In the past, we’ve covered serial Kickstarter entrepreneurs and creators who have had launched upwards of three successful crowdfunding projects. More than ever, it’s apparent to me that Kickstarter is part art and part science. Unfortunately, I can’t help you with the “art” aspect, but I can help you with nailing down the science and increasing the chances that you’ll be received well by the crowdfunding community.
I’ve recently had the chance to chat with Nikki Braziel, the cofounder of Octa. Octa has launched two successful Kickstarter campaigns, one raising $103,621 ($20,000 goal) and the other has raised $31,848 ($20,000 goal) and is still on-going. I’ve included two snapshots of the projects below.
Monkey Kit: Flexible Tablet Positioning System
“The ultimate evolution of the tablet stand. Enjoy hands-free comfort, and use your iPad or tablet in an infinite number of positions.”
TabletTail: a Universal Tablet Positioning System
“Interchangeable components hold any tablet in any position. Create the perfect iPad mount or Android mount, personalized to your life.”
The Octa team is currently raising money for TabletTail, a product that lets you create the perfect iPad mount or Android mount. It’s received rave reviews from fans:
“I am a very happy backer of their previous project here and I have been waiting a long time for this wonderful new project! I thought that the Monkey kit was the best, but Octa has managed to surprise me!” – Backer.
They were nice enough to answer some of my questions about their experience Kickstarter, covering key tips, stats, and their thoughts on reward fulfillment. Below, you can find our discussion. Leave a comment letting me know what you think and don’t hesitate to post any questions you’d like to ask the Octa team.
What did you learn from your first Kickstarter campaign?
Partway through Octa’s 2013 Kickstarter campaign, we decided to offer our WhaleTail, a flexible iPad stand and handle, as an add-on. It greatly complicated the fulfillment of our rewards. Kickstarter doesn’t offer an add-on module, so backers had to manually increase their pledge totals. When we crosschecked our notes against the pledge totals, there were a lot of inconsistencies. We had to send many, many messages and invoices to compensate for over- and under-pledges.
What are the top 3 things you concentrated on before launching the campaigns and the top 3 things while the campaigns were live?
The top three things we focus on before launching a campaign are:
1. Making an engaging video that clearly communicates how our project will improve our backers’ lives.
2. Crafting desirable rewards at an exciting price.
3. Designing a page that’s aesthetically on brand and that we’ll be proud to refer to for years to come.
The top three things we focus on during a campaign are:
1. Responding to backer inquiries in a timely fashion.
2. Enrolling our community in helping to spread the word.
3. Remembering to focus on the non-Kickstarter business priorities that will enable the timely delivery of our project.
Where are your pledges coming from? Kickstarter? Blog articles? Twitter?
In Octa’s 2013 Monkey Kit campaign, 80% of our backers first found the project while browsing Kickstarter’s different “discover” pages. Our success was really fueled by an active Kickstarter user base searching for good projects. At that time, there were 92 campaigns live in the tech category. Right now, there are 397 tech projects, and only 43% of our backers have come from within Kickstarter. It’s more important than ever to drive our own referral traffic.
Of the 53% of our backers that did not come from within Kickstarter, 44% are reported as direct traffic for which there’s no referral information. Many of those backers likely came from newsletters Octa sent to its subscriber base. The blogs that have covered the campaign account for less than 4% of our total count.
What do you think creators should know about reward fulfillment for Kickstarter projects?
Reward fulfillment will vary by project category. For projects that are offering a physical reward, it’s important to estimate reward volumes. It may be possible to personally deliver 100 hand-sewn skirts. It may not be possible to personally pack and ship 1,000 iPad stands. Will you be using a pick and pack facility to help process your rewards?
If you’re working with a shipping facility, a great amount of data manipulation may be required before they can begin. For example, Kickstarter exports its Backer Surveys as CSV files in which foreign countries are listed by their full name. Carriers like UPS and USPS have standard codes for each country. Reformatting country names will be one way, among others, that you’ll have to clean up your data.
You’ll also have to let your shipping facility know what to include in each reward. Offering add-ons will complicate this process. Your shipper won’t be able to pack each package in a given reward tier with the same parts.
Say, for example, you have an $80 reward tier. Everyone in the $80 tier gets a saltshaker and a peppershaker. Easy. Now, for an additional $15, they can add a spatula. Instead of providing your shipper with one list and one configuration, you’re proving them one list and two configurations. Some of your $80 rewards will get packed in larger boxes that leave room for a spatula. Those boxes will cost more. When packing that box, your shipper will need to retrieve the spatula from the shelf. Every additional part you include in your reward increases both the time and labor costs of fulfillment. Strongly consider making a new reward tier that includes a spatula instead of offering it as an add-on.
Why do you believe people pledge to crowdfunding campaigns and how do creators go about reaching this demographic?
People who pledge to crowdfunding campaigns are early adopters and risk takers. They’re interested in having both art and technology that’s on the cutting edge, and they’re willing to put down their money in advance to help be a part of that process. Last year, reaching that demographic was easy within the Kickstarter community. This year, there are so many projects that it’s hard to rise above the crowd. If I had to go hunting for the crowdfunding type in the “real world,” I’d probably check out SXSW, Ted Talks, and WWDC.
One big mistake we made with the Monkey Kit campaign was not editing the project page before the campaign closed. We assumed—incorrectly—that after it ended, we’d be able to add a link. “Buy now on Octa.com!” That wasn’t the case. Once a campaign ends, you can never again edit its page.
Conclusion
TabletTail will be available on Kickstarter for 6 more days! Be sure to check them out and if you can’t pledge, share their link on Facebook as a way to thank them for doing this interview.
