The secret to having a ‘profitable’ launch, eliminating risk and building a long-term sustainable brand, on any e-commerce launch
Kickstarter expert, Johnny Loh from Playground Theory, talks to us on the process of a 6-figure lunch. After a trip to Thailand, Johnny got started on Amazon FBA in 2015, earning around a $700k profit in 2017. One thing led to another, and John and his team raised over $1.2M for two of their crowdfunding launches through Kickstarter.
In This Podcast:
- What is Kickstarter/ Crowdfunding?
- Why you’d want to pay attention to Kickstarter
- The 6-Figure Kickstarter Launch Blueprint
Now, let’s dive right in!
Part 1: Understanding Kickstarter and why this will forever change your launches.
Why you’ll want to pay attention to Kickstarter
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform for creative projects, everything from design to films and technology, with over 28 million visitors per month and 17 million active users. The platform is full of ambitious, innovative, and creative ideas that are all made possible through the direct support of others. All you need is a prototype and a Kickstarter campaign.
Kickstarter started in 2019 and they have raised $4.8 billion for 180 successfully funded products. Kickstarter is not a store, backers pledge projects to help them come to life and support a creative process.
The backers are some of the wealthiest and most passionate e-commerce shoppers in the world, who are willing to pay for a product that doesn’t exist yet (USD$100/order). They’re early adopters, looking to be the first to back up a product that has never been heard of. So if you’re launching a new product or brand that no-one’s ever heard of, this is the perfect audience for you. To thank their backers for their support, project creators offer unique rewards that speak to the spirit of what they’re hoping to create.
How does Kickstarter work?
- Launch a time-limited campaign – duration of your launch campaign, from 5-60 days. (Creating an exclusivity and urgency for people to back the project.)
- Backers place ‘pre-orders’ – this way, you get cash upfront
- You get paid from Kickstarter in 15 days
- You place the manufacturing order
- Fulfill orders to backers – deliver on promises to your backers.
You can launch on preferred e-commerce channels (ex. Amazon, Shopify, wholesale)
Here’s a link on becoming an Amazon Seller
Why is this a better launch strategy?
- Profitable launches
Typically, when you launch an eCommerce business, you acquire significant upfront investment – giveaways, invest in PPC to rank, incentivize giveaways, etc. Launches are a sunk cost, they require a lot of money and there’s no guarantee that your product will be profitable on the backend, it usually takes a few months.
However, Kickstarter resolves a lot of these issues because you’re doing pre-orders, you get the cash up front and you get the additional advantage of your Kickstarter campaign page living on the site forever.
Here’s an example of John’s first campaign that’s still live on Kickstarter:
- Minimize risk, positive cash flow
Since it is a pre-order platform, you get to cash paid upfront before you place the order with your manufacturer. Instead of potentially getting a loan or going to VCs for funding for a launch (that may or may not be successful) running a Kickstarter campaign allows you to minimize risk and have positive cash flow.
- Build a long term sustainable brand
There are a lot of difficulties that come with building a brand on Amazon/Shopify alone. Having a brand would mean that you have a list of customers that you keep in contact with regularly, a task that is impossible with Amazon, and you have repeat customers that keep coming back to you.
With Kickstarter, you build a community with a more intimate customer relationship. Your backers become your friends who are super engaged, as they support brands they’ve never heard of. Out of the 8,000 initial backers that the Arctic got, John, sent out a 20 question survey and got almost 2,500 people to respond to the survey.
- Gain public social proof
Your campaign page will always be on Kickstarter, it’s a public asset with the high traffic. Having a strong SEO will help you rank high on google – bringing potential customers with ease towards your product.
The campaign also serves as a form of credibility when you direct customers, press, and partners/distributors to the page; they’d be more interested and engaged to put your product on their shelves.
- Make a splash: PR buzz and credibility
A successful campaign picks up buzz, this way you’ll build credibility across multiple channels and reach new audiences, thus growing your brand even further.
Part 2: The Strategy
John’s first Amazon product was a success, however, their initial launch strategy – where they were appealing to all these niches through Amazon giveaways, influencer campaigns, and aggressive PPC, wasn’t reliable. With no positive cash flow, they weren’t building a brand and therefore ended up losing $150k in 12 months.
Along the way, they discovered Kickstarter and ended up raising close to $1M within just 4 months!
The 6 – Figure Kickstarter Launch Blueprint
- Determine Your USP:
- Identify the USP: The Unique Selling Proposition or the “hook.”
- Start with your product: What’s unique about your product? What makes people click through the product listing and show interest in learning more about your product.
- Don’t need to reinvent the wheel (doesn’t have to be the only/best in the world) but needs to have a unique angle or positioning.
Determining your USP can be broken down into 3 difficulty levels:
Level 1: Easiest
Product positioning: Change the way you present the product idea or emphasize on benefits in a different way.
For example, the product on the left – Soapberri, is a shampoo and body wash and their USP is – The world’s 1st soap grown from trees.
They raised around $42,000
Adding a simple spin like a change of ingredients or a unique approach, makes your brand stand out.
Level 2: Medium
- Materials: A change or upgrade in materials
- Aesthetic design: Looks different but has the same functionality
- Small functional upgrade: Add new features to enhance function.
This example raised over $272,000, with a simple material change from wood to titanium.
Level 3: Hard
Advanced functional upgrade: upgrade that creates a new way for the product to be used.
Like this brand, which created take-a-part cutlery that fits into a pocket-sized tin.
A simple upgrade of: How can I put this fork, spoon, and knife fit into my pocket, raised over a million euros.
- Create Your Campaign
- Campaign Basics
When you set up your campaign you have two main aspects to keep in mind:
- Fundraising goal – keep it less than $30,000.
You don’t want to set it too high, making it difficult to reach. Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing platform, so if you don’t hit that amount, Kickstarter doesn’t charge the backers and you don’t get any of the money.
- Campaign duration – Up to 60 days. Would recommend between 30 – 45 days.
- 3 key brand assets
These assets would have already been created for an Amazon/Shopify launch.
- Photos: Have professional-quality photos
- Copy and write up: A compelling copy always wins
- Campaign video: The most important asset and best investment
Remember that you can repurpose 100% of these assets on your website, e-commerce channels, publication, ads, and more!
- The most important list
- Launch Strong
1. Spike the algorithm:
- Jumpstart the Kickstarter algorithm to pay attention to your product.
- Use your leads’ list to get as many purchases as possible in the first 24-48 hours.
- The higher engagement you get on your page (Total backers, traffic, funding goal), the better your ranking will be in the algorithm.
2. Continue momentum with ads
After the first few days (or first week), you’ll notice that the traffic is starting to slump on your page. So you continue to boost the momentum with Facebook ads.
- Facebook ads are more effective and have the highest ROI (make sure you target Kickstarter as your primary interests)
- Much more likely to convert because they understand crowdfunding
- Retarget leads list and opt-ins – so you don’t just target new people but also your existing list.
3. Take advantage of PR
This step is optional but recommended. Like we mentioned before, a campaign is a form of credibility that can deliver great results by reaching new audiences on several platforms, all organically!
4. Leverage your community
You have an engaged list, so you might want to take advantage of them; get them to repost your campaign, share it on their social media accounts, by incentivizing them through referral campaigns.
A few sites you can use to promote your product, without building anything from scratch:
- Upsell, Order & FullFill
1. Place your order
- Place an order with your supplier
- You get cash within 15 days from Kickstarter
- You can go to your supplier and arrange the products before your Kickstarter campaign ends (if you know and are confident with how much you’ll raise).
2. Optimize your upsell strategy
Between your Kickstarter closing and you start to sell, there’s going to be a lag time ranging from 1-6 months. You can use that time and continue making money on pre-orders:
- What related or peripheral items can you sell?
- Use a post-campaign tool (ex BackerKit or CrowdOx)
- Upsells on average can increase your total sales by 10-25% +
3. BONUS: Sell more without inventory
- Leverage your publicity and traction
- Launch on Indiegogo In-demand (Kickstarter competitor) for more pre-orders (raise 2-100% + more)
4. Deliver on your promise
- Fulfill orders to your backers
- If you’re going to be late, it’s okay. Tell your backers (people are a lot more forgiving)
- Establish Your Brand
Engage Your Community:
If you don’t have a list you don’t have a brand
Johnny Loh
- They’re your fans now!
- Connect “deeper” BTS content, secret Facebook groups, surveys = build the relationship!
Maximize Your UGC:
- User-generated content: Unboxing photos/videos, reviews, or testimonials.
- Use for ads, promos, and more.
Part 3: BONUS – Successful Launches to model
Part 4: BONUS – Launching A Product?
Free 30-min Breakthrough Strategy Call ($197 Value) with Playground Theory.
- Instant audit of your current launch strategy and what will make the biggest impact in scaling your e-commerce business. They’ll audit one or more pillars:
- Your product launch strategy to identify the mistakes that you should avoid;
- Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) to target your ideal customers & maximize conversion rate;
- Your brand’s growth & profit strategy to maximize ROI and eliminate unnecessary costs
- Your business’s long term sustainability strategy so you can scale your brand 4x beyond your launch.
- By the end of the call, you’ll have actionable feedback and clear next steps for how to take your product launch & brand to the next level.
- Limited to the first 5 people: https://www.livemyplayground.com/fbalifestyle
Alright, guys, that’s it for now!
Now we’d like to hear from you, let us know what part of this masterclass made you consider Kickstarter?
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