On the crowdfunding platform, there are a dazzling variety of creative projects, from news, crafts, technology and design, etc., there are many possibilities. The key to whether you can excite everyone lies in your creativity and exposition, and has nothing to do with the product category. John Dimatos, the chief director of the technology and design department of Kickstarter, the world’s most popular crowdfunding platform, said that all projects that attract attention have one thing in common, that is, what someone has done is really special, creative, or quickly resonates with the public.
Here are 7 steps to manage your project smoothly and efficiently.
Step 1–Positioning the market precisely
The first step towards successful crowdfunding is to thoroughly understand modern marketing concepts and recreate marketing messages from different perspectives. One has to know precisely the reason why consumers want to buy your product and the context in which they use the product. After designing a value proposition based on user groups, more effective marketing messages can be formulated.
For example, Vinpok, which successfully raised $3 million in crowdfunding including Indiegogo, is a good case.
Vinpok was founded in 2017, specializing in the production of accessories for Apple computers. The portable touch display Vinpok Split is their fourth crowdfunding product on Indiegogo. Through the service of Indiegogo’s China Project Going Green Channel, Indiegogo and Vinpok have jointly developed 3 target groups: business travelers, designers, and students, and created different value propositions for different personages, which is more conducive to writing marketing messages. In addition, Indiegogo helps Vinpok to elevate the product level, symbolizing positive energy, high efficiency, and productivity philosophy of life and further becoming their brand tone.
When understanding the perspectives of market customers, practical market research and the development of consumer group portraits are extremely important. Don’t just investigate the preferences of relatives and friends to determine the needs of consumers.
Step 2–Choose the target amount, proper lower better than too high
The most common misconception in crowdfunding is that the higher the target amount, the better. In fact, the opposite is true. If the target amount is set too high, and the achievement rate is lower than expected, it will scare away some potentially interested backers.
There are two ways to calculate the ideal target amount:
·Minimum cost decision method
The total amount of crowdfunding = the minimum amount required for the project + the different levels of perks and special price discounts + Indiegogo handling fees + reserve funds used to pay for potential refunds
·Calculation of known amount
Total amount of crowdfunding = the amount that existing supporters, friends, and family members may contribute / 30%
According to Indiegogo statistics, about 30% of the amount of crowdfunding projects that meet the standards comes from existing contacts. When the target amount of 30% is firmly in hand when users visit the page of the crowdfunding project, it is easier to trust and become a supporter of the payment, and they also have a better chance of gaining media and marketing exposure.
Another approach is to raise funds in stages. It is not necessary to raise all the money in one crowdfunding campaign, but to raise in batches and stages to achieve the overall goal.
Step 3–Fully prepared in the early stage before going online
The crowdfunding period usually does not exceed 60 days, so waiting until the project is online before starting the action, it will definitely end in a miserable situation. Before the project goes online, it must be planned and fully prepared in advance. If you are not ready, just take more time to prepare your project.
The index used to judge whether it is ready is the number of email addresses collected. Generally speaking, it is necessary to collect the number of email addresses that can be converted to 30% of the target amount on the first day before it is ready. And each item should be calculated based on the unit price of the product and a conversion rate of 1% to 5% to figure out how many email addresses are required at least. If the collected email address cannot be guaranteed to reach 30% of the target amount, it is better to delay the launch than to force the launch.
Here is another example:
Wunder360 is an artificial intelligence panoramic camera from Shenzhen, China. It introduces movies, anti-shake technology and intelligent tracking functions, allowing users to easily record high-quality videos and post them to social networks. Successfully raised 900,000 US dollars on Indiegogo in September 2018.
Take Wunder360 as an example. After dividing 30% of the target amount by the unit price of the product, they found that they needed 1,420 crowdfunding supporters. Calculated based on the 5% conversion rate of email address purchases, a total of more than 28,000 email addresses will need to be obtained during the warm-up period to ensure that the 30% target amount is successfully achieved.
During this pre-preparation period, be patient and step by step to collect email addresses, find media channels, and send emails one by one. Don’t expect the latest technology or tools to make you reach the standard overnight, the easy to get and the easy to lose, and the solid basic skills can achieve great things.
Step 4–Perks quality are important than quantity
Perks refers to providing price rewards and discounts to attract supporters to place orders faster, which can often effectively win word-of-mouth and increase the favorable impression of backers. According to Indiegogo statistics, projects that know how to use perks have an average of 143% more funds raised than other projects.
There are many kinds of Perks, which can be used in different periods, such as early bird, when the crowdfunding marketing is about to end, to attract more backers to support.
How to use perks to achieve goals? There are four key points:
- Just set up 2-5 perks, with fewer options, it is easier for backers to make quick decisions.
- The perks amount is the overall consideration after considering the cost of raw materials, manufacturing and transportation costs, and market research. Indiegogo’s research shows that the most popular perk is between US$25 and US$99. But for technology products, the most popular one can be as high as US$99 to US$199.
- Provide early bird discounts, allowing the project to be opened as soon as it goes online. Early fund-raising momentum can increase the confidence of backers and increase the number of backers who are potentially interested.
- Secret price discounts can be designed to avoid disgust from backers who buy at different times. This goal can be achieved by delivering links to secret price discounts through email marketing.
Step 5–Visual aesthetics
Videos and pictures are often the deepest impressions left by a crowdfunding project. To give supporters an indispensable reason for support, in addition to products that are close to their needs, they must also be visually pleasing to them.
Most users prefer to be real, have a sense of life, and be able to take photos of the use scene, reflecting how this product solves user pain points, rather than elaborate P-pictures and rendering photos after whitewashing. These life-sense photos allow them to imagine themselves in these scenes, reflecting a way of life, and arousing emotional resonance.
Step 6–Propaganda copy must be written by native English speakers or similar ones
One must not underestimate the understanding barriers brought about by language. If the user does not understand what you want to express, it will not only lose a potential supporter, but also your brand reputation. If the language is not accurate enough, backers are also likely to question the professionalism of the team and the quality of the product.
The copywriting is best to be concise. Don’t just write about how good the product is, but go directly to the core of the product. For example: What benefits can the product bring to users? No need to write too much unnecessary information.
Step 7–Reserve sufficient time for shipment
When crowdfunding, it is easy to be overly optimistic about the delivery time, whether it is to get the product to the supporters as soon as possible, or to increase the backers’ sense of security. However, the delivery time should be conservatively estimated, but also to be able to fulfill the promise with the supporters, and to prepare early. Because backers will buy products, they bring excitement, and look forward to receiving the product as soon as possible. If the delivery schedule is delayed, it is easy to cause disgust from backers, leading to a decline in overall satisfaction.
In order to reduce the risk of delays in shipments, before the end of the crowdfunding, you should decide on a reliable multinational logistics company that can make sure as much as possible the delivery of your products on time and ensure that the products will not be damaged in the process. For example, we ChinaDivision specializes in crowdfunding projects, and we have a complete process for the entire project. So far, we have hundreds of crowdfunding customers, ranging from occult products to modern technology products, from indoor to outdoor.
If there is a delay, it is necessary to maintain frequent communication with backers, make the operation process as open and transparent as possible, and provide immediate feedback to supporters. The return and refund mechanism should also be planned and completed in advance to minimize the dissatisfaction of potential supporters.
Crowdfunding is the same as entrepreneurship, and countless efforts and failures are behind success. As Dan Shapiro, who achieve the highest record for crowdfunding in games on Kickstarter, said, “For every success, there are 100 failures that you can’t see. This is one of the hardest parts of starting a business. Everyone’s success They are all shown enlarged, but everyone’s failures are only known to themselves.”
ChinaDivision is experienced in fulfilling crowdfunding projects and has helped many clients fulfill crowdfunding orders in an amazing way. We hope to help you more and make big success together! Keep you accompany and grow big as you want. Let’s hope it will happen soon, finger cross! Thanks for reading.