I like to surf Kickstarter and Indiegogo and explore campaigns of all kinds–it helps me get a sense of what’s working for project creators and what isn’t. When I’m browsing, my heartbeat picks up when a project “YES, nailed it!” and my gut sinks to the floor when I see one of its colleagues in crowdfunding self-destruct with bad strategy. When a campaign flops, it’s usually on account of uninspired reward options that don’t connect with its intended audience. Fortunately, setting them up effectively is entirely feasible. Today, let’s learn how to think like a donor and choose crowdfunding campaign rewards that will bring in the big bucks.
First, consider what will motivate your potential donors. Before you launch your campaign, try to come up with specific answers to the following questions:
- WHO will be visiting my campaign page? Hopefully, this answer is crystal clear. Provided that your campaign is targeted towards a specific audience, you should have specific demographic information on your future visitors. That’s the “who.” If you have a target audience but don’t know much about it, start having conversations with the people you’re hoping to attract. If you don’t have a target audience yet, get one.
- WHY will they come to visit? It’s reasonable to assume that most people will enter your page as casual visitors just there to “check it out.” Underneath the nonchalant facade, each one of them is hoping to find something that will tickle his/her fancy. “I’m just browsing. But you know, if I see something cool enough…I’d drop $25, sure.” Your visitors are looking for an excuse to donate! It’s your job to coax out and reinforce these tentative sentiments.
- WHAT will motivate them to donate? Put yourself in the shoes of your potential donors. While their support is technically dubbed a “donation,” they expect to get something in return. What are you going to offer? Is it going to be enough to motivate a pledge from a (likely) stranger? Brainstorm a list of rewards that will entice. Come up with a whole range of related gifts and pitch them to your friends. Would they be excited to get a T-shirt with a random logo as a reward? Maybe, maybe not. Test out various options and gauge interest.
Without question, crowdfunding requires a sales-oriented approach. At the end of the day (or 30 days), what matters is the number after the dollar sign. Whether you raise pennies or thousands will depend on how well your proposed products (rewards) fulfill the needs of your customers (donors).
What do you think? What are the various reasons donors support crowdfunding projects? How can you use this information to win backers for your own campaign? Write down below in the comments or shoot me a message via the contact form, I’d be happy to continue the conversation!
Keep in touch,
SD
Sarunas Daugirdas (@SarunasDaug) is your videographer at Elevant Productions.