You know you need to research other crowdfunding projects.
You know this is going to save you time and money, because it will help you understand what works (and what doesn’t) for projects like yours.
But there are tens of thousands of successful projects out there, and many more unsuccessful ones.
I recommend you look really closely at 5 or 6 projects
These should be both successful and unsuccessful.
Make sure at least two of the projects you’re looking at failed to meet their funding goal. You can often learn more from the failures of others than the successes.
And ensure you’re looking at projects on different platforms. Some platforms have a greater level of functionality – or fewer rules – which allow for more creativity within the campaign.
So what are you actually looking for when you’re finding a project to research?
Make sure every example you collect has:
Open updates
You want to see the updates the project has sent to its backers. If more than 20% of the updates are ‘backer only’, move on to another one.
A funding goal similar to yours
Ideally within 20% of your own target. So, for example, if you are looking for $10,000, look for projects with funding goals between $8,000 and $12,000.
Try to find at least one project that has massively overfunded (more than 500% of the funding goal). That project will almost certainly have used strategies worth looking into.
In the same, or a a similar category
If you’re putting on a dance performance, you’re not going to get a huge amount out of an app project.
You don’t have to be in the same category, but stick to projects which are mildly related. For example, a dance performance project might look at theatre projects, documentaries, dance-related products or other dance performances.
The key thing is it’s going to appeal to a similar audience.
Variety
If you’re recording an album, don’t just stick to projects which are recording albums. You’ll also learn from projects which include tours, distribution, music videos and music-film projects.
Consider the tools available to you
Kickstarter archives every project, and all projects are available to view – even the ones that were cancelled or failed to meet their goal. The platform has hundreds of thousands of projects you can choose to learn from.
Likewise, you’ll find a lot of very enlightening data on practically any Kickstarter project on Kicktraq. (I talk more about the tool here. And used it in a real live campaign here.)
Crowdlogs also records data from Indiegogo and Kickstarter projects.
But smaller platforms won’t have these kind of analytics available. These analytic tools will provide valuable background information, such as when they received spikes of support and which rewards were most popular.
Takeaway points
You don’t need to study every project. The key is to study a small group of key projects in depth.
Select a range of projects at different levels of success, on different platforms. Just make sure that they appeal to the same audience.
Try and choose some that will give you in depth analytics. If you can find a live campaign, become a backer and watch the campaign as it evolves.
Use the questions in this post to focus your research. To find more information on tools to use, as well as handy resources, check out the Research Section.
