/r/kickstarter

Photograph via snooOG

At /r/Kickstarter we aim to promote a healthy space for project creators and backers to talk. Please check out our self-promotion sticky before posting your project.

Welcome to /r/Kickstarter! A place for crowd funding content.

You may also enjoy /r/shittykickstarters

Advertising Rules:

  • One post per project not per person. Further posts will be removed
  • Must have a combined total of 500 Karma. Posts will be removed otherwise.
  • Donation based crowdfunding is not allowed. Please checkout /r/gofundme/
  • Advertisements must be flagged using the Self-Promotion flair.
Rules:
  • Do not ask for backers
  • Re-posting projects
  • Charity or GoFundMe type campaigns
  • Blog spam
  • Rude comments
  • Posts not relating to Crowdfunding
  • Anything that breaks Reddit TOCs
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/r/kickstarter

88,024 Subscribers

0

What do you like and dislike about Kickstarter as a Dev?

I, alongside a team of fellow students got the task of developing a platform to help small startups at finding investors, as i started writing the documentation, i noticed a lot of the ideas we came up with were similar to those offered by Kickstarter.

As a result i have chosen to start a market research on Kickstarter and i would like to know, for those who are devs and use/used Kickstarter, which features do you like and dislike on the platform? Feel free to add your experiences with it!!

0 Comments
2024/10/01
08:48 UTC

1

Is this a normal estimation time for physical rewards??? That's over a whole year.

6 Comments
2024/10/01
05:28 UTC

13

Just launched today! $400k so far :-)

This community has been somewhere I've been commenting, posting, and creeping around for the past few months as we got ready for this launch. If I can help share any insights, happy to do so.

Campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/designrulesco/metroboard-a-mid-century-live-subway-map

13 Comments
2024/10/01
02:34 UTC

1

Launching multiple projects at the same time?

Are we allow to launch multiple projects? Or we can only launch one at a time?

4 Comments
2024/10/01
02:33 UTC

1

Accidental "no reward" pledges?

Just curious if anyone else has experienced this? So my main reward tier is $65. I've now had multiple separate people pledge $65 to "no reward/back because you believe in it", and I've had to message them to see if that was their intention and then walk them through correcting it (which took literal days of back and forth in one case). Is this a common thing? Cuz I have to say it wasn't something I expected before launching lol

1 Comment
2024/10/01
02:07 UTC

29

How We Achieved $4 Cost-per-VIP on Kickstarter Facebook Ads & 3000 VIPs in one month

NANO TRX first approached me over a month ago after he had already set up Shopify and Facebook Ads using my Prelaunch Club guides + website theme.

We've had amazing success since then, gathering together 3,000 VIPs into our community in a single month, at less than $5 cost-per-VIP after factoring in the price for VIP Access:

We got $5 cost per result on Facebook Ads for NANO TRX's upcoming Kickstarter launch.

PRO-TIP: Watch a walkthrough video on how to set up a Video View Retargeting ad-set as seen in the screenshot above, here:
https://youtu.be/XtIamgsy3GA


One of the first activities we tried was doing a Reddit Giveaway using my Reddit Giveaway templates, which generated 700 VIPs:

https://www.reddit.com/user/Prelaunch-Club/comments/1f3s4xb/giveaway_to_celebrate_the_launch_of_my_nano_trx/

You can grab my Reddit post templates, here:
https://prelaunch.marketing/products/kickstarter-grassroots-post-templates


When we tried Kickstarter Follower ads by directing ad traffic to the Kickstarter Prelaunch Page, we had underwhelming results at $5 cost per Kickstarter Follower. This is typical for products whose ideal audience are generally unfamiliar with Kickstarter.

Traditionally, what would be done in this scenario is to just stick to a landing page, where audiences can be warmed up to the Kickstarter platform where they can actually pledge and pre-order.


Which leads up to today..

During the final stretch prior to Launch Day, I wanted to try something with the new (and super cool!) feature called the "Kickstarter Pre-Launch Editor". By the way -- big props to the Kickstarter team for getting this prelaunch page editor feature finally out there.

I decided to insert a "VIP Pass" banner that linked to the VIP Offer page, like so:

Kickstarter Pre-Launch Page example with a VIP Offer Banner link.

When a visitor clicks this banner, it takes them to a "VIP Offer" page where they can reserve for $1 to lock in the Early Bird special pricing, and any additional add-ons, exclusive, or perks:

NANO TRX's VIP Offer Page

And the results have been fantastic! VIPs from the Kickstarter Prelaunch Page were just as cheap, if not statistically substantially cheaper, than VIPs gathered using a Landing Page.

$5 per Kickstarter Follower, versus $5 per VIP. What we found was that the previously expensive Kickstarter Followers we got were actually people who were just as willing to take a VIP Offer. The place which they took the offer, whether a landing page or Kickstarter page, did not matter on the conversion rates.

NANO TRX achieved a cheaper Cost-per-VIP using a Kickstarter Prelaunch Page

Keep in mind, this data is limited in a way that we are only able to run this test for 3 days -- we launch tomorrow on October 1st.

The next step for NANO TRX, of course, is to setup the Live Ad Campaign!

WALKTHROUGH VIDEO of me setting up the Live Ads campaign, here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz36cOJnHmM


BY THE WAY!! You can grab the "VIP Access Pass" banner image FOR FREE as an easily editable Photoshop template which you can customize for your own Kickstarter project, here:
https://prelaunch.marketing/products/vip-access-pass-banner

NANO TRX is using my Prelaunch Club Shopify theme for his Kickstarter prelaunch, check it out:
https://prelaunch.marketing/products/kickstarter-prelaunch-shopify-theme


You are welcome to ask questions in the comments, I'm happy to answer when I can!
Join us on Discord + book a free meeting for additional assistance, here:
https://prelaunch.marketing/pages/specialoffer

2 Comments
2024/09/30
21:58 UTC

1

Looking for a Campaign Manager /Kickstarter

The title says it all, I have a beautiful product that I'd like to bring into life and build an audience for it- I'm looking for the right person who could fall in love with the project and could manage my Kickstarter campaign.

Is there anyone/or a company that you could recommend that you worked before and delivered a successful campaign for you and at the same time didn't cost an arm and leg? Thank you.

2 Comments
2024/09/30
17:42 UTC

1

What kind of emails do you use for the pre-launch and launch?

Do you use well designed mailchimp email templates or simple communicate via plain text emails.

I have seen some people using plain text with launch link and some have extensive designs describing their projects.

1 Comment
2024/09/30
16:25 UTC

1

Is it true that Kickstarter has a 14-day project cancellation grace period?

So, we rolled the dice to see where we were at, and we came up lacking. We are now 13 days in at 39% funded and my team all wants to cancel the project. Even if we were to somehow get funded, we feel like we didn't succeed at resonating with our potential customers the way we would have liked to.

I heard a rumor that you can cancel a project within 14 days and not have the failed project on your account. Anyone know if this is true by any chance? I kinda doubt it, but it'd be nice.

Other than that, I'll be writing an update thanking everyone that backed, a survey asking what we could do better, and letting people know where they can keep in touch. If anyone has any advice on this this messaging, I'd love to hear that, too.

Living and learning!

4 Comments
2024/09/30
14:26 UTC

5

The mid-campaign stall - now what?

I'm a week into my campaign although I hit a major stall in pledges less than 2 days in. I wouldn't mind if the overall funding number was higher, but even though I hit my goal, after KS takes their fees and I pay for shipping, I'd barely break even. I had a few cancelled pledges already, which is devastating considering the already low funding number. I know there will likely be a few more especially once the campaign closes and the errored pledges come through.

I recognize activity tends to die down during the middle of the campaign, but I'm hoping some of you could provide some feedback on anything I could do to get the engagement rolling again. I've already:

  • Changed up my banner as well as the layout of the page itself
  • Added a new low cost $5 add-on
  • Promoted the sh*t out of this on social. I personally don't have a large reach, so I question how many people actually see the posts. I've promoted in FB groups that would allow me to. My posts always seem to get buried and never get any engagement, even in groups.
  • I've done a lot of campaign swaps with other authors, which is where a majority of my funding has come from. My social audience and email newsletter list don't seem all that interested in supporting this.
  • I ran a "learn about kickstarter" giveaway with some other authors before launch, encouraging people to go to a page on my website to learn about kickstarter and follow the campaigns. Wasn't too successful.
  • I had reached out to a few influencers/authors before launch who had agreed to do interviews and share the project. Most of them ghosted me.
  • I ran FB ads for about two weeks, and while they were getting decent engagement and clicks, I was seeing no pledges being reported from the referral link I used so I shut them off.

Some challenges I think might be causing issues:

  • All of my physical backers are from the US. This book is a doozy, and in its packaging it weighs 2.5 pounds to ship. The $30 cost to ship outside the US is half the cost of the book, but there's nothing I can do about it. I do, however, think it's scaring some international backers away. I also had two people say they were outside the US and couldn't back it. I double checked (and had someone outside the US check), and their countries were there, but it's a bit suspicious multiple people had this problem.
  • The book is fantasy, but it isn't romance which tends to get much more interest on Kickstarter. I got no fancy "Project we love" badge or anything like that.

There's nothing else I can think of to do to get the word out there. I would love some feedback on anything I could do to help encourage more people to support or capture their interest on the page. (Note: While I've supported a number of Kickstarters, this is my first time running one.) Here's the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cschulzwrites/black-sheep-special-edition-illustrated-hardcover-omnibus

10 Comments
2024/09/30
13:04 UTC

0

Looking for Feedback on My First Kickstarter Campaign: Box With Balls – A Personal Growth Game

Hey everyone! 👋

I just launched my first-ever Kickstarter campaign, and I’d love to get some feedback from the community.

My project is called Box With Balls – Ignite, and it’s a gamified personal development tool. The idea is to help people build better habits through small, daily challenges that focus on mental clarity, physical energy, and resilience. It’s about making real, lasting change without feeling overwhelmed.

Here’s the link to the campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/653992307/box-with-balls-ignite-0

What I’d love feedback on:

  1. How does the overall campaign page look? Is the messaging clear?
  2. Any thoughts on the rewards—are they appealing or should I rethink them?
  3. What would you do to improve the visibility or presentation?

I’d really appreciate any insights or suggestions from fellow creators or backers. Thanks so much for taking the time to help me out!

10 Comments
2024/09/29
15:59 UTC

1

Tips on how I could improve my kickstarter webpage and other things for success

so my kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/billwoo/rise-of-the-penguins-gb-for-gameboy seems like it's in a ok ish spot in terms of funding vs time left. But it has seemed to slow down past half week so I am brainstorming of things I can do to improve the campaign and give it a chance at success.

So the main goal of my kickstarter is to redo the background art / tilesets of the game to make it look more professional.

My ideas right now to improve the campaign:

  • redo the video and talk about more in depth about which things i am talking about that I want overhauled.
  • add some images to the page but not sure what to add the moment
4 Comments
2024/09/29
14:56 UTC

0

Suggestions for Campaigners on a tight ad and promo budget

I am doing my first kickstarter campaign and I started my pre-launch this week. I received a lot of comments and some excellent, very helpful responses. I feel that I did a good job with my campaign, it is interesting and engaging, but I really did not allow enough money for advertising, promotions, email campaigns, etc. Although I am using the services of two influencers, who have done campaigns and a friend to help keep records for the campaign, I could definitely use a larger team to help with promotions.

I have found that there are a lot of free and low cost ways to market your product or story. I would normally pay an influencer or digital marketing person for promotional or marketing services, but since my ad budget is tight, I have to seek alternatives. I have found a lot of free and low cost crowdfunding promotion ideas, just by searching Google and other search engines. It is a time consuming process, but it may be worth the effort.

Good luck,
Alan Charles Cass

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alancharlescass/nexxtgen-websites

5 Comments
2024/09/28
21:35 UTC

0

Can i buy a product from kickstarter after the project ends?

There is a project I am following on kickstarter that I havent pledge to yet. Im curious if I can buy the product after the kickstarter ends or not. I might be misunderstanding something here but it sounds like I can buy it until may, but im not sure. (Yes, I have never used kickstarter before)

5 Comments
2024/09/28
20:57 UTC

2

Help Needed!! - Could you rate this video, is it informative enough?

5 Comments
2024/09/28
14:11 UTC

1

Snake talks The View of the Phoenix Trees!

0 Comments
2024/09/28
14:05 UTC

0

Summer is gone, but Bura still has 5 days left ☀️

https://preview.redd.it/tzafn9y2ajrd1.png?width=2482&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b48f98d1bb16deccef193cf3c9c0239e891c037

Hello cool cats!

I'm Rea from Tiny Meow studio, a small indie game studio from Croatia. With a month of campaign almost gone, I must say this was a wild ride!

We talked to so many awesome people, we are still growing a wholesome community on Discord, and got a lot of amazing feedback on our KS that helped us along the way. Can't explain how grateful I am for everyone who contributed, for such a small studio that means a lot.

So, what is Bura? Bura: The Way the Wind Blows is a cozy adventure game set on Mediterranean coast, in which you experience different periods of life, from childhood to an old age. Mix of old folk tales and Croatian folklore bring you different spirits of wilderness, just as the one on the photo above - Ulykva, spirit of olive trees.

You can check out the trailer, or play the demo to see the game yourself: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tinymeowstudio/bura-the-way-the-wind-blows?ref=8p1ttf

If you have any feedback on our page, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all! ❤️

Šišmiš and Tabaxi

0 Comments
2024/09/28
11:38 UTC

1

I made an error on one of my reward tiers

Originally, I made an error on my add on tiers and listed the usual shipping cost without realising that adds on to the cost already listed on the reward tiers. When changing the shipping to free I accidentally changed one of my reward tiers to free which I have now deactivated. I have had 5 people now back this reward tier with free shipping and it will cost me over $100 to ship those rewards. Is there anything g I can do to remove their pledges? I know it’s my error but it’s a big financial cost for me to swallow

3 Comments
2024/09/27
23:27 UTC

1

Launched earlier this week: Trick or Treat: A Halloween Playing Card Deck

0 Comments
2024/09/27
20:19 UTC

1

I am about to post a kickstarter on some Italian organic olive oil, if you are interested turn on notifications for a chance to get some organic olive oil or adopt an olive tree

1 Comment
2024/09/27
19:01 UTC

3

Tips for more eyes on campaign in final days?

Hi! have 4 days left on my campaign for plushies, it's fully funded but we're still a bit away from one of the stretch goals. I've been posting to my social media, already sent my email list, and my current backers are on board and engaged in my naming contest and have been jumping on add-ons. My question is how to reach new audiences? Any tips? Dragon Fox plush toy, so it's a unique and fun product.

0 Comments
2024/09/27
17:39 UTC

4

is around 1 month to 5 weeks enough to prepare for a launch? Before November?

I have a near finished prototype. I have around a 140 people on my email list currently. I am going to be investing a lot more in Facebook ads. I am using the Soap opera sequence to warm up my leads which is a 5 day email campaign. I am aiming to raise around $27000. I can get the video done in around a week. I have a landing page that I can just edit in no time too. When I contacted influencers in the past they go back to me fairly quickly as well. I want to launch before ad costs are driven up in November for black Friday and stuff, is this feasible or should I wait till January since December is not a good month to launch according to data(I would prefer to not have to wait that long of course).

7 Comments
2024/09/27
16:56 UTC

1

How to promote my campaign? Youtube, FB, Insta?

Hey all. I've read some similar threads on this. I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

I'm a few days from launching my kickstarter. The item is a made in the USA bench vise with some cool features. It's going to be fairly expensive, $700 for the early birds (honestly a good quality bench vise can cost far more than that these days). My goal will be low, I only need 5 backers, BUT I'd prefer it go viral of course.

I don't have a big following on instagram, but I have an account (not the pro account if that matters). I have a FB personal account. I have a youtube channel with maybe 100 subs. I make pretty niche stuff (CNC related) so my subs may or may not be interested in this product.

What would be a good way to throw a few hundred bucks at promoting this?

I'm already heavily invested in the project (imho):

2k videographer, 300 soundtrack, 100 voiceover.

My plan was to post the KS video on youtube and put a link to the campaign in the description, then try to promote that video. I'm not sure if that's a good route. In addition to the main video, I was going to make several supporting shorts and put those on YT and Instagram. My limited experience with the YT algorithm suggests it's good to have multiple videos such that you improve your change of one getting picked up by the algorithm.

I have no idea how to buy paid ads. Is it easy or should I hire a service? Any good services? Advice is appreciated!

35 Comments
2024/09/27
15:16 UTC

1

Are reservation funnels / 1$ VIP pre launch funnels effective for non physical products kickstarters (e.g freemium video games with iAP or DLC paid content) ?

2 Comments
2024/09/27
14:48 UTC

0

Product design and Technology Hardware categories

I see folks sometimes have a product in Product design that could have been in Technology Hardware. Because Kickstarter allows two categories, I believe you could put both. Is there an advantage to make something as primary capability ?

2 Comments
2024/09/27
14:41 UTC

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