This article is sponsored by Fulfillrite: Kickstarter and crowdfunding reward order fulfillment services. USA & International shipping services. www.fulfillrite.com
In CNET’s June article, Dark truth about Ouya debut: Retail wins, Kickstarter loses, Ouya blames their failures to deliver their new Android gaming console on their fulfillment partner in Hong Kong and murky DHL package tracking from China. Despite having shipped the product to many Kickstarter backers, Ouya still has not fulfilled all of their backer rewards, leaving many early adopters frustrated with the company’s service.
“I’m just so disappointed and discouraged at this point,” said Damian, who was a backer of Ouya on Kickstarter. “And to think of all the people and friends we’ve been effectively selling the console to on your behalf. At least the non-backers can get the benefit of owning the console.”
As Kickstarter continues to grow into a hub for creative project fundraising, e-commerce order fulfillment companies are playing an increasingly larger role in the community and, as in the case of Ouya, can have a huge impact on customer or backer satisfaction and your company’s long term credibility.
Should you use an order fulfillment company for your Kickstarter rewards? Check out some of the benefits below.
Quick Turnaround = Happy Backers
If you are like most Kickstarter project creators and up until this point have juggled developing a high-quality video, brainstorming interesting reward tiers, responding to comments, and marketing your campaign with a full-time job, then congratulations!
However, depending on how many backers you’ve attracted to your campaign, reward shipping and order fulfillment can be a nightmare. Even with the help of friends and family, it can be a long drawn-out process. CNN Money’s examination in late 2012 revealed that 84% of Kickstarter’s top projects shipped late. This analysis is backed up by a study done by Ethan Mollick, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. Using a sample of 471 projects, Mollick concluded that that 75% of Kickstarter projects don’t ship on time.
“Shipping on the surface seems like a relatively simple problem, but when you have to send 4,000 boxes all over the world, it becomes this amazingly complicated task,” said David Carr, co-founder of Twine. “We certainly got an education by hard knocks.”
Order fulfillment companies like Fulfillrite experience high-volume shipping and packaging on a daily basis. No matter if you have 100 or 10,000 orders, Fulfillrite commits to same day shipping for all your Kickstarter rewards orders.
Professional Packaging & Order Tracking
“Kickstarter fulfillment has been super hectic and cumbersome” – City Fabric.
The late Steve Jobs is famous for saying, “You got to make the back of the fence that nobody will see just as good looking as the front of the fence. Even though nobody will see it, you will know, and that will show that you’re dedicated to making something perfect.”
Whether you like it or not, customers judge a book by its cover and your company’s packaging can send the message that you either have a commitment to professionalism, or are just doing your Kickstarter project as a hobby. Fulfillment companies are paid for their attention to detail and can help make your company’s packaging stand out to your backers and customers.
In addition, the top fulfillment companies have order tracking. Fulfillrite’s web portal allows you to see your inventory online and track when orders are processed and shipped. Instead of taking a chaotic and disorganized approach, you can commit to building the foundation of your business. Getting your orders from Kickstarter to Fulfillrite is also a simple one click upload process on their web portal. Begin establishing relationships with order fulfillment companies now, so that you will have a hand on larger orders in the future.
Take the TikTok Kickstarter campaign for example: “Once the record-breaking TikTok campaign was over, Mr. Wilson, like all of those who succeed on Kickstarter, found himself immersed in the less-glamorous part of the project: sending out the product to his backers — in his case, all 13,512. The shipping and handling of products to investors, a service the site [Kickstarter] doesn’t provide, took two months, he said, and cost around $70,000.”
“I’d never been involved in a product that went so smoothly but ran into problems in the fulfillment side,” he said.
Spend Time Doing What Matters
Anything that takes your eye off the ball or your energy away from doing work that matters is a distraction. Time spent filling orders, calculating shipping costs, and dealing with packaging changes your focus from product creation to non-value creating activities that will not lead to innovation and prosperity in the long run.
By using an order fulfillment company like Fulfillrite, you can take advantage of automated pick n’ pack services and seamless fully automated e-commerce integrations.
Request a free quote today and begin planning your company’s future after Kickstarter.
