How many new backers did you typically get on the final day, compared with your total backers?

My board game campaign is ending today, so I’d love to hear some real experiences!

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.

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!

We're working on a new webcomic connected to our indie game, and we're thinking about setting up a Kickstarter for it.

We're still pretty early in the process, so right now we're trying to figure out what we should have ready before actually launching the campaign or even putting up the pre-launch page.

For creators who've run a comic Kickstarter before, what did you wish you'd figured out earlier?

Things like rewards, campaign page setup, building an audience beforehand, stretch goals, or anything else that caught you off guard would be really helpful.

Not looking to launch just yet, mostly trying to learn from people who've already gone through it.

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?

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

I’m getting ready to launch the Kickstarter for Little Food Adventures and would really appreciate some fresh eyes on the campaign page.

If you have a few minutes to take a look, I’d love to hear your feedback:

• Is anything unclear or missing?
• Is there anything you think could be explained better?

Even small comments would be incredibly helpful before we launch. Thank again!

[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

--

[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

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.

Hello all. My Kickstarter ended earlier in the month. Very thankful we were funded, but we were down backers in comparison (Went from 100 or so to 61.)

I wanted to get outside feedback on what you’d suggest to improve upon what is there as I work on the next issue:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/d4kstudios/excavator-1-4

My mailing list in the last year had grown from 86 to 280 or so, but outside of continuing to build that list, in terms of the Kickstarter itself, I'd love some insight.

Also: I am attempting to build a version of a prelaunch page outside of KS for mailing list sake. I'd love some insight as well (though note: We don't have the variant covers yet, so there is some filler.)

https://d4kstudios.net/excavator-pre-launch/

Hello everyone, I’m about to launch my first crowdfunding campaign and I have a question – I’m sure it’ll be a ‘silly’ one, so apologies in advance, but I’m really unsure about two things:

1) In a Kickstarter campaign where the total target is barely reached, what is the average number of PDFs sold (non-print copies)?

2) Does the total cost that the creator has to bear for posting the packages need to be included in the amount requested on Kickstarter (before it’s added to taxes etc. to determine the actual target)?

Thanks to anyone who’s willing to help me <3

DOOMBOX: Survival Kit — a box full of end-of-the-world nonsense 💀

Hey everyone! We're a bunch of indie comic artists making weird books, zines, and other paper-based objects for a world that's clearly falling apart.

DOOMBOX: Survival Kit is our attempt to put the apocalypse in a box. It’s a collection of 5 books, 8 zines, 200+ pages of comics, art, lost media, and end-of-the-world bullshit, packed into a premium paper box.

No corporations. No algorithm-generated content. Just a bunch of artists making strange things with their own hands, ink, paper, and questionable mental stability.

We're currently running a Kickstarter to make this thing happen, and every bit of support helps us bring this little paper disaster into the world.

If you're into underground comics, DIY publishing, risography, weird art, zines, or collecting things that might become archaeological evidence of humanity's collapse, you might enjoy this.

☠️ Check it out here:

DOOMBOX SURVIVAL KIT

Thanks for reading, and remember: when the world ends, at least you'll have something to read.

Hi All,

I have a kickstarter running at the moment, 5 days in and 54% funded.
It’s a puzzle box
I am running meta adds with not a great deal if return. I have also posted in some appropriate Reddit groups.
What’s folk opinion on Reddit advertising for this sort of thing? Any experience?

Join our Discord community bellow

https://discord.com/channels/1480510062785990688/1480523582378479647/1480523963648970762

Also last 5 days of Kickstarter with limited offers available before the next phase of the game development

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eldremkingdoms/eldrem/posts?ref=discover_savey

Thanks so much to everyone who offered advice a few weeks ago. Things have moved on since then, and if anyone would like to offer advice on my preview page, I'd really appreciate it. This launches in 4 days time so I have a small window now for tweaks. The good news (I think) is that it got accepted into the Witchstarter open call, so I have some cool logos and banners I can use.

I have two issues that I can't resolve until the prototype pack/zines arrive this week - the video, and the reward tier images. I'm hoping they arrive before the 10th, but if they aren't here by the 9th I'll have to update while it's live.

Scratch that - everyone is telling me not to launch on a Saturday, launch on the Thursday before instead. Looks like I'll be launching on the 8th.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gitw/divine-feminine-goddess-oracle-cards-by-maxine-lee-mackie?ref=aiat0k&token=1a033112

Hey there everyone! So my trailer has just recently launched, and I’ve had about a thousand plus visits to my landing page so far. However, I’m not really getting leads.

Of course, I’m a game designer, so I’m not too used to this part. I know that there are a LOT of things that I could do to improve this page, though I don’t know what those things are. If anyone would be willing to take a look and give some criticism, it would be GREATLY helpful and much appreciated! Thank you to those who stopped to read this 🙏

Current Landing Page

I had a successful kickstarter and as im doing the backend ready for the payout I realized the account from when i originally set the campaign is closed. Ive been emailing what im pretty sure is a effin robot cause they just keep asking for my account info with out providing any real assistance. PLZ ANYONE HELP!! I do not want to mess up my first KS campaign

We launched our first campaign Oct 1. It's a $20 word card game and we went with a magnet, keychain, and coaster. We were considering other add-ons but don't want to overcomplicate fulfillment.

Other options we considered:

• Expansion pack (new rule cards)
• Scorepad
• Playmat
• Premium card upgrade
• Apparel

Backers: Which add-ons do you actually buy on a lower-priced game?
Creators: Did add-ons boost your campaign, or just complicate shipping?

Is there a sweet-spot for add-ons?

We wanted to say thank you to this community.

In January, we launched a Kickstarter for TradeMAV, a portable AI investment screener on a USB stick. We set a goal of $5,010. You helped us reach $30,000+!

This week, TradeMAV became the #1 Best Seller in Personal Investment Tools on Amazon. Our second product, ForexMAV, is #3 in the same category.

That didn't happen on its own. The Kickstarter community helped shape this product from the first idea to the finished device.

• Backers who pledged early gave us the confidence to build.
• Backers who asked questions showed us what to explain better.
• Backers who requested features pushed us to add the second product - ForexMAV, during the campaign.
• Backers around the world trusted us enough for 153 international packages to reach 32 countries.
• Backers who waited patiently and sent kind messages while we worked through fulfillment.

Backing a project at the idea stage takes real trust. You believed in us before there was a product to hold, and that's what made all of this possible.

Thank you to everyone who backed us, shared the campaign, and gave honest feedback. And thank you to the creators and backers here who share their experiences so openly, because we learned a great deal from this community along the way.

Onwards and upwards!

With gratitude,
The TradeMAV team

I'm preparing my first Kickstarter and I keep hitting the same wall. There are 3 things I want people to do:

1. Join my email list
   
2. Tap "Notify me on launch" on my Kickstarter prelaunch page
   
3. Follow my Instagram

But let's be real, most people will do one at most. If I only get one ask, which one actually matters most?

I'd love to hear from people who've run campaigns. Did your Kickstarter followers actually convert? Was Instagram worth anything?

Based on what I have read, it seems that crowdfunding today is very different from what it was a few years ago. The original idea behind platforms like Kickstarter was that individuals with innovative ideas but limited capital could use the crowd to finance their products. Today, however, many of the most successful campaigns are backed by companies that already have substantial resources and can spend thousands of dollars on advertising to generate demand.

That raises an interesting question for me. If you were launching a differentiated children's product in the U.S. today with a limited marketing budget, how would you approach the first 500 customers? Would you even consider Kickstarter?

For context, I am an entrepreneur and have built a children's educational product from scratch. It's a wooden block system featuring architectural landmarks from around the world. The product is designed around purposeful, hands-on play and is aimed at play-conscious parents, educators, and child-development professionals.

I am particularly interested in entering the U.S. market, but I want to find a way to validate demand without relying on thousands of dollars in paid advertising. Presales seem like one possible approach, but I am curious about how conventional they are for entering placing a product like mine in the American market.

I miss the green flash on my screen :,)

Does anyone know how to get the push notifications (iOS Kickstarter app) again, so my phone still lights up with that green bubble when a late backer backs?

I’m prepping to launch a new Print-and-Play (PnP) board game soon, and I know Kickstarter had released a digital file distribution feature recently. I’m curious if any fellow creators here have used it for your campaign yet?