder of the Eco Cube, who now works with us here at LaunchBoom. He answered a bunch of questions for us, and I’ve chosen two to outline here. If you want to hear the rest of his nearly 20-minute question and answer session, check out the replay!
TD: Was crowdfunding a part of your marketing plan all along? Would you recommend that for other entrepreneurs?
KL: Yeah, absolutely. If you are going to launch new products, definitely use crowdfunding as part of your marketing plan. Your blended return on investment is going to be a lot higher on crowdfunding.
Let’s say you might acquire a customer for $50. If you launch in crowdfunding, your blended customer acquisition costs might be half of that, or even less than that, because you’re getting so much organic sales and traffic. And then for that customer that comes in organically, you can sell your other existing products to them. So there is really no reason not to use crowdfunding if you’re going to launch a new product.
TD: Kevin, how would you sell a $15 item? I’m not having much luck with $1 reservations from a plastic phone holder.
KL: That’s a tough one! Try to bundle them up, if possible. Maybe instead of asking for that dollar reservation funnel, try asking for a secondary opt in once they put in their contact information. If people give you their contact information, you can now manually reach out to them. Speak with them to see the quality of that lead, rather than putting them through a funnel where we’re requiring them to take out their credit cards and give you $1. That’s just another way of validating without driving up your cost of advertising.
Product Positioning Tips
While I really recommend going through the consumer based brand equity pyramid that we reviewed last week, it’s not the only tool out there. This week, I shared a tool that we use here at LaunchBoom during the TestBoom phase to identify the right direction to go with the messaging. The great thing about this exercise is that you can do it with anyone because it’s so easy to pick up and do.
The exercise is broken down into two parts: points of parity, or POPs, and points of difference, or PODs.
This is a great tool for building out your campaign page. It helps you focus on what features you want to highlight, and can help you develop what assets you want to test.
POPs are what makes you similar to your competition. The first step here is to identify who those competitors are. Nobody has a product that’s exactly like yours, but there are some that are similar. Maybe they have a few different features; maybe it’s more basic than what you’re offering. You don’t want to find someone doing exactly what you’re doing, but you want to figure out who’s in a very similar space and list out what features you share.
PODs, on the other hand, are what sets you apart from your competitors. What makes you special? What will draw people to your product instead of something else that’s already on the market?
It’s important to identify both of these things. If you only focus on what makes you special, then you’re not talking about how you’re meeting your consumers’ needs. On the other hand, if you’re just talking about what makes you the same, then people have no reason to purchase your product. A shovel with a handle that won’t ever break still needs to move dirt, but telling people about the special handle will draw more people to it.
Want to hear more specific examples for points of parity and points of difference? Watch the replay!
Crowdfunding Shipping with Easyship
We had Stephen from Easyship on to talk crowdfunding shipping!
Easyship’s crowdfunding team works with campaigners to figure out shipping strategies. They’ve worked to build a system that removes the guesswork and headaches from the shipping process and makes it easier for you to get your product to your backers. They have worldwide shipping solutions, so no matter where you’re sending your products, Easyship can help you get them there.
Easyship has shipped over 10 million packages to 10 million backers! Their partnerships with more than 50 different couriers lets them help you find the best solution for your shipping needs.
If you want to hear Stephen’s amazing insights into crowdfunding shipping, Watch the replay!
Giveaway announcement
We have a huge giveaway for the end of the year! We’ll be giving away a package including a free 30 minute coaching call. To find out how to enter, watch the replay!
That’s it for the first year of LaunchBoom Live. I can’t wait to see everyone next year!
