Reaching your crowdfunding goal is a huge deal! Only 34% of projects launched on Kickstarter actually get fully funded, so if you’ve hit that mark, give yourself a huge pat on the back. However, your work isn’t over just because your campaign is. So what comes next? Don’t worry—we’re here with a great list of dos and don’ts for your post-campaign life!
The Dos
Celebrate!
You just did something a lot of people can’t do, so take a minute to enjoy yourself! Getting funded is a huge achievement, whether you had a modest goal or a really ambitious one. Share the exciting news with the community you’ve built and thank them for their support. After all, you wouldn’t be where you are without them, so let them share in the celebration!
Use a pledge manager
A pledge manager is a tool that comes into play once your campaign ends. It allows backers to add items to their pledges, personalize their items, and manage their shipping address. Pledge managers save campaign teams a lot of time and energy. They place the responsibility with the backer to make sure things are up to date while keeping an accurate record of all the data collected. The more backers you have, the more essential a pledge manager becomes, but ever smaller campaigns can benefit from using a pledge manager.
Keep your earned momentum going
Over the life of your campaign, you can expect to see a spike in traffic in two places: at the very beginning and at the very end. You need to have a plan in place to take advantage of that end-of-campaign momentum; if you don’t, you’re wasting potential traffic and potential backers. Using tools to keep the lights on and maintain that momentum means you can continue to convert people into customers even after your crowdfunding campaign ends. Something like Indiegogo InDemand, BackerKit’s preorder store, or your own ecommerce site needs to be in place the second your crowdfunding phase is over. You need a way to keep taking orders, because the world doesn’t stop paying attention just because your campaign has ended.
Get support from experts
Expert support can mean the difference between you launching one product and you launching an entire business. Whether you’re looking for help with shipping, manufacturing, or transitioning to ecommerce, there’s expert help available for your specific needs. Experts can help you with whatever you need as a creator, but they can also make your backers’ experience even better, which means they’re more likely to become repeat customers. You’re not just selling a product; you’re also building a brand and a reputation. Look to the big picture and invest in some expert help to make your long-term goals a reality.
Send a clear and concise survey
So much of your post-campaign success depends on the survey you send to your backers once the crowdfunding phase is over. This isn’t just a thank-you note or an update about what’s next; this is a tool that lets you collect necessary information from your backers to complete the fulfillment of their preorder. You want to give your backers the best experience possible so they develop trust in you, and having a clean, accurate survey will lead to a better experience with fewer mistakes or returns.
Use Indiegogo InDemand
Indiegogo InDemand is an incredibly powerful tool that lets you continue accepting preorders even after your campaign ends. It lets you keep the lights on and take advantage of that earned momentum we talked about earlier, and using it can let you double, triple, or even quadruple the amount of money you raised in your initial campaign. For more information about why InDemand is a must, read our article here.
Be transparent
You can’t anticipate everything that’s going to happen in the post-campaign period, but one thing is for certain no matter what you’re selling or how much you raised: you need to be transparent with your backers about what’s going on. You should be sharing your progress as you work your way through the development and manufacturing processes, but make sure you’re not just sharing the good things. Be honest about any delays, manufacturing hiccups, or other problems that you encounter. Be honest with your backers throughout the entire process.
Upsell add-on items
Add-ons are additional items that can be sold as accessories or additional merchandise during the post-campaign process. It’s an easy way to make more money off of existing customers; 1 in 3 backers will purchase some form of add-on item during the checkout process, and you can raise an additional 15-25% overall. In fact, some campaigns find that their profits are found more in their add-on items than in their original product.
Keep advertising
If you’ve taken our advice and found a way to keep a preorder store open after your campaign ends, then this should be a no-brainer. Keep your advertising running so you can continue to drive new backers to your project!
Prepare for ecommerce
You don’t have to transition to ecommerce directly after your campaign ends (and, in fact, we advise against doing this), but you do need to have a plan. How long do you want to stay on a platform like InDemand, and when will it be time to make the jump to your own site? Having an ecommerce plan in place will help you to make that transition, whenever it is that you choose to do so.
The Don’ts
Don’t create a bad backer experience
It’s easy to let things drop off a cliff after the campaign itself is over, but your backers won’t think highly of you if you do. They keep an eye on you during the campaign, tracking your progress and cheering when you hit milestones. It’s important to keep them engaged after the campaign is over as well. Sending a weekly or even a monthly update on the project’s status as it moves through development and manufacturing and shipping will keep your backers happy, and remember: happy backers mean happy creators.
Don’t hide
Make sure that you keep your public face active. You’ll be busy with the production process, but you need to make sure people are still hearing about it. You could have the best product in the world, but if you don’t keep letting people know about it, you’ll lose your audience and have to start over. Make sure you keep letting people know that you’re out there.
Don’t cease backer communication
Keeping your backers updated and informed is critical. You need to make sure you check in and give progress updates as you have them. Talk about the high points, but also talk about downfalls. If it affects your campaign, then your backers should know about it—even if it’s that you’re expecting a new baby and will be taking some time off with your family. The more you nurture your backers, the more they’ll be willing to support you in the future, whether it’s ordering more units of your original product or backing your next campaign. Going dark on them just isn’t an option.
The post-campaign period is a time to make sure you keep the lights on so you can raise even more funds, so make sure you follow these dos and don’ts. It’s easy to get caught up in the campaign period of a crowdfunding project, but thinking about the big picture before you launch will make the whole process run more smoothly for you and your backers. Doing everything you can to ensure that your backers have an amazing experience will convert them into long-term customers, which will help you grow as a reputable business with a happy customer base. Remember, even though the campaign might feel like the most exciting part of the process, your project isn’t done until your backers have the product in their hands.
Not sure about how best to run your campaign or how to manage all these post-campaign dos and don’ts? We’d love to talk to you about your unique needs!
