I’ve noticed a problem that consistently occurs among entrepreneurs and creative types trying to launch a Kickstarter campaign.
They believe in their product. They’ve committed a budget to marketing it.
They drive traffic but… it doesn’t convert.
People don’t become backers of their campaign. They don’t buy whatever you’re selling.
If it’s in the pre-launch phase, and they set up a landing page, people don’t convert into email subscribers.
It’s freakin’ frustrating when you can’t figure out why this is happening.
In this article, I’m going to take you through a few practical tips for writing a campaign page that actually converts website visitors into subscribers, customers, fans, or backers.
You can use this information to increase your conversion rates and improve your overall marketing.
1. Clearly Identify and Agitate the Problem
Every great product exists to solve a problem. Your product DOES something. It either solves a very practical need or it it’s fun, entertaining, and a distraction from everyday life.
Without drawing attention to the problem that your product solves, it’s going to be difficult to persuade someone WHY they need it.
You can draw attention to the problem in many different ways. One is to simply ask questions that get the visitor thinking about the problem.
These questions will make them begin to think about when they experienced this problem and what that scenario was like.
- What did it feel like?
- Where were they?
- What solutions did they try?
- How did they feel about themselves?
But, let’s be honest. We all have problems in our lives. That’s nothing new. These problems vary in their degree of importance to us.
Unless we solve some problems immediately, there will be dire consequences!
Your goal, as a marketer, is to make this problem rise in importance during a transaction. By agitating the problem, painting a full picture of the costs, and going into the existing insufficient solutions, you’ll build eagerness to hear about your solution.
2. Evoke Images and Emotions With These Techniques
First of all, there are TWO types of thoughts.
- Words
- Images/scenes.
Sometimes when thinking, we’ll talk to ourselves, drawing logical conclusions about some situation.
We might say things like, “Oh that price isn’t bad,” or we might laugh to ourself, thinking “Oh boy. That’s hilarious.”
Other times, we’ll replay images or scenes in our mind. Certain words or environments will evoke a thought in our mind, because memory is associative.
You might see a board game, which has similar rules to another game you played in your youth. You briefly flash back to the good times you had as a kid with your friends.
Instantly, there is the “feeling of familiarity and nostalgia” around the game.
To convert website visitors into buyers, you’re going to want to “get them in their head” as much as possible.
You’ll want them having lots of these self-talk thoughts and visual image-based thoughts about you and your product.
In other words, you want people imagining what it would be like to use your product.
By doing this, website visitors are effectively selling themselves on being a backer of your campaign.
“When you engage your prospect’s imagination successfully, it often eclipses the gratification they get from actually having your product or service.” – Maria Veloso
You can evoke these self-talk thoughts and images using:
- GIFs and high quality images showing someone use the product
- Descriptive stories or writing that plays into the senses
- Painting a picture of what life will be like WITH the product
- Focusing on benefits over features of a product
- Replacing highly logical rational words with emotional words
As a comparison, this is very similar to what happens in dating where you end up thinking about someone for days or weeks on end. The more you think about them, them more you like them and “are sold” on them.
3. Give People A Reason They Can Say They Bought Your Product
No one wants to feel like they’re making the wrong decision. Emotionally, we want things, but the logical side of the brain is what keeps us from having them.
Backers might say things like:
“Oh, it’s probably a scam.”
“Looks cool, but I don’t need one.”
“Wow. Super cool, but I don’t think they will deliver on time.”
The first rule of sales is to simulate a customer’s emotions. You want them feeling lots of things throughout the sale.
When a customer feels emotions towards you or a product, they will pay attention to it and listen to what you have to say.
That does not guarantee a sale!
Along with satisfying the emotional side of their brain, you also have to give them logical justifications that they can use to explain why they bought the product.
These could be logical reasons that they can tell to themselves, their family, or other people who question their decision.
I know this sounds really weird and kind of scary, but it’s 100% true.
If you watch supporters of a political candidate explain to the press why they voted for them, they often times will just fall back on the rhetoric of the candidate.
Give visitors a logical reason to take action.
You could communicate this information through:
- customer story
- facts and statistics
- vision for the future
- obvious benefits, etc.
This should be the public reason someone would give for buying your product (if they were interviewed).
The REAL reason they buy your product is usually different from their logically stated reason.
4. Give People the Chance to Bond with YOU
Why is it that we sometimes form a connection with strangers that we’ve never met in person?
We then assign these strangers positive qualities, even if we’ve never met them in the real world. We assume they are generous, a family person, or the kinda dude we’d like to have a beer with.
The reason is that people bond with others because they see a reflection of themselves in that individual.
This is a creepy quote, but it’s true:
“To the extent that you’re able to have your prospects believe that you’re just like them or that you understand their problems, pain, and predicaments you have the power to influence what they will believe and how they will act.” – Maria Veloso
By sharing your story, your world view, and your values as an individual or a brand, you will attract like-minded people. Your vibe attracts your tribe.
When someone bonds with YOU, they are more likely to take the time to take a look at what you’re doing. They’re more likely to back your project.
One simple example of this was when I interviewed Alana Brown, who raised over $60k for a film campaign.
She told me she had one mystery donor that gave a bunch of money because the story reminded that individual of her own youth.
It’s very important that I state this… I’m not advocating manipulation in any way, shape, or form. These techniques in the wrong hands can be dangerous.
I’m only giving you access to the same tools that other sales and marketing experts use to get people to take action.
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I hope you’ve gotten a ton of value out of the article today and I look forward to sharing more lessons with you as you embark on your crowdfunding journey.
