This Is the End State (KS Lesson #280)

You’re rapidly approaching the end of your crowdfunding campaign, posting updates, replying to questions, and celebrating as the final stretch goals are unlocked. But there’s one important task you might forget: Preparing an end-state image and/or text for the project page.

Recently I was reminded of this aspect of Kickstarter (and other crowdfunding platforms) in another excellent video from IV Games. The key is that after your project ends, there are very few elements of the project page that you can edit–just the primary image and the area at the upper right (the “spotlight” area). Everything is is frozen in place, forever.

So in the last few days of your campaign, I recommend preparing for the end state of your campaign. Have the text and accompanying image ready for you drop onto the page in the last 10 minutes or so.

In the IV Games video, Austin recommends the end-state of Tidal Blades, and I completely agree. You can see the beautifully prepared end-state image for Tidal Blades below:

For Scythe, back in 2015 I took a simpler approach and just included the following paragraph (along with an image containing the end state of each pledge level):

All pledges must be made in full by November 5 at 7:59 pm CST. We don’t use a pledge manager—backers may NOT increase their pledge or add on more items at the KS prices after the campaign ends. Future pre-orders and add-ons can be made on our website. [link no longer active]

Keep in mind that you can’t edit anything, so if you include a link, I’d highly recommend using a link to a place you can control for years to come. For example, link to your website, and you can always forward that link to another page. Otherwise you’ll run into the issue with the Scythe end-state: The link goes to a defunct e-commerce platform called Celery (we use Shopify now).

Austin notes in his video that an IV Games project, Veiled Fate, has an end-state error, but it’s still effective by including some hard-to miss clickable images like the following:

Overall, in my opinion these are the key ingredients for the end-state of a project page:

• customer support (managing rewards & add-ons, address changes, questions, etc)
• link to late pledge/preorder platform
• thank backers and share the funding and/or backer total
• highlight what you created together
• e-newsletter signup (I don’t see many campaigns including this, but people may stumble upon your campaign for years to come, and if they like what they see, I think this is the best way to get their information and engage them on an ongoing basis)

Austin and IV Games are currently on Gamefound with Mythic Mischief, so feel free to check out that campaign before (and after) the end-state portion goes live.

What are some other great examples of effective end-states for crowdfunding campaigns? Am I missing anything important that’s helpful for backers and future customers to see near the top of the project page?

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Also read:

• The Final Hour
• How to Maximize the New “Spotlight” Feature
• The Power of Public Progress

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