Thanksgiving is in a few days, and you know what that means: Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales will soon be flooding your inbox (if they aren’t already). This is a prime time for retail sales, but you can take advantage of it while crowdfunding, too!
Advertising during the holidays
Advertising during the holiday season is far more expensive than other times of the year. When a lot of people are trying to advertise at the same time, the price of that real estate goes up. In times like these, it’s important to focus on other ways to get in front of your audience.
Think about getting influencers to talk about your product or doing organic social media posts. Both of these will be far less expensive than running ads, and you will probably end up reaching a different audience. That’s always a good thing!
Use your email list
Use the email list you already have to put secret perks and flash sale deals in front of your community. Spend your time and energy getting the people who already know who you are to purchase instead of trying to get more people to know who you are!
Secret perks are unique to Indiegogo, so if you’re on Kickstarter, skip this part. Secret perks are perks that only work if you have a special link. It can be a more deeply discounted unit, a bundle with an add-on, or a limited edition variant. You can then send that link to your email list, telling them that they can get this secret perk for a limited time because they’re on your list. People love getting access to things that not everyone else can get, and the idea of getting a better deal than people without the secret perk link can lead to higher conversions. What’s more, it creates a sense of urgency for your buyer, because they’re only able to make the purchase while they’re using that link. If they navigate to your page later, the deal won’t be available anymore. It all leads back to more conversions!
A flash sale is a marketing strategy that’s actually comprised of two sales, run back-to-back. Here’s how it works:
Day 1 Flash Sale
Email 1 — 8AM PST: announce the flash sale
Email 2—5PM PST: remind them that the flash sale is closing
Day 2 Flash Sale
Email 3—8AM PST: announce the second flash sale for only $1 more
Email 4 — 5PM PST: remind them that the second flash sale is closing
The difference between the two sales? $1.
We’ve used this strategy with a lot of our InDemand campaigns, and we’ve had a lot of success. We actually tend to see higher sales on the second day, when the price is slightly higher! You can read more about why here.
Expect a drop in sales
Keep in mind that most people doing their shopping on Black Friday and Cyber Monday are shopping for holiday gifts. This means that they’re less likely to back a crowdfunding campaign, since purchasing this late in the year means it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to wrap something up for a loved one to open for the holidays.
On the other hand, if you have something that you can deliver by Christmas, you could use that to your advantage. Putting a “delivery by Christmas” guarantee on your project and advertising that to your email list could bring in more people who would be excited to give the newest, coolest things as gifts. Don’t just say that to get backers, though—you’ll lose your entire community if you lie about being able to deliver on that promise.
Another option is providing some sort of deliverable for people to give as a placeholder gift. Think about things like a certificate that can be printed with an image and explanation of what the person will get when your product ships, or a small add-on that can be mailed now with the promise of what the rest of the gift will be when it’s ready. Giving people ways to turn your product into a holiday gift will make them more likely to back your campaign now.
Conclusion
Crowdfunding during the holiday season can be a challenge, but there are ways to leverage this time of year to save on advertising and raise more funds. If you use alternate ways of getting your product in front of people and then give them reasons to purchase now, you can watch the sales roll in.
Have questions about crowdfunding during certain times of the year? Want to know more about leveraging flash sales and secret perks to raise more funds? Book a call with us today!
