If you’re getting set to launch a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, you gotta take some time to think about your rewards offerings (or as Indiegogo calls them — perks).
While you’ll have to do a lot of work just to get people to your campaign page in the first place — which is primarily done through a dedicated pre-launch strategy — creating desirable rewards can help to:
- Acquire more backers
- Upsell backers to drive up that funding meter
- Receive smaller donations that matter in the long run
In this article, I’m taking you through five of the most important things you should consider when building out your reward tiers.
Let’s get started!
1. Go For Popular Price Points
A sample provided by Indiegogo of 29,000 campaigns shows that the most popular perks on the platform range in value from $10 to $30.
- Nearly 60% of total contributions to these campaigns came from backers selecting a tier in the $10-50 range
- Projects without rewards of $20 or less met their goal 28% of the time
- Projects with rewards of $20 or less met their goal 45% of the time
The lesson here is that even if your core product is more expensive, you’ll want to offer a reward that is accessible to the wider backer network.
Many campaigns will do rewards like these:
- $5 Thank You Note: For people that just like the idea/product and want to support it without receiving anything in return
- $15 Ambassador Badge: Or something similar. A way for people to rep your product without actually receiving it (they might also select this tier in addition to your core product).
- $25 Merchandise: Offer a t-shirt, hat, book, etc. that relates to your campaign.
When you give people the opportunity to back at smaller amounts, you’ll see that more people are willing to show up for your project!
2. Keep Your Rewards Streamlined
For creative projects such as book publishing, music, and film, this tip doesn’t necessarily apply to you.
But for those of you with a central product, it’s important to keep things simple. I’ve seen many creators offer something like 50 reward tiers and overwhelm their backers to the point of confusion — which can lead to anxiety around a conversion.
Rather than offer 5 different colors or other SKUs for your product, start with just one or two. You can always put additions as stretch goals.
For our students and clients, we usually recommend having somewhere between 3-8 reward tiers, with a couple of those being at lower price points (as discussed in tip #1).
Here is an example of a campaign that structured their rewards really well, raising almost $180,000 from over 6,000 backers:
Keepods: Keep Your Earbuds Secure, No Matter The Activity!
3. Utilize Reward Quotas
By limiting the number of rewards you offer at certain levels, you can create buzz and urgency around a conversion. When people see something like “X items left” — they want to be sure not to miss out.
This strategy can also help you to capitalize on all that work you did during pre-launch, getting people primed to buy right when your campaign goes live.
Usually a reward structure would look something like this:
- Super Early Bird: $80 — 30 items left
- Early Bird: $90 — 45 items left
- Special Promotional Price: $100 — 60 items left
- Kickstarter Price: $110 — no limit
When people see these price points, they’re probably going to take action as quickly as possible so as not to miss out on super early bird pricing — especially if they’re interested in the product.
That means a greater initial funding dump and a chance to build social proof, as well as trend better / become featured on the platform!
4. Up-sell With Add-Ons / Accessories
Go to any fast food joint in America and order a hamburger. What’s the first response you’re going to get? I guarantee it’s something along the lines of:
Would you like fries with that?
More often than not, you’re probably going to say yes.
Why? Because fries go great with a hamburger.
You’ve got to do the same work with your Kickstarter campaign when it comes to add-ons and accessories: come up with things that go great with your core product.
Selling a smart watch? Offer a high-power portable charger to go along with it.
Or maybe you’re selling a travel backpack. Offer a water bottle alongside it.
A great way to introduce add-ons and accessories is through updates. Thank backers for their support thus far, and then say something like:
By popular demand, we’re now officially offering an aluminum water bottle that perfects perfectly in our featured side pocket! Make sure to grab yours today.
5. Exclusive Campaign Rewards
Another way to get your backers hyped about your Kickstarter campaign, in particular, is to add exclusive rewards that can only be acquired on the platform.
You’re not going to sell it through e-commerce or Amazon. This is the only place that backers can get this insider offering that’s attractive!
Just make sure that you’re honest with your backers about this. It’s a bad look for your brand if you promise something exclusively and then sell it again later on.
Bonus Tip (Indiegogo Only)
If you’re launching a campaign on Indiegogo, you have the option to include secret perks. These are perks that can only be seen with a secret URL, which can be sent to your email list or blasted out on social media to reward loyal backers and early adopters.
Backers love secret perks because it makes them feel like they’re on the inside of your company. In other words, they feel what most crowdfunding enthusiasts want to feel: special.
You could also put a secret perk link in a campaign update for those that are following the project closely.
It’s a great way to get backers more involved and receive additional hyper surrounding your launch!
Takeaways and Additional Resources
We hope that this article was helpful for you as you set out to build reward tiers for your crowdfunding campaign.
Here at CrowdCrux, our mission is to give creators like you the resources they need to succeed. Check out how you can get all the insider secrets:
- Subscribe to the CrowdCrux email newsletter for weekly insights directly to your inbox.
- Visit our Youtube Channel for all the best insider tips, tricks, and secrets.
- Check out the Crowdfunding Demystified Podcast and this book for interviews with wildly successful creators who have run six-figure campaigns.
- The Kickstarter Launch Formula book and/or course gives A to Z processes for launching your campaign.
Looking for personalized assistance from one of the top crowdfunding marketing agencies out there? Book a coaching call with our founder, Salvador Briggman,
Our team has helped to bring tons of successful campaigns to life, and we’re ready to go to work for you!
Good luck with your campaign. We’ll be here to help if you need us.
