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Statistics and info from a small but successful project

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 7:51 am
by drlouisechughes
Much to my amazement I did it and my project was successfully funded! I started off doing a lot of reading about putting together a good campaign but failed to do a lot of the pre-launch marketing that is essential to really drive a project forward. So it was a bit of an uphill struggle but I did it in the end. It was very hard work, however!

Here is my project http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1627392371/electron-microscopy-art-calendar-2014

The stats are as follows.
Goal £2200
Pledged £2256
Backers 66

Amount pledged from Kickstarter and related sites (i.e. Kicktraq) £529
Amount pledged from external links and social networking sites £1727

Take home message is that unless you get lucky or are creating a project that a lot of people will want, plan for MOST of your funding coming from the networks and contact you make rather than Kickstarter.

I had a few dead period where days went past with no backers. I just had to keep networking and then I would get a sudden boost (most often on Fridays) before another dead period. During those times I was working very hard at connecting with people and networking but with very little reward. I got a few breaks from organisations and groups that I had been involved with for a year or more that I reached out to and that helped a great deal.

Of the pledges from outside of Kickstarter the breakdown is as follows:

49.87% of my pledges came from e-mails I sent out. The best response was from personalised e-mails, do not send generic e-mails out to lots of people, it doesn't work! Some of these pledges came from a mailing list in my field of work that I have been involved with for about 4 years. I asked the owner of the list for their permission before posting and was granted it.

10.2% of pledges came from Google+. I didn't know about the Kicksnarker community prior to the end of my project, from a post by Michael Tumey on this forum, but it seems like that is a good community to get involved with. I am involved a lot in STEM fields and science circles so I have 4000+ followers of Google+. The number of pledges was smaller than from other areas but the amounts pledged were larger.

8.87% of pledges came from Twitter. I had more backers from here than from Google+ but for the smaller rewards. I worked hard to increase the number of followers I had during the course of my project and, again through contacts I had previously (I do science outreach and have worked with some of the science outreach organisations who retweeted my announcements) gained a fair number of backers. The retweeting usually happened on the Fridays, which is also when I gained the most backers.

On both Twitter and Google+ I ran caption competitions that gained me a few backers. It s worth doing something fun that is not directly promoting your project but is associated with it so that interested individuals then follow it up.

3% of pledges came from Linked In and my own website and 3.85% from Facebook. That makes almost 77% backing from social networking.

The Kickstarter backers came on board at the start in from the recently launched side and towards the end, from popular projects (after I gained a backer from one of my larger rewards and several twitter backers within the same hour). The nearby and photography categories (which I swapped to from digital art) also provided a few backers.

By the end of my project I had 653 video plays (since ending it has gone up to 710) and 66 backers. 50.02% of video plays were completed.

I hope that I provided people with some useful stats and maybe tips to help those who did not do a pre-launch campaign. I would strongly advise against starting the project without doing a pre-launch, from what i have read and experienced it is very hard work if you don't, but even if you do it is going to take up a lot of time and energy to run a project! I would guestimate I spent on average 8 hours a day on the project.

Final piece of advice is to not run a project in the peak of holiday season (August in the UK) and have it end the week after a bank holiday! Timing wise, the only thing I did do right was have it end after a pay day, a few backers had been waiting for that before pledging. :)

Re: Statistics and info from a small but successful project

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 8:43 am
by MichaelTumey
Congratulations on getting funded - that's great!

I agree, social networking is really important and a major source for building a fanbase. I too found Twitter and Reddit as a source for some backers, but their pledge amounts were smaller.

Unlike you, throughout most of my campaign Kickstarter referred pledges were almost equal to outside referrers, however, by end of funding the disparity changed to Kickstarter providing 61% of funding - mosly via Kickstarter Discover Popular Tabletop Games, though I had quite a few from Kickstarter Search, Profile, and Tag (Map).

I guess I was lucky in having a product that, though very niche, a lot of people wanted. I gained almost half my pledges in the last 3 days (total pledges: $23,289, backers: 456)

I'm glad we both ran successful campaigns! I had a great experience, and got lucky.

Michael

Re: Statistics and info from a small but successful project

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 5:03 pm
by kdhudak
Congratulations to both of you!!
All of the information that you have provided is extremely helpful.

I am in my last week for the Kickstarter Campaign and agree with you that 8hrs a day easily passes in making connections and the more personal the better. It feels good to send a unique email, make a phone call or speak to someone in person about your project :D

I just watched the video for the Electron Microscopy Art Calendar and it is absolutely beautiful!

Thank you for your insight!!

Kelly

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/563 ... ntegration
https://www.facebook.com/purposefulintegration

Re: Statistics and info from a small but successful project

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 7:25 am
by drlouisechughes
Thanks to both of you and Congratulations yourself, Michael, your project has been amazingly successful!

Re: Statistics and info from a small but successful project

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 2:40 am
by fvreeman
Great info - Thanks! This is so helpful to see how other people did and where their backers came from.

Re: Statistics and info from a small but successful project

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 4:26 pm
by nomlinz
Really appreciate when creators come and share their stats like this! It truly helps other creators plan out what to do!

Another important stat to keep in mind:
- By the end of your campaign, Kickstarter traffic will make up about 20% of your final amount raised. It's not something you should bank for to get to your final goal because Kickstarter is actually a multiplier rather than an end-all-be-all for a project, but rather plan for it to be the cherry on top! Here's the best way to make sure Kickstarter works for you

Lastly, it's definitely really true to hold back from launching during the holiday season. The USA is the largest market for crowdfunding and if you're looking to launch, please plan to do so before Q4 holiday season hits. What this means is that prices for online advertising (if you're going to do it) will dramatically raise as everyone is trying to get people to buy for the holidays.

Also, people are in the mindset of buying something and getting it now (as gifts and so on); they're not going to go into Christmas saying "hey, I got you a new cool coffee maker you might or might not receive 8 months from now! Happy Holidays!"

If you're planning to launch during the holiday buying season, I'd recommend waiting until early next year :)

Best of luck to everyone!

Re: Statistics and info from a small but successful project

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2020 12:26 pm
by johnharis264
Thanks for sharing! its very helpul.
nomlinz wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 4:26 pm Really appreciate when creators come and share their stats like this! It truly helps other creators plan out what to do!

Another important stat to keep in mind:
- By the end of your campaign, Kickstarter traffic will make up about 20% of your final amount raised. It's not something you should bank for to get to your final goal because Kickstarter is actually a multiplier rather than an end-all-be-all for a project, but rather plan for it to be the cherry on top! Here's the best way to make sure Kickstarter works for you

Lastly, it's definitely really true to hold back from launching during the holiday season. The USA is the largest market for crowdfunding and if you're looking to launch, please plan to do so before Q4 holiday season hits. What this means is that prices for ppc advertising services (if you're going to do it) will dramatically raise as everyone is trying to get people to buy for the holidays.

Also, people are in the mindset of buying something and getting it now (as gifts and so on); they're not going to go into Christmas saying "hey, I got you a new cool coffee maker you might or might not receive 8 months from now! Happy Holidays!"

If you're planning to launch during the holiday buying season, I'd recommend waiting until early next year :)

Best of luck to everyone!