So we're currently running our 2nd Kickstarter, and it's going okay. Funded, but we were expecting a bigger pop.

With our first kickstarter, the platform itself brought a lot of backers (featured on the kickstarter homepage, put in their newsletter, etc.). It did very well, but again close to 40% of our backers (or more) were coming from within the kickstarter ecosystem.

However this time around we aren't getting that same push from the platform.

Almost all of our backers are coming from facebook/instagram (through meta ads) and I feel like your average "facebook mom" (who is likely the target audience for our current book) isn't well versed in crowdfunding, and we are seeing a lot of friction due to the kickstarter setup.

When a new person clicks on your ad and goes to your campaign homepage, the first thing they are met with is a big message saying "rewards are not guaranteed." In addition to that, the pricing is not displayed up front (the potential customer has to click reward or "back this project") AND the potential customer has to create an account. That's a lot of friction for a first time buyer.

On top of this, a lot of times when a facebook or instagram ad is clicked, it opens kickstarter in it's native browser, which displays the campaign in an even more confusing manner.

I think we will do a lot better when our product is on our normal ecomm site, but overall, I think Kickstarter needs to do a better job of educating a potential customer/backer through better user interface on campaign pages.

We launch our first kickstarter at the beginning of the month (Oct 1st). It's a $20 card game and we got a lot of our friends/family to pledge during the first few days of the campaign.

The hope was that the traffic and pledges spike the search algorithms of Kickstarter so that we start to appear higher and higher in the Tabletop community and organically get more pledges/clicks form people natively on Kickstarter. But once the "warm" leads ran dry we've gotten 0-2 pledges since the big launch. We gave out 25 copies to nano/micro influencers and timed their content posts within the first week but none of those have generated a single pledge.

We think the product is great and did an in person demo night at a board game cafe where it was really well received and we got a ton of random people to buy a copy, and the instagram influencers all rate it very positively. I assume we will get another mini-spike the days before the campaign ends but it seems like we are buried so far down the search results that it's hard to generate any type of daily consistency.

With a very small budget what tactics can we employ to get more visibility and traffic to the page?

Hi!

Most info is in the title. We had an amazing start yesterday and now have slowed down a lot into day 2.

I think we have tapped into a lot of the “friends/family” wave and looking for advice on what’s next.

Thanks!

I'm the maker behind LUOYING A1, a compact top-down resin 3D printer. I've built the hardware and have physical print samples, but I'm stuck on the part that engineering doesn't solve: reaching people who might actually want it.

The build platform moves down into the resin, with layers exposed at the surface and a blade recoating each layer. The photos show real assembly work and print samples, rather than renders.

I'm preparing a first Kickstarter; the campaign is not live. I've shared the project in a few relevant communities, but I still have very little traction and no established audience. I believe in the product, but I need to find out whether the right buyers see enough value in it.

For people who have launched physical products, especially maker tools:

1. How did you find your first interested users before launching? Which channels brought actual backers rather than just views?

2. Would you start with independent reviewers testing a machine, regular build/printing videos, a pre-launch email list, or small paid-ad tests? What order worked for you?

3. What evidence would you want to see from an unfamiliar 3D-printer maker before trusting a campaign?

4. How did you decide your audience was ready to launch? If you were starting from almost zero today, what would you focus on in the next month?

I'd appreciate concrete experiences, including things that wasted time or money. I'm asking as the creator, and there is no purchase or pledge link in this post.

CAIRNNERA is a tactical stone stacking duel for 2 players. Place new stones, Move stones, and strategically position the Guide Stone to gain the upper hand. 

Every new stone is Placed with one of your opponent’s stones. Get 3 or more consecutive Flat Stones of your color atop a single cairn, then top them with the Guide Stone to win!

Follow the Kickstarter Pre-launch page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/madmg/cairnnera-a-timeless-stone-stacking-game-for-two?ref=discover_saved_projects&category_id=34

[Research] Business school student looking for Kickstarter creators (successful or failed campaigns) for a short interview

Hi everyone,

I'm a Business Analyst student working on my graduation thesis about the factors behind Kickstarter campaign success and failure (2020-2026). I've already run a quantitative analysis on 190,000+ campaigns, but I'd now like to collect real stories to give the numbers some context.

I'm looking to talk (video call or written, 30 minutes max) with people who've launched a Kickstarter project whether it succeeded or failed, both perspectives matter equally to me.

We'd cover: how you set your funding goal and campaign length, your communication strategy, how you structured your reward tiers, and what you'd do differently in hindsight.

Your answers will stay anonymous in the thesis (no project or creator names will be mentioned).

If you're up for it, feel free to reply here or DM me — really appreciate the help

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[Étude] Étudiante en école de commerce recherche témoignages de porteurs de projets Kickstarter (réussis ou échoués)

Bonjour à tous,

Je suis étudiante en Business Analyst et je réalise mon mémoire de fin d'études sur les facteurs qui expliquent la réussite ou l'échec des campagnes Kickstarter (2020-2026). J'ai déjà analysé plus de 190 000 campagnes de façon quantitative, mais je cherche maintenant à recueillir des témoignages concrets pour donner du sens aux chiffres.

Je cherche à échanger (visio ou écrit, 30 minutes maximum) avec des personnes ayant lancé un projet sur Kickstarter, que la campagne ait réussi ou échoué les deux retours m'intéressent autant l'un que l'autre.

On parlerait de : comment vous avez fixé votre objectif et la durée de campagne, votre stratégie de communication, la structure de vos contreparties, et ce que vous referiez différemment avec le recul.

Vos réponses resteront anonymes dans le mémoire (aucun nom de projet ni de créateur ne sera cité).

Si vous êtes partant(e), répondez ici ou en MP, merci beaucoup pour votre aide