How do you get people to invest in your crowdfunding campaign? Of course you need a great product, an innovative pitch, and lots of enthusiasm. But you also can’t go wrong if you put a little thought into the rewards you give your supporters.
Some of the Kickstarter campaigns have a lot of fun with the first tier of rewards. It could be as simple as a virtual high-five or a photograph of the team and a hand-written thank you note. A little bit of appreciation goes a long way, even for small donors. You never know what support you’re garnering by keeping everyone engaged. As you send out updates about your campaign, these donors may choose to give more money (and reap more rewards).
Personal touches
As the level of funding increases, get creative. Instead of distributing copies of your newest album or shipping crates of T-shirts and tote bags, think about something more unique. The more creative the rewards, the more likely that donors will aim higher on the rewards ladder. And if you keep them engaged between the time the campaign ends and the product delivery date, they may stay loyal customers for life. You never know.
Woodies Clothing founder Jacob Wood, a WeWork Soho West member, ensures that his backers can own at least one custom-made shirt for donations under $100. But the perks get pretty great at higher levels. Those who give $590 or more get 10 premium Woodies shirts—and a shirt named after them.
“Kickstarter is an incredible community where you can connect with everyone personally and get early adopters,” says Wood. “If you’re a brand that’s all about being super cool, VIP, and only for a certain swath of people, good luck. If you’re more about engaging customers and being personable with the rewards, Kickstarter is fantastic.”
Another WeWork Soho West member, Julie Sygiel, CEO of a high-performance lingerie line Dear Kate, says the most important thing to do when you’ve hit your initial goal is to stretch it and add new rewards so that people can increase their level of involvement.
“The bulk of your funding is from people who made the initial pledges,” Sygiel says. “And there’s a lot of potential for those people to add things on. For us, we added the sporty bracelet and allowed people to vote on the design.”
Desirable rewards
When setting up reward levels on Kickstarter, putting a cap on each reward level creates a sense of urgency for early adopters to act fast and donate. But what constitutes a desirable reward?
Besides the obvious of offering the actual product that you’ve promised to deliver to your backers in high volumes and a wild array of colors, you might want to explore a new category of rewards for your most loyal backers who deserve something special.
You can even ask your constituents what kinds of rewards they would want. For some, they may want exclusive backstage passes to a band that you’re touring with. Or they may want to take a trip to a warm tropical island and take yoga classes on the beach.
Whatever the case may be, it’s important to add desirable perks that go beyond the standard list of rewards. As you set up higher tiers of rewards to help backers feel more involved in the fundraising process, it’s going to help get your team to the next level.
“When we got to our initial goal, Kickstarter suggested we look at the backers more than the dollars raised,” says WeWork South Union Lake member Mike Baiocchi, co-founder of the oneOeight yoga company. “We had to figure out how to get backers to be more involved. So we decided to add experiential rewards, including a Skype coaching session, access to exclusive videos, and a yoga retreat in the Caribbean.”
Photo credit: Lauren Kallen