Last week, I wrote about some of the personal lessons that I’ve learned during the Kickstarter campaign. This is part two of that list, which is strongly focused on communication and interactions with backers. They are the cornerstones of a successful campaign, and I think that, given it was our first time, we did quite well.
7. Prioritise communication
We didn’t have enough manpower to reply to all of the comments and emails promptly in the first few days. So I remembered a talk by one of the members of Bird Buddy, an ultra-successful Slovene Kickstarter campaign for a smart bird feeder. He said that they paid special attention to comments, which are public and have a very large reach, as they stay there for everyone to see. So we prioritised comments, then private messages, then emails.
With emails, I needed more than 3 days to clear the inbox. Right after launch, I saw that it’s getting enormous amounts of email. Some of it was from Kickstarter, as by default, you get an email notification for every comment or message on Kickstarter, so it was effectively duplicates, some of it was from potential business partners or people interested in the game, some of it was our regular email, and a lot of it was just spam. Now I am usually very good at recognising spam, but I didn’t really trust my sleep-deprived self to do so, so I responded to pretty much everything and created a folder called ‘During Kickstarter, not sure’, and just put everything spam-y and self-advertising-ly looking there. This allowed me to triage the inbox and return to it later, so I was sure I didn’t overlook a legit opportunity. Also, when you do run a Kickstarter campaign, remember to check your spam folder every once in a while. All of the traffic caused our spam filter to start acting weirdly and I was surprised by how much legit stuff was sorted into spam.
8. Know that backers probably don’t want to stress you
We’ve heard a lot about how backers like to propose additions to the project, and oftentimes, you know those additions cannot be implemented due to physical, financial or logistical constraints. So you can get quite defensive about it, and I think we felt like that at first. But we soon saw that a lot of the suggestions were actually things that we were thinking about too, at one or another point of the design process. And we realised that this probably meant that the backers were really excited about the project, and they took it as their own, as they were actively thinking about how to make it better. So that is a good thing. And at that moment, we stopped feeling pressured and defensive, and we decided that it’s okay for us to tell them that we like their ideas, and that we’ve thought about them too. But we also told them that as creators, we need to stay very realistic and keep within the time and budget limits, so we need to evaluate the ideas carefully, and not over-promise.
And so far, I think this open communication has been working very well, and we have received compliments from backers that they like what we are doing.
9. That said…
There probably are some backers who aren’t there for the project per se. They can be representatives of your business partners, your competition, or just random people who have other motives for backing the project. I think they usually back for €1 just to get access to the comments, and they can use the comments section for their own agenda.
The best advice I was given is that you answer politely and let it go. (Thank you, Niko!)
10. Be prepared that your project will change
One of the very important aspects of crowdfunding is that backers get to play a part in product development. Now I think every creator can choose their own style of communicating with backers. We decided to be very open and inclusive, and we asked for their opinion. So we included some of their feedback into the stretch goals and our game got a new illustration and some other additions. And I think, objectively, they make the game better. But subjectively, I was very attached to the prototype version that we had, and the introvert in me almost wanted to act like a child who grabs their favourite toy and hides it from everybody else, so they can’t play with it. So I needed to remind myself to be rational about it, and that sharing the game with backers is a positive thing, as it will benefit the game.
But I must state that I’m not saying you should say yes to everything — I think it’s important that you stay true to your values and beliefs, and that ultimately, this is still your product that you will have to stand by and represent and sell. So I think you need to know what are the things that you are not prepared to change, and communicate that politely.
11. You don’t know how well the campaign will do
Yes, you can do some estimates based on the size of your email list and the number of project followers on Kickstarter, but ultimately, you don’t know the true conversion rates until you go live. For us, the campaign is going way better than we expected. Our goal was €6k, and if we reached it, we would invest some of our own money with it to be able to order a series from a professional manufacturer, meeting their minimum order quantities. Approximately double the funding goal, we would cover the series from Kickstarter funds, and we would also cover some of the past expenses we had with the development of the game. We said that if the campaign went towards €20k, we would be really happy, and if it went towards 1000 % funded, that would be really amazing, and beyond what we thought was realistic. We are now at €114k.
And the amazing thing is, as the campaign reached the mentioned milestones, first, you quickly forget the perspective you had before the campaign, and you start perceiving the numbers differently. So we made sure we remembered each passed milestone and celebrated it a bit. And second, you would imagine seeing the campaign do so great would only bring positive emotions. But actually, as the numbers really started to seem large compared to what my salary income was, I became really anxious, felt fear and even felt like an impostor. The responsibility was huge. At that moment, I took the time to redo and re-check all of the math connected to budget and finances. It also helped immensely that I could talk to some people who had gone through similar experiences or who run successful businesses themselves, and who shared their insights and knowledge with me and advised me. This was probably a key enabler that allowed me to let go of the fear and embrace that the campaign is becoming a big one. That said, I’m probably still not completely relaxed about it, and I know the residuals of fear are still holding me back a little, so some of the choices feel too conservative to people experienced in entrepreneurship, but that’s okay. There will be plenty of time to spread the wings even wider next time.
One last thing to keep in mind in regards to funds is that the number you see there is not all yours. Kickstarter takes a fee, the post-campaign pledge manager takes a fee, the marketing agency takes a fee, and so does our country. And some of it will cover the development expenses that we paid from our pockets. So the number you see equals raised funds, which do not equal profit. This is obvious to everyone who’s ever run a business, but since this is all new to me, I thought I’d add that just in case. That said, I am still thrilled by the campaign’s success, and it looks like it will enable us to create a platform to publish more games in the future.
12. Swings are normal
This one should be obvious, too, but it’s sometimes hard to keep perspective. If things go back to normal after a very good day, perceive them as normal, not as bad. Also, backers cancelling pledges is normal, too. They have the right to do so, and it’s better they cancel during the campaign than go through with the pledge and change their mind once the Kickstarter and everybody have already charged you the fees.
13. You can be a new designer and a small team, and succeed
This is one of the great beauties of crowdfunding. And being first-time game designers, it feels awesome to get such positive feedback on the game. And it also feels awesome when established businesses approach you and show interest in your product. And I think we have an opportunity to make Hike! something more than just a one-time Kickstarter, we just need to learn how to take it.
Cheers to crowdfunding!
Nika