Kickstarter Lesson #18: Project Updates

Once you’ve launched your Kickstarter project, you can post updates to all backers (unless they unsubscribe), and those updates will be delivered directly to their e-mail inboxes. Thus it’s a great way to communicate with your backers during and after the project.

I have four simple guidelines I would recommend when making choices about timing and content for project updates:

1. Don’t be annoying.
2. No news is worse than bad news.
3. Content should be relevant, insightful, important, and/or urgent.
4. Show your passion for the project.

Most of those are self-explanatory, but I’m going to delve deeper into #2. This is a lesson I learned the hard way about 10 years ago when I accepted a freelance writing gig to ghost-write a book for someone. The client asked for the first few chapters by a certain date, but I was struggling to find my rhythm, and the deadline came and went. I figured (incorrectly) that the client only wanted to hear from me if I had the chapters ready, so although I continued to write, I didn’t relay the message to the client. I think I knew deep-down that I should communicate the bad news to the client, but I was embarrassed by my struggles with the client. Finally the client reached out to me and asked what was happening…if the client has to reach out to you, you know it’s too late.

Although the client moved on, he imparted to me the advice that no news is worse than bad news. That advice applies to pretty much everything in life, and it’s particularly applicable to Kickstarter projects. You have to communicate in clear and transparent ways with your backers before and during the project. They should not have to come to you to ask if the project is on schedule. That information should be expressed in your project updates, even if you’re running behind.

Another way to look at it is this: You have the opportunity to give Kickstarter backers a behind-the-scene look into how your project becomes a reality. A sneak peek behind the curtain. They understand that you’re learning about the manufacturing and distribution process, but many of them want to learn about those processes as well. It’s like the scene in Iron Man where he’s learning how to fly in his suit for the first time. Favreau could have cut that scene and jumped to Tony Stark flying around like a pro. But he didn’t. He included the audience in Stark’s learning process, and we’re more engaged in the movie as a result.

So be transparent with backers. Share the good news, but also share the bad news and what you’re learning from it.

How often should you post updates?

This falls into the “don’t be annoying” category. You probably won’t lose backers if you post updates too often, but you will lose subscribers. And when you lose a subscriber, you’re not getting them back. Thus I would suggest the following, keeping in mind that you should only update if you have something relevant, insightful, important, or urgent to share with your backers:

• During the project: post at the end of Launch Day, once or twice a week after that, every time you hit a stretch goal (consolidate if you hit multiple stretch goals the same day), and up to once a day during the final week (that can be a lot, but that’s typically a time when you have a lot of stuff to share about stretch goals and things you’re doing to reach or exceed your goal)
• After the project: post at the end of the final day or the following morning, then once a week after that for a few weeks, then once a month until you deliver, then a few times a year after that

Other tips:

• As noted in Lesson #2, back other Kickstarter projects well before your project begins so you can learn firsthand what makes a good (or bad) project update.
• Use at least one image or video in each update, just to add a little color. You may not mind reading a long update, but some people are more visual.
• Public vs. Private: Keep in mind that non-backers might read your updates as they decide to back your project, so make the majority of your posts public. Every once in a while you might need a private post to share an exclusive with your backers, but those should be very rare.
• Put all relevant content on the update that you possibly can, but feel free to link to ancillary material like designer diaries and polls on your blog. I also found it helpful to remind people on updates that they can get smaller doses of information by Liking our Facebook page.
• It’s okay to mention other projects that you’re backing or launching in your updates, but keep in mind that that’s not why people subscribe to your updates. Thus they should be small mentions at the end of your update.

Kickstarter Lesson #16: Launch Day

Before we talk about launch day, two quick reminders from previous projects:

• You can (and should) submit your project for Kickstarter approval as soon as it’s decent looking. After Kickstarter approves it, you can still make changes, and you choose whenever you want to actually click the launch button.
• Launch your project mid-morning. See other guidelines about timing here.

Now it’s finally time to launch! Here’s what you need to know:

Take the day off work

• As we discussed yesterday, you’re going to need to update your FAQ right away. You probably can’t do that at work.
• Your project is going to be on Kickstarter’s “recently launched” page, so as long as it’s decent looking and reasonably priced, you’re going to get a few backers right away and throughout the day. It will feel like magic (but don’t get spoiled by this–the rest of the magic takes a lot of hard work). You’re going to want to be there at your computer, thanking those backers individually and asking them if they have any questions (which could help augment your FAQ). You’re not going to be able to focus on your day job.
• This is not a normal day. You just put your passion project out there for the world to see. You need to spend that day fretting that you won’t ever achieve your dream.

Reddit

I honestly don’t know much about Reddit. From an outsider’s perspective, it seems like the world’s largest forum. It’s the 126th-most visited website in the universe, so it’s worth getting your project on that…and it’s easy to do so! It’s apparently frowned upon if you post your own project, so have one friend post the project under Reddit’s Kickstarter page and another friend post it on the board games page (if it’s a board game project). Then keep an eye on it so you can reply civilly to everyone who has something to say about your project. Do not under any circumstances get defensive.

Social Media

• Don’t spam people on social media on day one of your project. Day 1 is going to be good. Day 15 will be less good. That’s not an excuse to spam on day 15 (0r ever), but it’s moreso a reminder to use Facebook and Twitter sparingly and effectively.
• If you have a Facebook page for your project, this would be a good day to make a sponsored post so that it appears in the feeds of everyone who has Liked your page.
• If you blog, announce your project to the world on your blog.

Personal E-mails

There are people you want to tell about your Kickstarter project. Friends, family, colleagues, maybe people in the industry of your project. If this is your first project, don’t mass e-mail them.

This is one of my top Kickstarter principles. No mass e-mails. The only exception to this rule is if people have already opted in to some sort of mass e-mail list (that’s why I specified “first project” on the rule above–after your first Kickstarter project, you can ask people to opt into an e-newsletter list).

Why no mass e-mails?

• It’s so quick and easy, right? Quick and easy they are, but those are the exact reasons why you don’t want to mass e-mail. Nothing great is built on quick and easy.
• Most importantly, mass e-mails are never as effective as individual e-mails in getting people to do what you want. In this case, you want people to click through to your Kickstarter project. Depending on the quality and focus of your individual e-mails, I think you could achieve a 50-70% click-through rate. Compare that to 2-10% for a mass e-mail. No one is special on a mass e-mail–you want everyone to feel special that you took the time to e-mail them.
• Kickstarter is all about engaging and connecting with people, whether you know them or if they’re complete strangers. E-mail blasts are the opposite of engaging and connecting–it’s one-way communication. Start off on the right foot by engaging the people who are important to you.
• Kickstarter is for passion projects and lifelong dreams, right? If you’ve spent X years of your life dreaming about the day that you can finally do Y, can you really not take the extra hour to e-mail people individually to express that passion and that dream? Your project is better than that.

How to write your personal e-mails:

• Write an e-mail template and customize it for each person. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time.
• As with anything marketing or Kickstarter related, your job here is to offer people something of value. Personal e-mails inherently do this, because you’re offering someone personal attention.
• Ask them a question. Show them that this isn’t all about you.
• Don’t ask them to back the project. Merely ask them to check out the project. If you ask them to back it, you’re putting up a barrier to entry right away. There’s literally no barrier to entry for someone to click on a link. Remember, the goal is to get them to look at your project. That’s it.
• Tell the person why you thought to contact them. Basically, connect the project to them somehow by the way you frame it. Say you have a project for a new gardening tool made out of local, sustainable materials. For the people in your life who love gardening, tell them that’s why you thought to write them. For those who live locally or love the concept of local support, pitch that to them. Or maybe they love crowdfunding. Cater to the things that are important to that individual.
• Keep it short and sweet, and explain what Kickstarter is in the post-script (unless you’re positive the other person already knows what Kickstarter is). Here’s my version:

PS. Just in case you’re not familiar with crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, crowdfunding is when you pool contributions from various people to support a project in exchange for various rewards. Kickstarter is the most widely used crowdfunding website—on Kickstarter, if the funding goal isn’t reached within a certain timeframe, no one is charged a cent, and no rewards are distributed.

End of Day

We’ll talk about project updates on a future post, but I think the end of Launch Day is a milestone worth celebrating. Send out a grateful update, sign off for the night, and try to get some sleep before starting all over again tomorrow.

Kickstarter Lesson #15: Finishing Touches: FAQ and Preview

There’s a little quirk on Kickstarter that you won’t realize until you launch a project: You can’t write the FAQ in advance.

I understand the point of this–how do you know which questions are frequently asked if you haven’t yet launched a project on which people can ask questions? But you don’t need people to ask you questions to figure out what some of your FAQs are going to be. You can anticipate most of them.

Also, the FAQ is a great place to include information that some people–but not most people–are curious about. Thus it helps you keep your project page as short, sweet, and focused as possible.

The point of all this is that you should pre-write as much of your FAQ as possible in preparation of posting those questions and answers as soon as you launch your project. You might have to scramble to post them for a few minutes, but you definitely want them up as soon as possible.

***

So now you’re here. You’ve worked on every aspect and detail of your project page. Kickstarter approved it a long time ago as I recommended in one of the first Kickstarter lessons. You’re finally ready to launch…but there’s one more thing.

Send out your private preview link to 5-10 tech- and web-savvy friends. Give them a few days to reply. I guarantee they will catch things you missed or that you thought were obvious. You want these people to catch your mistakes, not the first few people to visit your project after it goes live.

Also, send it to me. I’m happy to look over it.

It’ll take a few days to compile feedback and make revisions, but then you’re finally ready to launch. Double check the Kickstarter Lesson on timing, and then a the right moment, press the Launch button that has been enticing you for the last few months. It’s go time.

Up next: Kickstarter Lesson #16: Launch Day.

Kickstarter Lesson #14: The Value of Add-Ons

Midway through my Viticulture Kickstarter campaign, a backer e-mailed me and asked why I didn’t have any add-ons. “I want more stuff!” he wrote.

“More stuff” didn’t even occur to me because “stuff” often equates to “clutter” to me. I see a lot of projects that offer buttons or t-shirts or coffee mugs…hey, maybe some people like that stuff. But I don’t need more stuff. I just want the game.

However, one of the keys to a successful Kickstarter creator is being able to put yourself in the shoes of your backers. Some backers want more stuff, so you should give them an opportunity to get that stuff and support you in the process.

Also, I did learn one key benefit to add-ons in the waning hours of the Kickstarter campaign. We had the $65,000 stretch goal in sight, and so existing backers started adding more stuff to their pledge to help us get there. And we did.

Here are a few things to consider when you’re planning your add-ons:

Cost

Of course cost is a factor, but the real key to consider is that you need to buy in bulk. If you order 3 coffee mugs, it’s going to be really expensive per unit. If you order 100, not so much. But there’s no guarantee when you launch the add-on that you’ll reach that bulk threshold. My recommendation is that you budget for the minimum bulk threshold either way. If you don’t reach it, you have a bunch of cool promo items to give away at conventions.

Also make sure you factor in the cost of mailing all the add-ons when you determine the pricing. You’ll most likely need to ship them separately from the main product you’re making, so it could double shipping costs (this is really important when you’re looking at international shipping). Also include shipping materials.

Price

(from the Kickstarter Lesson on reward levels) Structure your pricing so shipping and add-ons aren’t confusing for you. This is just an accounting note. For Viticulture, I had a $59 reward level and a $79 reward level, and international shipping was a $20 add-on. So I had a bunch of $79 pledges come through, and it was impossible to know from the subject line of the backer alert e-mail if it was a $79-level pledge or a $59-level + international shipping pledge.  It’s a tiny thing, but it’ll make your life a little easier.

Labor

You’re going to have to pack and ship all of the add-ons yourself–that’s a lot of work. You would think it takes no time at all to send out ten small boxes, but you have to assemble those boxes, wrap the add-on in plastic, tape up the box, create the packing slip, put the packing slip on the box, take the boxes down to your car, drive to the post office, unload the boxes, and mail the boxes. It’s a lot more work than you think.

So just be careful about how and when you offer your add-ons. One strategy might be to wait until the final 48 hours to encourage backer to increase their pledge. That seems to be the key time anyway. Maybe expand it to the final week so that you give all backers a chance to act.

 

Types of Add-Ons

The one no-brainer is that for whatever product you’re trying to produce thanks to Kickstarter, offer more of that product as an add-on. I used to think additional copies needed to be added at a discount, but because of the increase in shipping when you add extra copies, now I’m not so sure. I don’t think there’s anything wrong in offering extra copies of a $40 game at $40 each.

Then there’s all the other “stuff” you can offer. Here’s my take: Add stuff that contributes to the overall experience of your project. For Viticulture, a wine-making board game, that meant that we added corkscrews and wine glasses (although I would not recommend shipping glass). If you’re trying to figure out something that works for your project, post a comment below and we’ll brainstorm.

Only one more post until the lessons change from how to prepare for a Kickstarter project to how to run a Kickstarter project. Are you excited?!

Kickstarter Lesson #13: Explaining Why You Need the Funds

Every Kickstarter backer is different. Some backers don’t care if a project is a lifelong dream of the creator, while others only want to support passion projects. Some Kickstarter backers are more price sensitive than others. There are quiet a few backers who only get on Kickstarter to support friends and family, and they never return.

Today’s tip applies to a subset of Kickstarter backers that I think will continue to grow the longer Kickstarter is in operation. It’s a subset of backers that don’t just care about what they’re getting for their pledge, but also how you’re going to spend the money you give them. They want to know that their funds are needed, and they want to know why.

Back in Lesson 7 (The Funding Goal), I posted a cost breakdown of how much it actually costs to make a somewhat complex board game on Kickstarter. I’ll repost the snippet and chart here:

With that said, here’s the minimum amount you’ll have to pay to manufacture a game using Kickstarter as a funding platform (the 1000 games have a higher per-unit price because you’ll have some exclusive elements included for Kickstarter backers):

I’m posting this for you, but do most Kickstarter backers want this much information? Probably not. I don’t think there’s anything wrong in revealing this much, but you don’t want backers to get bogged down in the numbers rather than focusing on more exciting parts of your project.

Kickstarter blogger David Winchester posted a great blog entry on how much project creators should fund their own project pre- and post-Kickstarter, as well as how they should talk about it. He and I were chatting in the comments of that blog entry, and I asked him how a project creator could effectively express why they need funds and how much they’ve personally put into their project. He had a great response that I wanted to share with you:

Backers, I have a project that I expect will take $27k to build. I have already done x, y, and z, at a personal cost of $3k. I also plan on doing S, T, and U in the near future which I expect to cost about $4k. That will leave me with only Q and W to do. These are big items, and I can’t do it it alone. So I am doing this Kickstarter project to raise $20k to accomplish this piece of the puzzle.

This shows backers that you’re invested in the project and that you know how much you need to raise to actually make your project happen. If you skim Kickstarter, you’ll come across projects that seem to be asking for WAY too little or WAY too much. There might be a really good reason for their funding goal, but when they don’t explain it, you wonder if the project is actually going to happen (or you wonder why they even need your money). Addressing the funding goal head-on using David’s template above is a great way to gain backer confidence.