It might be surprising, but it’s true: only 1.8% of crowdfunding campaigns make six figures, and less than 0.13% ever make it to seven figures. It can be difficult to raise a lot of money through crowdfunding, but it is possible to take your six-figure campaign to seven figures with the right product and approach. So what is it that separates the highest-flying campaigns from the other 99% out there?
The first answer is simple: you want to work with an amazing team that knows what they’re doing.
Of course, there are steps that you can take on your own to raise your crowdfunding revenue. If you combine a good product with effective implementation of the strategies we outline in this article, raising over $1,000,000 with your campaign is less of an “if” and more of a “when.”
Pre-Campaign Tips
Think about your traffic
Start by thinking about what we call the Four Horsemen of Traffic. Your campaign delivers revenue by getting people interested in your product and then convincing them to purchase it, but how do you get those people to see your campaign in the first place?
1. Your pre-launch email list
One of the best ways to bring traffic to your campaign is to build a community of people interested in it before you launch. Having this email list helps you hit the ground running on day one.
It does more than just drive revenue; a strong email list can set the stage for your whole campaign. Campaigns that break the seven-figure mark all have a strong email list ready to go before they go live.
2. Advertising
Simply put, you need to be willing to spend money on advertising to make your campaign a success. As long as your campaign is live, you should be advertising it to audiences who will be likely to purchase your product.
3. PR
A good PR campaign can put your crowdfunding campaign over the top. People are more likely to purchase something that’s recommended to them by a trusted source or a source that doesn’t seem to be focused on selling that product to them. PR can do a lot for your campaign.
4. Leverage your platform
Whether you launch on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, the platform itself is a great source of feedback and advice. They can give you tips on how to improve your campaign page, and you can ask about how to get featured in their newsletter or by their press and PR connections.
Your crowdfunding platform should be a major generator of traffic for your campaign. Building a relationship with your platform makes them more eager to support your campaign, which will then drive sales.
Check out a more detailed breakdown on the Four Horsemen of Traffic here.
Get creative with your creative
You might think that the slickest, most highly produced, most expensive assets will perform the best, but that’s not always true.
One of the easiest ways we’ve found to boost the click-through rate on ads we’ve run in the past is to simply put a red arrow on an image, pointing at something about the product. People will naturally be curious about it, so they’ll click on it.
We’ve also seen iPhone videos explaining how a product works outperform slickly produced campaign page videos. Don’t assume that everything has to look a certain way to be effective, and be willing to think outside the box. Each asset will perform differently with different audiences, so it’s important to test often so you can make the best decisions about how to advertise.
Test, test, test
We’re constantly testing our creative, audience, and marketing angles to figure out what works best, and we scale from there. You need to run tests to figure out what sort of advertising people are responding to so you can invest your ad spend in the places where it will work the hardest for you. The more you tailor your advertising to your audience, the better returns you’ll get.
Use third-party advertising
At LaunchBoom, we run a website, Facebook page, and Instagram account called Tom’s Finds. This isn’t an advertising space; it’s a channel that talks about noteworthy things that—you guessed it—Tom finds on the internet.
Since it’s not specifically focused on selling things, we can use it to promote the products we’re launching without it seeming like an ad. Getting a product endorsement from a trusted source doesn’t feel like an ad, so people are more likely to click through and find out more about the product.
Mid-Campaign Tips
Refine your page and your assets
You need to make sure that your campaign page is as good as you can make it before you launch, but you’ll learn new things and find out more about your assets as your campaign progresses.
Don’t be afraid to change what’s not working—or even to switch something that is working for something that seems to be working even better. Whether you switch up your copy, your videos, or your images, you should always be testing and improving your campaign assets in order to maximize your revenue.
Use urgency
One of the unique benefits of crowdfunding is that there’s a sense of urgency built into the premise. Since customers only have a certain amount of time to place an order before the campaign ends, they’re more likely to make a purchase than they might be from a traditional eCommerce site.
You can use things like flash sales and secret perks to increase that urgency in the campaign or even the InDemand period, renewing interest and getting people to purchase even after your initial campaign is over.
Advertise on multiple platforms
While Facebook and Instagram make it easy to start advertising, the key to hitting seven figures is to not make that the end of your advertising. If you want to raise the most revenue for your campaign, you’ll need to branch out and advertise on places like YouTube and Google as well.
This can be a daunting prospect since platforms outside of Facebook and Instagram can cost a lot more and be a lot less forgiving. But, wisely expanding your advertising reach will give you the best chance to hit that million-dollar mark.
Raise more with add-ons
An add-on is something extra that customers can choose to purchase along with your product; popular add-ons are accessories, extra units of your product, or merch with your product or company branding.
When we worked with AIT, a standing desk that became the most-funded crowdfunding campaign in Hungary, we offered add-ons like an aromatherapy diffuser, wireless charging options, and other office accessories. Selling relevant add-ons can give you up to a 50% bump in revenue.
Communicate with your backers
The #1 thing that kills campaigns is bad communication. Make sure that you respond to comments, post frequent backer updates, and make your company available through Facebook or other live events. Amazing communication can be the difference between making more than you dreamed of or crashing and burning completely.
And remember: it’s incredibly rare for your first campaign to make seven figures. But, if you create an excellent customer experience the first time you crowdfund, your chances of making even more with your next campaign will grow.
Focus on ROI, not ROAS
Your return on investment (ROI) reflects how much your campaign is growing per dollar spent, while your return on ad spend (ROAS) is a number that shows how much each dollar you spend on advertising directly raises for your campaign.
You need to think about your business beyond your campaign; you’re launching a new product and you want to reach the seven-figure mark, but it’s important to think about the long term more than the results of one crowdfunding campaign. Focus more on breaking even with your ad spend than on being extremely profitable, and don’t be afraid to spend heavily on advertising to bring in more backers.
Post-Campaign Tips
Use Indiegogo InDemand
One important strategy to implement is making sure you’re ready to move to Indiegogo InDemand after your campaign ends. You can do this no matter which platform your original campaign ran on. (To learn more about InDemand, read our article here.)
As we said above, less than 0.08% of campaigns break the million-dollar mark, but only a slight percentage of those campaigns do it in their initial crowdfunding phase. InDemand is key for sustained success.
Use remarketing strategies in your advertising
This is one of the biggest tools that we use here at LaunchBoom and is especially effective with InDemand. Remarketing means targeting ads at people who have already visited your campaign page but left without purchasing.
It often takes multiple ads for the same product before people are ready to make a purchase, so remarketing to them with ads that offer a secret perk or special pricing after they leave something in their cart can get them to return to your page and complete the checkout process. Give them an incentive to return and make the purchase!
Though a seven-figure campaign is a lofty goal, you should never think of it as unreachable. As long as your product is good, your advertising strategies are sound, and you’re willing to invest to get the outcomes you want, you can take your six-figure campaign to seven figures.
We’d love to talk to you about your product and the best strategies for increasing your revenue, so set up a meeting with us today!
