KickstarterForum.org

When doing my research for launching a Kickstarter project, it has been stated pretty much everywhere that campaigns that last 30 days or shorter are the most successful. I'm wondering if this is only an association, or if there are direct reasons for why 31+ day campaigns don't fare as well.

Some of my thoughts:

1) Creators may erroneously think that the more time they have to collect money, that it *will* result in more pledges. (They probably didn't do their research and/or didn't put much effort into the campaign.)

2) I don't know the history of Kickstarter too well, but if they started out with campaigns only going up to 30 days (I think they did?), it may have set a precedent - as in the impulse for backers to avoid 31+ day campaigns was artificially (but unintentionally) created. This could apply to any other ways that a 30 day campaign precedent could have been set.

3) Media (including social media) attention wears off pretty quickly, so if there is no urgency to pledge (because it's over in 29 days!!!), people just won't take the initiative.

Does anybody have thoughts on this, or better yet, know of some research that looks into it?

(This is merely out of curiosity. While I am planning to launch a project soon, it will only be set to 30 days, and unless I have a good reason to, no future projects will go further than that amount of time.)

Would love to hear feedback on this as well.

In my limited research of Kickstarter, I've also read multiple times that 30 days should be the preferred time limit. I'm assuming most folks that will back will decide rather quickly if they are or are not.

Yes same here, i'd stick with 30 days if the general consensus concurs.
As a long time marketing professional I have learnt over time and sometimes at great cost not to buck the trend. If the stats show it's better to stick with a format, don't try to 'clean up' by extending deadlines etc,.
Looking forward to having our campaign go live at the end of this week (hopefully!) and see where it goes.

Hola peeps!

I have some research out there around the interwebs on this topic. Kickstarter has some good stats too (though it's from their early days)

My basic thoughts are....

60 days is a long time to try to maintain momentum for. If you have a big ad budget, you might be able to, and you really hustle with PR and other avenues.

I find 30 days or less to be effective because it creates a larger sense of URGENCY. This is one of the reasons that I included urgency in my PR course launch, like a bonus that expired 3 days after opening the course and the course closing in one week on Wed the 22nd. Of course, I also wanted to have a more hands-on experience with the people that enrolled in the course before I just start accepting students all year.

If there is no urgency, people will naturally delay a buying decision.

I honestly wish that people were more rationally minded, planned effectively, and took action based out of logical thought.

However, that's not how humans work. Most of us need to feel an emotion that prompts us to take action. A sense of urgency is an emotion that compels action.

In college or school, many of us did the work the NIGHT BEFORE a big essay is due, rather than planning week's in advance and getting it done ahead of time. It's because the night before an exam, there is enough urgency to prompt action.

3. Use organic social media to develop the relationship. Try to get them on an email list for direct selling.

Sal