Over 5 million people have backed at least one Kickstarter project, and over 40,000 of us have backed more than 25 projects. No matter what your interests, it’s always handy to know some cool ways to manage your pledges and find new projects to back.
I am first and foremost a backer of projects, and I’ve learned a few things over time. Here are three of my favourites. They won’t save you money at all, but they will make it a lot easier to support the projects you love.
1. Keep track of which projects have fulfilled your pledge
If you’re a repeat-backer like me, there’s a really good chance you’ve backed a few projects you’ve since forgotten about. These projects are often the ones that go radio silent soon after the campaign ends. You never hear from them and sometimes, you forget about them. This somewhat-hidden feature is a simple tickbox designed to help you keep track of which rewards you have, and haven’t recieved.
Simply access your Backer History by opening the ‘Me’ menu on the upper right hand side of your screen. As you recieve rewards, tick the ‘Got it!’ box. Periodically check it and make sure you know why the others are unticked. For me, it highlighted two projects which I’ve since followed up privately with the creators.
2. The video feature
Point your browser at https://www.kickstarter.com/video. This will take you on a wonderful journey where you can find new and exciting projects by being served a random selection of project videos.
You can pause, play, skip, star, or go explore the projects at any time.
3. Swish
While Kickstarter likes to jump up and down saying they are not a store, that doesn’t stop many backers and creators from treating it that way. Kickstarter is amazing at launching products, but many of us are looking for the thing that makes us go ‘oooooooh!’. Swish helps by effectively putting a storefront on Kickstarter.
Sort by category, price, or popularity. As you can see, the site gives the “price” of the product right there in the search results. I find this handy as I often find the best way to avoid heartbreak is to check the price of the goods before I watch the video and inevitably fall in love with it…
Swish also covers Indiegogo and runs its own preorder service, so it’s not entirely Kickstarter, but it’s definitely the majority Kickstarter.
Do you have any tips for backers? How do you manage your pledges? Do you even care? I’d love to hear what other backers think in the comments!
