What to Do When Your Crowdfunding Campaign Ends

There’s no doubt about it, crowdfunding campaigns are a lot of work. If you’re approaching the end of your campaign, you may be looking forward to a much-deserved break. However, it’s important to keep in mind that just because the campaign ended successfully, it doesn’t mean your work is finished. Read on for more information about what to do when your Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign ends.

Next Steps After a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign

Switch to InDemand. Successful crowdfunding campaigns usually end with a lot of momentum, and you’ll want continue offering pre-sales once the campaign is over so you don’t lose it. However, many project creators don’t have the infrastructure to immediately begin taking pre-orders on their own websites, which is where Indiegogo’s InDemand program becomes important. InDemand allows you to continue raising money indefinitely after a successful campaign, and is a great way to bridge the gap after your campaign.

Don’t Lose Sight of Your Goal. Your initial objective before you began your campaign was to raise a certain amount of money and sell a certain number of rewards. You’ve got the money part down, but don’t lose site of the rewards! Stay focused on product development and production. One place to start here is by sending out your fulfillment survey to get backers’ mailing addresses and other information, such as color choices. Work with your suppliers and manufacturers to try to get your rewards out by the promised delivery date. If you have time to make product adjustments, work with your community of backers to find out what new features or specs they’d like to see added, if any.

Keep Your Backers Updated. Your backers helped you reach their goal, so show some reciprocity by keeping them updated throughout the entire production process. Begin by thanking them as soon as the campaign ends. Then, as you enter into production, stay transparent. Keep them informed as you move through the different stages of manufacturing. If there are any hang ups or delivery will be delayed, let your backers know as soon as possible. Canary, a smart home security device that raised nearly $2 million on Indiegogo, provides a great example how to share news of delays with your backers.

Prepare Your Ecommerce Site. Spend time getting your ecommerce site designed and developed so you can begin accepting pre-orders on your own, rather than through another platform. Once you have your website built, services like Celery help make it simple to accept pre-orders on your own site. Then, when you’re out of the pre-order phase and ready to shift gears and begin selling online, the transition to ecommerce will be much easier.

Get Ready for the Next Step. Preparing for what’s to come means getting everything in order from shipping and fulfillment to another round of funding or anything else you have planned. Whether you’re creating an ecommerce site, using Amazon FBA to fulfill orders, or going an entirely different route, now is the time to prepare. Again, you don’t want to lose the momentum you’ve built up! If you’ll be seeking funding from investors, you’ll want to spend time getting ready for that, too.

Ship Your Rewards. The final and perhaps most crucial part of a Kickstarter campaign is shipping your rewards. If you aren’t ready to take this task on alone, there are many great fulfillment services that can help you out. As you begin shipping orders, make sure you have a customer service system in place. By this time, you’ll hopefully have a website where you can provide answers to FAQs, product instructions, and an email address for support and any customer service issues. Your goal here is to get your rewards fulfilled in a timely manner resulting in happy backers who will continue to support your business!

For more tips on what to do when your crowdfunding campaign ends, check out this checklist from Indiegogo.

Hosted by
Roy Morejon

Roy Morejon is the President of Enventys Partners, a leading product development, crowdfunding and ecommerce marketing agency in Charlotte, North Carolina, in charge of digital marketing strategy, client services, and agency growth.

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1 comment
  • Very nice tipps on how to stay focussed! I believe the part of staying in touch is very important within a campaign! About the part of preparing an own e-commerce site is definitely something I would recommend. The only problem with that is there might not be enough new consumers or traffic for this solution to back the future of your company. There is a legitimacy on why there are big e-commerce giants and solutions if you want to sell to consumers directly. If a startup is looking to get in touch with a broad network of retailers who know how to sell your product, check out our website https://kaufsafari.com. Because we want to give you exactly that, with no additional costs or any risks involved.

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