Kickstarter has long contended that a significant number of backers for any project are people who discovered the project while browsing on their platform. I’ve always had my doubts about this. As someone who has backed nearly 400 Kickstarter campaigns, I can probably count on one hand the number I’ve discovered by simply going to Kickstarter’s homepage and clicking around to see what I find.
So today I thought we could run a little experiment to see how people actually discover new crowdfunding and preorder campaigns. I’ve compiled the options into what I think is a fairly comprehensive list; feel free to select as many as you’d like. If I forgot any notable categories, please let me know. [UPDATE: I added the “Conventions and Events”, “Local or Online Game Stories Accepting Preorders”, and “Game Cafe” categories to the poll after I originally posted it.]
Also, while Kickstarter inspired this topic, this poll applies to any crowdfunding platform, including Gamefound, Game On Tabletop, BackerKit, and Crowd Sales on the Game Crafter.
In the comments, let me know your thoughts on the results. I’ll chime in there too.
[UPDATE] Some thoughts a few hours after posting this from both the data and anecdotal reporting:–I’m not surprised that the top 6 includes tabletop game media, organic social media and communities, the BGG hotness, and paid advertising on social media. I am surprised, however, that both publisher-specific categories are in the top 3. There’s certainly some level of selection bias here, but that would indicate that it’s still really important for a publisher to have a hub, a social media presence, and an e-newsletter.
–I’m quite surprised that “friends-who-backed” notifications is near the bottom of the top 10, as for a while now I’ve considered that the killer feature of Kickstarter. Perhaps I’m overvaluing it (though I still think it’s a helpful tool for any crowdfunding platform).
–As for those who browse on crowdfunding platforms, it ranks as #7 on this list (though it’s a big dropoff between #6 and #7). Anecdotally, a number of people have reported that their preferred way to discover projects is to go to Kickstarter on Tuesdays and see what game projects launched that day. I can certainly see the value in that.
–Jasper at Pine Island Games compiled some data that indicates that more than 50% of the backers on his latest campaign discovered the project through Kickstarter itself.
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52 Comments on “How Do You Typically Discover New Crowdfunding and Preorder Campaigns?”
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I believe the poll results might be biased. Readers of your blog (including me) are just a segment of the total Kickstarter backers and keen to follow specific publishers, specific content creators or even specific websites such as BGG.
I think a BIG segment of backers who are a lot more casual on tabletop or crowdfunding might tip the scales differently if they were able to find this poll and participate.
Don’t get me wrong, I still love analytics, polls, and every blog entry you share. This is good info to learn how people who are more into board games or crowdfunding usually find projects. I guess the percentage of backers for this segment might vary depending on the project.
In one of the options, I believe you were trying to say game stores as opposed to game stories. Typo?
Typo!
I’d be very interested to see what % of the people who chose the publisher answers are because they are already naturally engaged with Stonemaier Games (and perhaps other companies too). Perhaps it would come up less if asked for example in The Dice Tower FB group or a general Board Game group. Great poll thanks!
I don’t pay much attention to kickstarter in general and being a relatively new gamer (two years or so) I’ve been warned against it… so if I do end up following or even backing a kickstarter I’ll need to hear about it from somewhere else, either the Watch It Played channel, at a convention, or an email from the publisher. I realize some board games are only published through crowdfunding but I’m not going to have “fomo” for something I don’t know anything about.
Thanks for doing the poll. You know what surprises me the most about your results but probably shouldn’t? They really highlight the advantages of established publishers and the challenges faced by a newbie.
Game media (YT/podcasts/bloggers): Reviewers know that reviewing for an established name will generate clicks. It’s amazed me what a high proportion of reviewers accepted a copy of my game recently but have never even bothered to post a review — and other self-publishers tell me that I’m by no means unique on this score.
Following creators: You have to be a creator with a successful history to benefit from this one.
Publisher-specific newsletters/media: In your book, you highlight starting a newsletter. I think you over-estimate the ease of actually getting people to sign up. The key is to provide news of value to the reader. But until the game is actually nearing release, there’s little news of value to give, and the release normally follows the project which follows the KS. The result is a very very slow growth in newsletter subscribership. You started your newsletter at a time when there were fewer competing for readers’ time.
I challenge you in a future blog post to ask this community how many people have tried starting newsletters, how quickly they gained subscribers, and what strategies worked well.
Organic social media / communities: This is the first of your results where I see a newbie publisher having a strong starting point. It’s not to be dismissed. But it’s also only a 11% rate.
Again, thanks for doing the poll. Now that you have a huge following for this blog, it’s possible for you to do such a poll. One of the best things about you, Jamey, is that you use your high visibility and following for the benefit of the community and industry. Thanks!
Thanks for your thoughts, Alden! I’m really sorry that some reviewers accepted a review copy but didn’t actually review your game.
So, back in 2012, I had very very few e-newsletter subscribers–just like anyone else, the number was 0! It took a long time for that number to grow to 50, then 100, then beyond. You’re right that it’s important to have methods of attracting someone to a newsletter, but I still think the primary point is that if you don’t start an e-newsletter, that number will remain at 0. It’s having it available and easy to find that’s a crucially important step one. Here’s a related (and recent) blog post on the topic: https://stonemaiergames.com/how-we-lose-and-gain-e-newsletter-subscribers/
I wonder how many discovery efforts go unnoticed because they don’t yet form an impression. It’s said that you need something like 5-7 impressions to turn someone into a customer, and I suspect a lot of soft exposures (like your friend backed, or a random facebook ad) contribute to that without being salient in a customers mind of “this is how I heard about it”.
I know I’m unlikely to get a direct notice about a game and back it straight away. Usually I notice someone talking about it, then another person, then a reviewer shares their thoughts in a group, then my local gaming group asks “did anyone else back this?” and by that point I might take notice. But all of those things contributed in a small way, even if only one of them is the one that makes think “ah that’s the one that made me discover the campaign”.
Given the last Micro Dojo campaign had ~1000 backers and 700 weren’t already on my mailing list, it’s likely that Kickstarters estimate of 75% coming through KS was about right. How many of those came directly to KS because of KS itself, versus ‘direct’ access (i.e. not via a referrer) from other backers talking, reviewers, social media etc is less clear
I absolutely agree that repetition matters, Ben! The more of these options you can check off, the better.
Hi, great poll! I have been wondering about the same before, and as I aim to launch a project this fall, it is valuable to get some insight on the topic. I am for sure a fan of Stonmaier, but generally I feel these bloggs and replies from readers are inspiring and informative.
While I get almost all of that, paid social media advertising typically hooks me the most often
You may find it odd that the publisher-specific categories score well, but I actually don’t. Nearly all people who fill your poll are Stonemaier-fans and will probably be subscribers of your newsletters. Knowing that, it’s not weird that many have preordered a Stonemaier game based on the info of your newsletter. I must say that, for me as well, Stonemaier Games is an exception. never have I ever bought a game from another publisher based on a newsletter. So, I guess you might get very different results if you would limit your poll to people’s behaviour with publishers who are not Stonemaier. ;-)
“Nearly all people who fill your poll are Stonemaier-fans and will probably be subscribers of your newsletters.”
Possibly, but we don’t really know that? I think this blog is primarily read by creators who may or may not be Stonemaier fans. And this poll is more focused on crowdfunding projects than preorders–given that we don’t use crowdfunding, I think a lot of these answers are from the lens of people who aren’t focused specifically on Stonemaier.
So interestingly enough, many of the people at my meetup are not my friends on Kickstarter, so while I might learn of campaigns from them in person (usually when they get delivery, not backing), it’s my facebook friends who back stuff that get me some notice…and usually they’re backing campaigns for stuff I’m not going to back (RPGs, primarily). We DO have a shared facebook group for our gaming meetup and sometimes folks will point out an upcoming KS/GF campaign if they think the larger group might want to know [the recent Castles of Burgundy campaign was a widely discussed topic, for example].
I follow plenty of boardgame media that reports on new kickstarters (like Dice Tower Now! or Watch it Played, for example) and that combined with my favorite publishers and/or designers alerting me about their latest campaigns are primary. A Stonemaier Champion update alerting me to an upcoming game is usually my first indication of something I’ll be buying. An email from a publisher who I’ve backed and been happy with often grabs me immediately. Of course, the converse is true: I will never back a game from SteamForged Games ever again and immediately reject any campaign I hear they’re sponsoring, regardless of the IP they’ve managed to secure, primarily on their massive failures in the past (both in terms of timeliness of delivery and quality of product). To be clear, SFG eventually delivered high-quality components, teamed with the worst rulebook I’ve ever encountered and a terribly untested game system that I still remain unhappy about years after I sold the game at an auction.
Generally speaking, direct communication or sponsored communication WORKS. I do occasionally see sponsored ads on Facebook, but they usually fall into the ‘I’m already backing’ or ‘I have no intention of backing that’ category…but I do admit I have had some KS/GF campaigns brought to my attention that way.
A lot of my friends who use KickStarter simply do not back projects I’m interested in.
I will usually hop on KickStarter every month or two and browse board games usually by popularity, then by those ending the soonest.
Occassionally, I will discover a project via a YouTube video or by being contacted by the publisher/creator via email or seeing on a social media page that I follow.
In my group, we often feel like we shouldn’t back the same projects if we’re likely to play the game together anyway. So I specifically avoid backing projects that a friend of mine has backed.
I’d say 80% of the projects I back are ones I heard about from my favorite YT channels/podcasts or directly from publishers I follow via newsletter and social media. The remaining 20% come from online hobby communities. I rarely look at the projects KS recommends to me anymore.
Demo by designer/publisher at a local boardgame club is how I learned about a few games.
Regarding the influence of friends: we rarely back the same project with two or more people. So unless it comes from someone I know but do not play with regularly, I would just play the game with them once. they receive it.
I’m fascinated that conventions only has one vote (and that’s my vote); As a designer/publisher, I’d always seen promoting an upcoming kickstarter as a prime reason for having a stand at a con. But maybe it’s that presence that invites people towards the publisher-specific media.
I sometimes also see what my LFGS has new on preorder, and that could be an indication that it is still being crowdfunded. I don’t know what category that would fall into. I do rely on social media and content creators to help discover projects, but yes newsletters straight from the publisher also is handy.
That’s a great point, Rachel! I’ll add that to the poll too.
I usually just watch the youtube content creators and have gotten into the habit of playing them in the background while i’m working, or I’ll skip through the games until I see one I like and I’ll listen in. I’ve found KS and GF to be pretty frustrating experiences to have to put up with from a subs and search perspective. It’s very time consuming and you have to be pretty dedicated. I also think the content creators give you a more holistic view across multiple platforms in one place. As someone who isn’t backing a lot maybe 5 games a year, subbing to a content creator or a newsletter is way easier to manage.
Thanks Jamey, think your poll results highlight the benefit of putting in effort of creating good content on social media to gain following before launch, rather than just relying on advertising / KS website…
Absolutely! I hope most creators know that by now–I have dozens of articles on the topic–but you’re right that this is a good reminder.
Some thoughts a few hours after posting this from both the data and anecdotal reporting:
–I’m not surprised that the top 6 includes tabletop game media, organic social media and communities, the BGG hotness, and paid advertising on social media. I am surprised, however, that both publisher-specific categories are in the top 3. There’s certainly some level of selection bias here, but that would indicate that it’s still really important for a publisher to have a hub, a social media presence, and an e-newsletter.
–I’m quite surprised that “friends-who-backed” notifications is near the bottom of the top 10, as for a while now I’ve considered that the killer feature of Kickstarter. Perhaps I’m overvaluing it (though I still think it’s a helpful tool for any crowdfunding platform).
–As for those who browse on crowdfunding platforms, it ranks as #7 on this list (though it’s a big dropoff between #6 and #7). Anecdotally, a number of people have reported that their preferred way to discover projects is to go to Kickstarter on Tuesdays and see what game projects launched that day. I can certainly see the value in that.
I recently backed Bark Avenue on KS because of a “friends who backed” note. That’s the only one, though, of the relatively few that I’ve backed, for that category.
While interesting, I would be especially cautious of bias in this survey’s results. Readers of your blog are definitionally more invested into hobby board gaming than the vast majority of consumers, even among board game consumers. We are much more likely to hear about projects from gaming media, etc.
While it doesn’t give us a clear picture of how people first hear about a project, KS does provide traffic information on a campaign’s backers. Others have shared theirs and I would be happy to share mine as well.
I agree! Though my hope is that some data is better than no data. :) You’re welcome to share the data Kickstarter shares with you; I’d be particularly curious about that data compared to how backers report that they first discovered your project (perhaps using the categories I mentioned).
That is a great idea, I’ll ask in the survey
It’s a known challenge with these kinds of polls that you reach a specific kind of audience causing some bias in the results. The people that only use the KS website to find new boardgames (if they exist) will never find this poll in all likelihood.
I never used to know about kickstarter, and then I followed Amy and Maggie from Thinker Themer on YouTube and they have a every two weeks talk on what’s on the crowd funding platform they are excited about. Ended up backing two games because of them so far ^^ I also follow Garphill games closely and know about their project via their discord.
I like to see all the latest news and information. Which is exactly why I created a specific website to do that. Everybody does their own shouting in a small area, but you need to be able to see everything to get a full understanding.
I actually go every Tuesday and do a Kickstarter and Game found search on their sites. I do see a few that I’ve been seeing advertised, but I give them as much attention as anything else that catches my eye.
I do the same. Every Tuesday I scroll through all of the Tabletop projects, sorted by newest first. I open in a new tab anything that looks interesting. When I get down the list to the prior week’s projects that I have seen before, then I dive deeper into each of the new projects that I opened in new tabs. Some I will decide not to back in few minutes, while others I will research much more. This method allows me to not miss a single Tabletop project launch. I must have FOMO.
I back a lot of games but mostly only the more popular ones. Browsing the crowdfunding sites is the best way for me to see what is popular.
I have backed 70 Kickstarter projects and a handful of GameFound projects (6/7). The majority of these I found while browsing the crowdfunding platform. However, I watch a lot of content and about 10% of the projects I’ve backed are when I’m looking for the game after watching a video.
Yes I’ve backed many projects simply by browsing Kickstarter. Most of those are small independent publishers because once I find a game I enjoy I follow the company and am notified through email. YouTube is the other major way to find new projects.
Well, this is super varied for me and I ticked a lot of the boxes above.
There are a quite a few that are towards the top of how often I back. These are board game media, publisher communications, previous campaigns, online communities (reddit is a big one here), and friends who backed notifications. I’d say off of these are the mostly likely ways I get pulled into a campaign. As Malachi posted below, it can be hard to say exactly which of the above first drove me there, as many projects I hear from multiple of these channels.
Outside of those, I’ll find some with browsing on BGG or crowdfunding platforms, and sometimes I get an ad online (usually Facebook or Instagram) that may draw me in. These are a lot noisier though, as often times it is for more generalized and not as close to my specific board game interests. The content creators, campaigns, and friends I follow are more closely aligned with my interests and thus give me more signal about which games I should check out.
Lastly my wife sometimes gets ads or they show up in social media. If she likes the art, then I investigate to see if she would like the gameplay.
Up to about 3-4 years ago, I used to browse KS by going to the tabletop category and sorting by newest. I did this, though, because I was on a podcast where I discussed crowdfunding campaigns. I did back a lot of project as well, but my purpose wasn’t just to find projects to back.
Now I mainly rely on a few youtube channels that do regular crowdfunding videos going over projects that are coming up or just launched. I also subscribe to a few BGG Geeklists that have info, links and discussions for various projects coming up or just posted. But now I only look for projects I want for myself.
Mainly YouTube and kicktraq. Most crowd funding sites are awful at self advertising and searching through.
I back mostly comics and fiction Kickstarters. I find out about most of the new Kickstarters from updates from current or past campaigns I’ve backed, campaigns backed by other creators, or by looking at the upcoming projects filter for that category, or by other Kickstarter communications. Because I’ve backed so many comics projects, between all the campaign updates and follower updates, I’d say it’s rare that I find out about a campaign outside of the platform for the first time.
Interesting, I’m glad you posted this. I do wonder how accurate self-reporting is. Personally it’s often hard to remember where I heard about a project the FIRST time vs the FINAL time (ie, the time that made me decide to back it). As any marketer knows, you expect to impress the product on customers many times from several sources before they will buy.
Anecdotally, it’s not often I will first see a game and then immediately back/buy it, even if it’s from a creator I love. Usually it’s not until I see it, see some more about it, forget about it, then hear about it or see it again somewhere else, repeat – before I end up pulling the trigger. I kinda need it floating around in my consciousness, tugging at me.
For example, I’ve seen some videos of some sort of Viticulture World expansion (maybe you’ve heard of it), and I have Viticulture on my shelf, and boy the background art of this very website is looking really nice…sure would like to visit that world again someday……….. *tug tug*
Definitely, I’m very similar–I often need multiple reminders from different sources before I pledge/buy. Though I can typically remember how I initially heard about a project (or, at the very least, I know which sources/methods I hardly ever use to discover projects).
Malachi, I believe I “stumbled” across your Roll Camera! KS while scrolling through my FB feed. I’m glad I did, too, as I backed it.
Awesome to hear, thanks Patrick. One data point on the FB pile. And thanks for backing!!
There are way too many new game Kickstarters coming out to get even half of what catches my interest. That’s why I’m only likely to take a close look if it’s a designer/system that I already enjoy, or if I see a lot of gamers with similar tastes getting excited about it.
Unless I win the lottery and quit work, I can’t see myself just browsing Kickstarter for projects to back any time soon…
Normally find out from word of mouth or another gaming company email. For instance, we backed one that you mentioned in a champion newsletter created by Shem. It was off our radar on Kickstarter until you mentioned it.
With such limited time these days I subscribe to just a few social media outlets to help me keep up with board gaming news. The foremost of these is Rondey’s (Chad’s?) Watch it Played channel on YouTube. And, YouTube is how I learned about Brandon Sanderson’s kickstarter as well. Other than that, I’m on a few game publishers Discord servers, as that’s my preferred way to interact with publishers and their communities. Nearly 100% of my backing come from these two outlets.
Aside from “Publisher-Specific Newsletters”, everything else I back, I learn about from the RSS feed for https://thinkoutsidetheboard.com/category/kickstarter/previously-on-kickstarter/ or The Dice Tower’s “Crowdsurfing” videos.
Thanks! Those are in the “Tabletop Game Media (YouTube, podcasts, blogs, websites)” category.
As indicated in the poll, I typically discover KS projects from Facebook or from a friend who contacts me about a specific game. Just today, in fact, I found an updated game (Compounded) that’s on KS.