KickstarterForum.org

[HRL]

Hi everyone. Have been lurking the forum a bit before launching on KickStarter. We are live now for a week & was hoping to get some feedback on it.

We are 26.5% funded as of this post with 23 days to go of 30 day campaign. Funding goal is 5k

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597 ... -the-iphon

our kicktraq stat page here:

http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/597395 ... the-iphon/


Here is what I think we did wrong/could have done better
(1.) Launched Sunday night at ~8pm & set project to 30 days, so Day 1 of our project was basically a wash and gave our project 29 days vs 30. Maybe not such a big deal in the end, but worth mentioning.

(2.) Our video is below average, I think. We got 800 video plays on site & about 3k plays offsite. Not sure where the external is coming from we haven't done much promo, but got mentioned in a couple blogs.

(3.) No effort put into a pre-launch campaign.

questions:
I read in a few places that project which read 25-30% of their funding goal fully fund ~95% of the time. We got their in the first week of the campaign. Is that soon enough in the project to think we have a shot of hitting our 5K funding goal?

Should we consider re-launching this project & spend some time promoting before & in the initial campaign days? Would that put-off our present backers or are they likely to return if we inform them of our plans?
We plan on uploading some more prototype pics with improved logo & possibly in different materials

What would you do?

Thanks for your time any input is greatly appreciated.
(cross-posted on another forum)

--HRL

[crootle]

Hello HRL,

I can't give you real answers to your questions because I am in a similar situation. I'm about 22% with 20 days to go. But the cool thing is that we CAN relaunch and I am using my first KS project as a hands on learning tool. A couple of days ago I made a list of things that I did wrong:

1. I opened on GenCon weekend. Lots of potential backers had other things on their mind.
2. I launched on back-to-school week. Tons of distractions associated with that.
3. I had no social media base established despite everything I read to the contrary. (For I am special, yet no one else knew that
4. The production of my video was poor.
5. My rewards tried to make too much out of a little.
6. The reward price of $6 is too cheap for what I am offering. I think this leads - in part - to a low perceived value.
7. Poor site graphics.
8. Poor presentation all around.
9. Poor product package design and presentation.

That was a few days ago. Since then I have been actively tweeting, trading services (like adding posts to this blog for mention in Sal's other ventures), and rebuilding my whole project. I have redesigned every reward tier making them fun, easy to read, and accessible. I am working heavily with a graphic designer for all the components that I left undone (as mentioned above). I have taken feedback from backers and previewers and implemented some of their ideas. And I have finally come up with some really cool stretch rewards. Please note that none of these changes are implemented on the ongoing project but will be built into the relaunch.

All this came about because a) I have a cool product, b) but I presented it poorly, and c) it will succeed since I am willing to acknowledge and fix my mistakes. The project is still live for now and I am grateful to my backers who keep coming in. But the pace is way off to succeed this time around. So in the next update I will likely let everyone know what is coming: the cancellation, and the relaunch, both within a couple weeks of each other. Afterall, I believe transparency is critical to success.

I wouldn't recommend this way to everyone because it can be very stressful. But when you get enough honest feedback that you have a great product but needs better presentation, I think it's feedback worth heeding.

Hopefully there is something in this reply that helps you with your question.

Crootle
http://kck.st/1abkYD3

By the way. I really need to build up my LIKES on facebook. Would you please go there and like it? And give Crootle a shout out? https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crootle- ... 9696238762