My fellow creators inspire me every day to be a better entrepreneur. I’m inspired not just by the innovations I see on Kickstarter, but also the way I see my fellow creators treat people with kindness, respect, and personality on social media and in person.
Below is a compilation of the top 10 most innovative Kickstarter strategies of 2016. This is not an exclusive list; I’m sure there are many brilliant strategies that I’m not aware of. These concepts are derived from my Kickstarter retrospective series.
- Fidget Cube posted a one-click press material button at the top of their project page, making it easier for the media to write about their project. Details here.
- Saloon Tycoon used an optional hub system to reduce backer shipping fees. Details here.
- TerraTiles implemented a really clever notation system for those who print labels and fulfill by hand. Details here.
- Nuheara IQbuds created a brilliant infographic explaining key features in words and images. Details here.
- The Red Dragon Inn 6 offered box-free expansion content to reduce backer prices and environmental waste. Details here.
- Tau Ceti: Planetary Crisis set up a forum to facilitate group purchases for backers. Details here.
- Biohazard used Facebook’s new engagement buttons to poll fans and spread the word about their game in the process. Details here.
- Coldwater Crown committed to writing weekly updates until rewards are fulfilled, communicating this promise through a nice graphic. Details here.
- Chimera Station not only offered first-run copies of the game in other languages, but they also used reward levels in each language to convey the details of those rewards. Details here.
- Vengeance has such an amazing project video that I have to mention, as it truly innovative. Details here.
What’s an innovative crowdfunding strategy you noticed in 2016?
11 Comments on “Top 10 Most Innovative Kickstarter Strategies of 2016”
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Hi! I loved how Anachrony asked backers to choose one faction out of the four factions in the game. The same pledge level had 4 versions for the same price, the only difference being faction specific box sleeves, and throughout the campaign there were faction specific stretch goals which monitored these numbers. It created a championship-like feeling which made me visit the project almost on a daily basis during the campaign, to see how “my” faction fares.
Kalman: That’s really cool! I like that by connecting the faction selection to a real component created such engagement.
I like Biohazard idea about creating polling using like/love/wow to vote. The best out of it is that it wont tell immediately who votes what and therefore votes will not be influenced by the polling outlook
I liked the press materials button idea a lot – I came across it in a different project and resolved to do it for the Scandinavia and the World game – I didn’t realise fidget cube was the first to do it, but I can believe it, that team had a lot of good ideas.
Nothing new really, but a continued increase in the quality of videos to introduce the product, particularly in tabletop gaming. It’s a high bar for sure.
The “Kickstarter Live” feature might be a game changer for some projects regarding their communication. The “Mythic Battles: Pantheon” project has adopted it as soon as it was introduced during their campaign with great outcomes: questions quickly answered, interactive demos, friendly discussions with the community which really created a nice emulation, etc.
I’m glad you mentioned the “Live” feature. Kickstarter rolled out a lot of cool features this year, and it’s neat to see creators using them in ways to better communicate with backers.
I really liked the Terra Tiles one, but after a few hours of research last time you mentioned it, I have yet to figure out how they did it, However I don’t have a label printer service for shipping where I am guessing its a custom field somewhere.
Sean: I think they may have used Stamps.com, which allows for a custom field.
This is great!
The one I noticed most was Scythe – it was a boardgame kickstarter that delivered on schedule!