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Quick Kickstarter Lesson Recaps: #166-170
In today’s flashback post, we’ll look at articles about project videos, after campaign communication, refunds and guarantees, April Fools Day, and managing stress.
Creating a Polished Project Video (#166): For the Scythe trailer, I decided to create a professional project video. Accomplishing this included selecting a capable, professional, and communicative designer, laying out the storyboard for the video, hiring a voiceover actor, find and hiring a music composer, and finally, working with the video designer to implement any final edits. Having a professionally produced video provides an opportunity to debut your video with some fanfare, something we’ve done for every game we’ve launched since this Scythe trailer.
The 4 Questions Creators Receive After the Campaign Ends (#167): I’ve noticed a pattern in the types of questions I received after each campaign. They usually consist of 4 different questions: 1. “I forgot to add ____ to my pledge. How can I do that now?”, “I didn’t pledge on time. Can I still back the project?”, “Can I cancel my pledge?”, and “My credit card didn’t work, but I still want the reward. Can I pay some other way?” Learning to expect these questions (or possibly have them answered in your FAQ) can speed up your after-campaign communications!
How Kickstarter Refunds Work and the Results of the Between Two Cities/Treasure Chest Money-Back Guarantee (#168): To refund a backer, go to the Backer Report, search for the backer, and click “Issue a Refund.” There you can refund all or part of their pledge, and they’ll see the refund on their credit card statement a few days later. If you give the backer a full refund, they will no longer be able to comment on the project. However, unless the refund is made within the 14-day grace period after the campaign ends (when the money is on hold), you will lose the roughly 8% fee charged by Kickstarter/Stripe. So if you send a backer a full $100 refund a few months after your project is over, the backer will receive $100, but you will incur a net loss on the original pledge of about $8. As for the our money-back guarantee, I can report only 7 backers of Scythe chose to send their copy back for a refund. I share this because I know it’s scary for creators to offer a money-back guarantee. I’m not saying it’s a good fit for you in the same way that it’s a good fit for us, but it can help create certainty.
How to Have Fun with Your Backers (#169): April Fools’ Day has a long tradition in relation to Stonemaier Games. On a day full of jokes, it’s tough to take anything on the internet seriously, and the last thing I want is to confuse backers. For a company, April Fools (and any time you want to have fun with your backers) shouldn’t be about fooling your customers. Rather, it’s about having fun with them in a way that demonstrates value. So don’t take yourself too seriously, absolutely don’t confuse your backers, and find a way to highlight what you already do well. Back when this article was published, I chose to announce 24/7 customer service. ;)
My Job Is Stress Relief…and I’m Not Very Good at It (#170): Oft-cited billionaire Mark Cuban took me off guard with this unexpected quote: “One of the ways to be incredibly successful no matter what you do is to reduce the stress of those around you.” I’ve ever heard this attributed to success. And I really, really like it… I’m just not very good at it. I’m starting to see how I could improve my customer service in general by changing the focus to reducing stress. And not just customer service–this is something I can do better with my business partners, freelancers, retailers, and other companies I work with. I can have better relationships and thus make Stonemaier more successful if I’m always trying to reduce the stress of those around me, often by clearly communicating and predicting future questions.
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If you have any questions or thoughts about these topics, feel free to share in the comments!
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