Joshua Tree Bubble Hotel — Indiegogo Case Study by LaunchBoom

Raised – $832,423

Backers – 1,718

Funded – 976%

Imagine sleeping in a bubble under the desert stars, surrounded by the stunning natural beauty of Joshua Tree National Park.

The Bubble Hotel is designed to provide an immersive experience that allows you to connect with nature in a new and exciting way.

The transparent bubbles offer unobstructed night sky views, allowing you to stargaze from the comfort of your bed. The hotel’s location next to Joshua Tree National Park also provides easy access to hiking trails, rock climbing, and other outdoor activities.

This desert oasis is a mere 2 to 3 hours away from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, making it the perfect weekend getaway for adventure seekers and nature lovers alike.

Bubble Hotels is committed to creating unforgettable experiences and also preserving the natural beauty of Joshua Tree.

About the Founders 

Nathan Resnick, a seasoned entrepreneur from San Diego, is the visionary behind Bubble Hotels.

Although Bubble Hotels diverges from his previous endeavours, Resnick’s deep-rooted passion for the outdoors played a pivotal role in the emergence of the concept of bubble-based glamping.

“About three years ago, I realized that it was hard to find a good campsite,” Resnick said. “The idea for bubbles came naturally as a way to stargaze on a bed.”

Nathan Resnick has been an entrepreneur since he was 15. And throughout his career, he has developed various products, like the Coolest Coffee Table – which raised $212,818 on Kickstarter and Indiegogo (with the help of LaunchBoom). He is also the founder and CEO of Sourcify, the fastest growing sourcing platform backed by YCombinator.

The Challenges the Project Has Faced

In terms of competition, the Joshua Tree area boasts various glamping and unique accommodation options — from yurts to airstreams to private luxury homes.

However, the Bubble Hotel has a distinctive concept that sets it apart.

One is the bubble dome concept that lets you sleep under the stars in luxury comfort.

Two is its proximity to nature, coupled with the hotel’s prime location just 5 minutes away from Joshua Tree National Park. This positions Bubble Hotels as an ideal destination for nature photography enthusiasts and stargazers, drawing significant visitors to the campaign.

Similar Campaigns in the Space

The Mirror Hotel in North Carolina is a similar campaign to Bubble Hotel. It offers unique accommodations by blending its mirror-clad cabins into the natural landscape to create an immersive experience.

The Mirror Hotel campaign recently became the most funded hotel campaign on Indiegogo. With the help of LaunchBoom, it has raised $1,716,790 from 1,365 backers.

Joanna Cahill, founder of Mirror Hotel, shared that privacy was a key focus during their development. Understanding the desires of their guests, Mirror Hotel aimed to deliver all the elements people love about glamping while eliminating any undesirable aspects.

While Bubble Hotels aspires to create its unique niche in the industry, Mirror Hotel is a similar campaign that has successfully captured the attention and admiration of travellers seeking a distinctive and privacy-focused glamping getaway.

LaunchBoom Process: How We Raised $832,423 for Bubble Hotels

To raise $832,423 and reach the funding goal in 15 minutes requires tried and tested methods. How did we do it at LaunchBoom? What’s the process?

We break down our process into three parts:

• TestBoom
• Launch – Having a Launch Boom
• Post Campaign

This is the testing and preparation stage. At LaunchBoom, we call this approach TestBoom. Before crowdfunding, it’s important to know if there is demand for your product.

During this phase, we commit a smaller budget to market testing and product positioning, which helps identify potential audiences and their responses to the product.

Remember, the whole process of crowdfunding requires resources. And if you go head-on without knowing your chances of success, you can easily incur significant losses.

Many things go into this phase:

• Product positioning
• Value positioning
• Building community
• Engaging community

Believe it or not, the primary reason behind the lack of success in crowdfunding is often poor product positioning.

Product positioning involves effectively communicating the value of your product to your target audience. This entails two essential aspects: identifying the target audience, individuals online who experience the problem your product aims to solve, and articulating how your product effectively addresses their needs.

Since your product is new, developing exceptional product positioning demands time and careful consideration. While you may already have initial ideas about communicating value and identifying your target audience, you should recognize that these ideas are mere hypotheses.

During the development of your product positioning, maintain an open mindset. Test different approaches and allow the market to guide you.

Bubble Hotels Product Positioning 

In the Bubble Hotels campaign, to formulate initial hypotheses for product positioning, we explored various angles to test in the market:

• Sleep under the Stars in Comfort: Get an unobstructed view of the stars in the comfort of a luxury hotel
  
• The First Ever Bubble Hotel in the US:  Focus on the uniqueness of staying at a bubble dome, it’s not a hotel, camping, or glamping but the best of them all combined.

• The Ultimate Weekend Escape in Joshua Tree: The best way to stay at Joshua Tree because of its proximity to the park, easy access to food, and the unique nature of the domes.

• Immersive Nature Experience: Position Bubble Hotels as a gateway to experiencing nature and the wonder of the desert wilderness like never before

To develop product positioning, we adopted a framework known as the Consumer Based Brand Equity Pyramid.

The next step was building the Reservation Funnel.

We use a reservation funnel to build a highly qualified pre-launch email list. 

This email list enables us to secure funding for our clients within the first 24 hours.

Like the word says, “funnel,” the reservation funnel consists of a series of steps that guide visitors through the process of expressing their interest in your product and providing their email addresses for updates and exclusive offers. 

“The ultimate goal of the reservation is to get the user to put down a $1 deposit to reserve the product before you launch.”

What we did was we paid for Facebook and Instagram ads. We then sent the traffic to a landing page and down the reservation funnel.

We spent almost $2300 for ads. We then got 4,496 leads for the Bubble Hotels and 301 reservations. Our past data showed that these 301 backers were 30x more likely to convert to buyers.

After we got these numbers, we used our predictive model to determine if this idea had demand. We found that it would do extremely well at the crowdfunding level.

Expert Tip: We utilized Facebook advertising to drive targeted traffic to the Reservation Funnel. Facebook’s extensive reach and targeting options make it an ideal platform for reaching potential backers.

Email Marketing and Launch Announcement

After building the Reservation Funnel and community, we leveraged email marketing to engage the audience and prepare for the crowdfunding campaign’s launch.

Email marketing is a powerful tool for engaging the audience and informing them about the campaign.

It allowed us to establish a direct line of communication with the backers.

The last stage in the TestBoom phase was to craft the launch announcement. We made sure to:

• Share the exact date and time of the campaign launch
• Highlight the exclusive benefits of being on the email list
• Reinforce the key value propositions of the Bubble Hotels project

Expert Tip: Consider segmenting your email list based on user preferences or engagement levels when launching a campaign.

Pre-Launch Stage 

Following the TestBoom phase, we transition into the critical pre-launch stage. 

In this stage, we scale up our efforts and prime the audience for the debut of the crowdfunding campaign. We do this by ramping up our Facebook advertising to build a larger reservation list.

We double down on our winning ads and increase the ad budget to amplify our reach (and get more reservations).

For instance, with Bubble Hotels, we spent $2,227,74 on TestBoom ads, then scaled our winners during pre-launch to a total of $26,883.50 spent on ads. 

Our total pre-launch numbers were:

• Ad Spend: $26,883.50

• Leads: 32,125

• Cost per Lead: $0.84

• Reservations: 4,191

• Cost per Reservation: $6.41 

The cost per reservation was especially exciting! A one-night stay (the lowest perk tier) was $299, so getting the reservation price down so low meant that we knew we’d have a great ROAS.

Additionally, during the pre-launch phase, we also emphasize nurturing our community. 

We foster this engagement through platforms like our VIP Facebook group. For example, for the Bubble Hotels campaign, we had a VIP Facebook group where everyone who put down the $1 reservation could interact with the Bubble Hotels team and fellow VIP members.

This group serves as an excellent platform for establishing an engaged and connected community, which plays a pivotal role in the subsequent success of our product launch.

Launch

The third phase was the launch phase. After all the preparations — backed by data — we were sure the Bubble Hotels campaign would succeed.

This is where all the meticulous groundwork came to fruition.

For the Bubble Hotels campaign, we got fully funded in just 15 minutes and raised $258,238 in the first 24 hours! — what we call “having a LAUNCHBOOM.”

NOTE: We always aim to get funded in the first 24 hours for any campaign we put our hands on.

The Launch phase is characterized by a high-energy, impactful campaign that’s designed to capture attention and drive demand.

This isn’t a soft launch or a quiet roll-out. It’s an explosive LAUNCH, leveraging all the anticipation and buzz we’ve nurtured in the pre-launch phase.

The goal of the Launch phase is to generate initial funds and establish a strong foundation for the product’s lifecycle. It’s about creating momentum that will carry the campaign forward for the long term.

There are a few things that we do during this phase:

Emailing the Community

To maximize conversions, we implemented an aggressive email strategy, particularly focusing on the first and final weeks of the campaign.

We highlighted the benefits of being on our email list and offered limited-time discounts to motivate subscribers to become early backers.

Scale Phase

After a successful launch day, the Bubble Hotels crowdfunding campaign raised another $45,230 on Day 2 – leading to $303,468 raised in 48 hours. However, the journey doesn’t end with blowing past the campaign’s goal.

We shifted focus to post-launch strategies that would continue to drive success and engagement.

This is the stage where we took the Bubble Hotels campaign to a record total raise of $830,381.

The emphasis during this phase is the use of dynamic Facebook advertising to drive the campaign forward.

We use three distinct phases in our Facebook advertising strategy:

• Phase I advertising –  Initially, we deploy targeted remarketing to re-engage leads from the pre-launch phase that didn’t convert. This approach leverages familiarity with the Bubble Hotels brand and the offer, resulting in high ROI at the outset of the Scale phase.
• Phase II advertising – Next, we utilize the best-performing audiences from the pre-launch phase to draw in new prospects. This extends our reach and brings fresh potential backers into the mix.
• Phase III advertising – As the campaign draws closer to its conclusion, we adjust the messaging of our ads to create a sense of urgency. This approach harnesses the power of scarcity and deadline pressure to boost conversions in the final stretch.

So, how did we handle this scale phase? The quick funding (the Launch Boom) gave the Bubble Hotels campaign credibility. We, therefore, confidently scaled our Facebook Ad spend. We knew the ROI would be high.

The total expenditure on Facebook and Instagram advertising amounted to $89,885.44. This investment generated a direct purchase value of $365,167, translating to a Direct Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) of 4.06 times.

In addition to Facebook advertising, we use a variety of other strategies to maximize revenue during the Scale phase. 

We ran direct ads direct to the Indiegogo campaign to maintain momentum and augment fundraising totals. We also explored opportunities for Indiegogo promotions, PR initiatives, paid newsletters, and influencer marketing.

Indiegogo Promotions

Indiegogo offers various promotional opportunities to campaigns that have successfully reached their funding goals.

These promotions help to:

• Maintain momentum
• Attract new backers
• Generate additional funds even after the campaign has ended.

We took full advantage of these opportunities, utilizing Indiegogo’s email newsletters, homepage features, and social media spotlights to keep the campaign in the spotlight.

This raised an additional $54,856.

Post Campaign

This phase starts after the completion of the initial campaign.

The post-campaign phase includes steps such as:

• Transitioning to Indiegogo InDemand
• Managing pledges
• Overseeing manufacturing and fulfillment

Indiegogo InDemand

Indiegogo InDemand allows campaigns to accept pre-orders and contributions even after the initial crowdfunding campaign has ended.

It provides a seamless transition from the campaign to a post-campaign sales platform, allowing backers to continue supporting the project and enabling latecomers to get involved.

We seamlessly transitioned Bubble Hotels to Indiegogo InDemand, ensuring interested individuals could still contribute and secure reservations.

We were able to raise another $142,269 through InDemand.

What the Client Had to Say

The launch of the Bubble Hotels crowdfunding campaign was an extraordinary success. It surpassed all expectations and achieved remarkable milestones from day one.

Resnick, the creator of Bubble Hotels, said, “We thought the campaign might do $250,000 (total). We thought that was a pretty aggressive goal. We did $250,000 in bookings on the first day.

It was way more than we expected. We were almost in shock.”

With the help of LaunchBoom, the campaign raised $832,423.

LaunchBoom’s Success with Crowdfunding Hotels

This was not just a one-time success.

At LaunchBoom, we continue to have success with many campaigns that we undertake—either on Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

In January 2023, after a successful campaign for Oculis Lodge, LaunchBoom CEO Mark Pecota said, “This is actually the 3rd hotel my team has helped launch through Indiegogo.

Our first launch was Bubble Hotels back in 2020. After that success, I honestly wasn’t sure if it was just a fad. Now, 2 years later, Oculis Lodge looks like it will pre-sell even more stays than Bubble Hotels.”

Is It Hard to Raise Money With Crowdfunding?

While the competition is fierce and not every campaign achieves its funding goal, many campaigns have achieved remarkable success and exceeded their funding targets.

That’s why we created LaunchBoom — to guide creators through the intricate and sometimes overwhelming process of crowdfunding.

Conclusion

Despite the competition they had in the space, the Bubble Hotels campaign remains an impressive example of a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Its success demonstrates the power of the reservation funnel and a strong crowdfunding strategy in achieving remarkable outcomes.

Working with LaunchBoom proved to be a masterstroke. By partnering with LaunchBoom, the Bubble Hotels team was able to tap into the expertise, strategy, and guidance of a leading crowdfunding agency.

You don’t have to take on the challenges of crowdfunding on your own. Our proven strategies and experience will propel your campaign to new heights. Get in touch with our experts today.

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• Oculis Lodge: Special Lodging Experience In Nature
• Mirror Hotels: A Perfect Blend of Nature & Luxury 

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