Last day "How to Draw Adorable" on Kickstarter. What I've learned so far

[Kim Rosenlof]

@carlianne Thanks for the great Kickstarter advice. I would have not known to do a lot of these things. I totally relate with having a hard time getting things done with kids home from school. This summer hasn’t been super productive for me . That is awesome that you went for it, it seems so daunting. Super cute project. Congratulations!

[carlianne]

@Kim-Rosenlof thank you Kim!!! I'm so happy it is helpful. It was the worst time but since I wouldn't have done it otherwise it is also the best time

I propped as much as I could but if I had waited to do all of those things on my list I never would have launched. So better to do it unprepared and crazy than not at all. But now that I've had the experience I would like to do it in a more controlled way next time

[Jeremy Ross]

Hi @carlianne, thanks for sharing your lessons learned and constructive feedback with the group! Really happy for your successful Project; albeit few bumps in the road nonetheless. Well done!

[Johanna Kim]

Congratulations on funding your Kickstarter and making a super useful and beautiful product! And thank you so much for sharing your experience. This is a fantastic resource.

[Sarah VanDam]

@carlianne Thanks so much for sharing this!! Haven’t read the whole post yet, but I’m going to come back to it, and I’d love to check out your Kickstarter.

[carlianne]

@Johanna-Kim you're so welcome! I'm happy to help. I always think "gee I wish someone told me this" so I always feel compelled too share ️

@Jeremy-Ross Thank you Jeremy! I'm sure there will always be bumps no matter how prepared you are. Guess I gotta just enjoy the bumpy ride!

@Sarah-VanDam You're welcome! Only 3 days left on my campaign!

[carlianne]

Update! Okay I'm in the last 48 hours now! I've been trying a few things to up engagement through stretch goals and I got some great advice I will share.

I didn't feel like my stretch goals were creating much engagement it was mostly stuff like unlocking more prints and sticker designs. I got advice to try and give away small items that are cheap to print in bulk and are very light weight. That way it doesn't impact shipping weight/costs.

So I tried instead doing a freebie and I noticed more engagement and since e-book backers couldn't get a physical copy of the bookmark I saw some people switch their pledge and upgrade to the softcover book.

The bookmark itself is pretty genius anyway because I can put my website and social media handles on it and give one to everyone instead of a business card.

Next, I got a recommendation to have a freebie only available to certain pledge levels. So I introduced a sticker. The average pledge amount in my campaign is $28 so I made it available for pledges $35 or higher to "upsell" everyone a little bit. I again saw a few people adjust their pledges to partake in the freebie.

Anyway my take away was to make the kickstarter more special by promoting more exclusive and bonus items that you get.

Feels really obvious now

I'm at 834 backers with 41 hours to go!

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@carlianne smart

[Asyas_illos]

@carlianne thanks so much for all the information and progress about your ‘campaign’, it’s good to know for those of who might consider this in the future.

[LauraA]

@carlianne Thanks for sharing all your experience here!