KickstarterForum.org

[shopsuited]

After working with Funded Today on my campaign, I highly recommend that others avoid them for multiple reasons. When they first contacted me on Facebook, they sold themselves as experts and made it sound like achieving $30,000 should be rather easy. We agreed on a diligence fee of $2,500 and 30% of total pledges.

I was also told that I would get specific feedback throughout my campaign on how to improve things, but instead received generic videos from them on common barriers. They provided nothing extra of value that you can’t find here on these forums.

When Funded Today first starts working with you, you pay them a diligence fee, which was $2,500 for me and then you go through a “Validation Period” of 7-10 days. Only 50% of companies make it past this period, meaning they can terminate the contract at this point and you part ways. During this period, they run ads to try and find the best target market and the best ad copy.

For my campaign they brought in roughly 1400 clicks, and I was told by their ad specialist that their CPC (Cost per Click) is typically between 0.20 and 0.40 cents. That means that of the $2,500 I paid them, they only spent between $280 and $560 roughly on the actual ad run.

They are not a difference maker. In my opinion, you are far better off using this $2,500 on producing ads yourself where you can generate at least 5,000 clicks if you keep your CPC at 0.50 or below. You can easily spend the first few days of your campaign running A/B tests to determine the best ad imagery and audiences before launching the actual ads where you’ll spend more money.

Additionally, rather than paying them 30% of your pledges, you should consider lowering your price, which could attract more backers. Check out RFIDsecur’s breakdown of pricing here, which obviously varies depending on the terms you would negotiate: http://www.kickstarterforum.org/post34267.html#p34267

Once my campaign ended and they failed to convert anyone, they became completely unresponsive. I messaged them twice to express my dissatisfaction and I never heard from them. Other companies I used were more than willing to work with me for a relaunch.

I liked the services provided by Gadget Flow, BackerClub, and Hyperstarter. I didn’t work with Hyperstarter, but I did communicate with him and he was responsive and knowledgeable.

So please, don’t just throw your money away, which is essentially what I did by using Funded Today. Do your research and spend your hard-earned money wisely. Also, ask me anything at all and I will happily answer your questions or try to point you in the right direction.

Though running a campaign can be daunting, don't give up and definitely don't result to desperate measures. A lot of these crowdfunding marketing agencies are only out for the profit, and if they see your project going nowhere they are going to minimize expenses to keep as much profit as possible. If your project is going to be a hit, it won't be the result of these agencies.

[hyperstarter]

Thanks for the mention. If you decide to relaunch or need some prelaunch advice, feel free to g/in touch

[angelinajoseph]

Thanks for sharing the Info.

[jacksinc17]

Interesting read. It seems to be a high price for the service that is actually being provided?