I think it’s assumed that anyone who launches a project on Kickstarter or Indiegogo wants to raise as much money as possible.
But that’s not always the case.
Believe it or not, some Kickstarter projects we talk with don’t want to raise any more money, after a certain level.
They may have raised $250,000 already. Or maybe even $2.5 million.
The issue is they have come to a point where they don’t want to raise more money.
The reason is usually because they have hit a threshold where fulfillment is going to be a lot of work.
More sales means more trouble and more hassle.
If you’re like most people, you might be thinking: “I wish I had that problem. Too many sales!”
Yet it does happen. Sometimes people don’t want to hire Funded Today for that exact reason. Namely, they don’t want more sales!
Whether someone hires Funded Today or not, here is one reason you should raise as much money as possible on Kickstarter, and here is one way to solve any delay issues.
If you are crushing it on Kickstarter, keep crushing it.
As a general rule, you will raise 1000% more during a Kickstarter campaign than you will the proceeding month after your campaign.
Said another way, after your crowdfunding campaign, you’re only going to raise about 5% to 10% of that in the proceeding month. (These are average numbers we have seen after working with hundreds of campaigns).
Your crowdfunding campaign is only live once. Make the most of it. Once the campaign is over, you WILL NOT generate sales like you did during the campaign.
Sure, you might be able to ramp up digital media campaigns, TV buys, and PR hits, and over the course of a year or more grow a business. But in terms generating sales for your product, when your crowdfunding campaign is live, that is when you have the opportunity to sell the most.
People are much more likely to open their wallet when your product is on Kickstarter compared to when it’s on your website.
Literally, conversion rates are higher, even when the traffic is from the exact same source.
More people become a customer during a live crowdfunding campaign than after. All other factors being equal.
So, if you’re crushing it on Kickstarter. Keep crushing it until the timer hits 0.
The number one reason people with a successful campaign on crowdfunding campaign want to hold off on more sales is delays in shipping & fulfillment.
They have already sold so many units of their product that to manufacture and ship on time is difficult or impossible. They’ll likely be late delivering, and want to avoid that.
Here is one simple solution:
Close all your pledge levels by limiting the number of backers for each pledge level. Then create new pledge levels for each one that you closed, but with a 2nd shipment date.
People who back for the new pledge levels will know and understand that they will be receiving their product later.
Whatever you do though, don’t throttle your sales when your campaign is live. Generate as many sales as you possibly can. You only have this opportunity once. Make the most of it.
