Recently, Alex at BoardGameCo posted an excellent video listing 6 reasons why your crowdfunding campaign could fail (or not live up to its full potential). I’ll share his video below so you can hear his full perspective, and today I’m going to build off his list and expand it to a full top 10.
10. Lack of compassion and inclusion. Alex described this as, “Don’t piss your backers off,” which is good advice for any business. I’d expand it a bit for crowdfunding campaigns to overall compassion and inclusion. For example, game campaigns without solo modes generally don’t do as well as other campaigns because you’ve excluded the growing number of gamers who play games solo. We even saw the impact of that off of Kickstarter via Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig–the original game didn’t have a robust solo mode, and I think the game’s marketability suffered as a result (hence why we added it in the Secrets & Soirees expansion).
9. Lack of urgency. Backers need a motivation to pledge now instead of waiting for later in the campaign or for the retail release. Invite them into the journey of the campaign and include special components/pricing that will motivate them to act now. This does not mean Kickstarter exclusives–instead, offer special components and promos for free via stretch goals or premium rewards that will be available later through your webstore.
8. Lack of understanding. If a tabletop game campaign doesn’t offer some combination of rules, gameplay, and playthroughs, people are less likely to support it. There are plenty of backers who don’t want a deep dive into the product, so offering a quick summary of what it is and what makes it unique is incredibly helpful. Also, lack of understanding extends to the presentation of the project page–a confusing jumble of awards and walls of text can make deciphering a project not worth the effort for many backers.
7. Unfortunate timing or rushed execution. Some projects fail simply because they launch at the same time as too many other projects (or several other similar projects). You can try to avoid this by keeping your finger on the pulse of your industry (for the game industry, resources like this are helpful). Also, you don’t need to launch today! If your project isn’t ready or you’re missing a key element, you are not bound by any agreement to launch on the day you said you’d launch.
6. Lack of community (before and during). If hardly anyone knows about your product or project before you launch, it’s highly unlikely they’ll magically discover it when it appears on Kickstarter. Spend time and effort in your industry’s community and–when appropriate–share what you’re working on. The community continues during the project, when engagement and communication with current backers is just as important as outreach to potential backers.
5. Lack of trust and competence. When I consider a Kickstarter project–particularly for a new creator–there are many ways they can gain or lose my trust. Some of these areas are elsewhere on this list (art, community, price, etc), and others are simple displays of competence. Like, is their production schedule reasonable or overly optimistic? Is there an abundance of typos on the page? Have they clearly researched shipping methods and prices?
4. Lack of marketing. While marketing includes the community-building aspects of crowdfunding, it also extends into unbiased third-party reviews, previews, and advertising. Content creators reach audiences well beyond your community, and they are instrumental in helping people discover your project and decide if your project is a good fit for them.
3. Underwhelming visuals and components. Art and graphic design are highly subjective, but they’re integral to the success of any campaign. Like any creator, you’re most likely enamored with your art and graphic design, so I’d recommend reading this article for some ideas on how to ensure you’re not wearing rose-colored glasses. The same goes for other components in the game–there are good-looking minis, for example, and bad-looking minis.
2. Price point is too high. I continue to see this all the time. I talked about this in detail in a blog post last year, and the core idea is that the price-to-value ratio is critical when you’re trying to convince people to give you money 8-12 months before you give them anything tangible in return. On Kickstarter you’re selling directly to consumers, so your profit margins are significantly better than when selling to distributors, so find a price that (a) covers your costs, (b) leaves you some profit, and (c) feels too-good-to-be-true to backers.
1. People don’t want the product. Let’s face it: The #1 reason that projects fail is that people simply don’t want your product. This is a harsh reality every creator will face at some point. No matter how much passion, time, effort, resources, community-building, and research you put into creating your product, if other people don’t want it, it will not sell. For this reason I think it’s incredibly important to get a wealth of unbiased feedback (e.g., blind playtesting) throughout the design and development process, and always be willing to walk away if you keep hearing “nah” when you ask people if they would buy it. This applies to every creator, big or small, new or experienced. At Stonemaier Games, we’ve walked away from projects well into the development cycle simply because they we realized somewhere along the line that people did not want it. I think it becomes even more difficult to face when you’re in the middle of a failing project, because at that point you’re in problem-solving mode to try to improve the art, marketing, etc…but sometimes you’ll have to face that people just don’t want the product. Nothing I can say here will soften that blow–if it’s happening to you or when it does happen, I’m truly sorry. Your fellow creators feel for you and relate to you.
I’ve ranked these roughly in order of importance, but I’d love to hear if you’d rank them differently or if there’s anything you’d add to the list. I’m sharing this not to be negative about projects that have failed; rather, hopefully this can serve as a checklist to review well before you launch your next campaign so you can increase your chances of success.
Thanks again to Alex for sharing his insights on BoardGameCo! Here’s his video:
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Also read: The 10 Reasons I’ll Back a Kickstarter Project
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16 Comments on “Top 10 Reasons Your Kickstarter Campaign May Fail”
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Excellent article Jamey!
Here is an idea for a future blog entry :
I would really like you opinion the current discussions on paid content and the possiible biais it has on content creators AND viewers/readers/companies. That topic is pretty deep are there are many sides to that theme.
Eric: Thanks for the idea, though I wasn’t aware it was a big topic. Publishers are not paying reviewers for their opinions, though publishers do pay content creators to create previews, playthroughs, and how-to-play videos. I noticed a video on the topic on BoardGameCo the other day, though the title alone (reviewers aren’t getting paid) seemed to cover it. Is that what you’re referring to?
One factor that affects my purchasing decision is time to fulfilment. If this is set too far out (particularly for an eye-wateringly expensive KS like Vampire: The Masquerade – CHAPTERS) it makes me consider whether I really want to have my money tied up for that long versus spending it on multiple cheaper games at retail that I can have right now. Anything much longer than 12 months makes me seriously reconsider how much I want it. The only KS so far that has made it past this decision point for me is The 7th Citadel.
I can definitely see that. I’m fine with a reasonable, buffered timeframe, but I much prefer projects that are pretty close to being ready to going to print after the campaign ends–much less uncertainty that way.
I started writing out a long comment that could probably be an article itself, but from a backers point of view. If figure the least I can do is give the bullet point highlights that prevent/deter ME from backing a campaign.
* “People don’t want the product.” – Nothing is for everyone, that’s clear. Some products however, are for such a small group it’s hard to even consider.
* Click-bait – If the game or game accessory just looks to be taking advantage of a recent trend as a quick cash-grab, I’m out.
* FOMO – I’m talking about big heavy games with lots and lots of plastic and a flashy IP. Yes, there are amazing games that come from this category but the market is a bit flooded. Also, the phrase “won’t be available in retail” makes me question the publisher’s goal of producing the game.
* Publisher/Designer’s Belief in the game – This could have the longest write up. If looking at the crowdfunding page, social media, and BGG I don’t feel the creator and publisher is highly invested, motivated, excited, and downright exhilarated by the long path after funding until delivery and beyond – I’m deterred.
* Add-Ons and Confusing pledge levels – Many platforms have made add-on managers, why not use it? If reading your campaign page and the pledge levels are not clear and visual, it’s a miss.
* Communication – I’ve been spoiled by some recent campaigns and publishers. Some creators establish a relationship early in that can carry through to following campaigns so well. (You know it’s good if I consider backing because I enjoyed the previous campaign, oh and your game looks cool too.)
That summarizes fairly well. All of these factor into “price” in one way or the other. I know forums are filled with this kind of opinions too.
Thanks for sharing! These are some excellent points. I, too, like to see the creator’s passion. And communication is key for me.
The one thing you said that doesn’t resonate with me is “click-bait” (or, as you defined it, “cash grab”). Most things that people put on Kickstarter have been in the works for quite some time, so it’s typically just a coincidence if there’s a product launch that just happens to be similar to another recent release.
Hi Jamey,
re: Price point is too high
I see a lot of Kickstarters and preorders (like Near and Far) at MSRP.
Designers, retailers, and publishers on Facebook keep saying distributors will see a discounted MSRP as the actual MSRP and refuse a higher price. Designers are afraid to not put the full MSRP on their Kickstarter now. That could be the reason for high reward prices we are seeing. Have you heard of the troubles of discounting “the first price seen” for the game?
I think backers should be rewarded with a discount. Lots of Kickstarters now cost more than at retail as well as a high shipping cost on top. Retailers would have a slight discount when selling the game, free shipping, and VAT included in the price.
P.S. I posted this on the wrong article a minute ago. I must have accidentally clicked on one of the links.
Thanks! I’ll remove it from the other post and reply here.
If there’s fearmongering about that from distributors and retailers, it’s inexcusable. Just as retailers can sell a game at any price they want, so can publishers, especially if they’re trying to create something that doesn’t exist yet. If the game is successful enough that people want to buy it post-Kickstarter, the publisher should use a sustainable price based on the 60% discount distributors require. I’ve never heard from a retailer that a customer won’t pay $X for Scythe now just because we offered it for $59 on Kickstarter.
And you’re absolutely right–when you account for shipping, even well-priced Kickstarter rewards end up being more than what you would pay if you walk into a shop and buy a game.
Thanks for confirming what I hoped was the case. There is fearmongering going on. I sometimes reply on facebook with the same Scythe example you gave, but in the back of my mind I was starting to worry that things are different now and that only huge hits would have the power to avoid this problem. I strongly feel a discounted price is the right thing to do for backers paying upfront and believing in a game. However, it seems the fearmongering advice is working as most new KS projects appear to be using the MSRP.
Yeah, even I’m hesitant to use the Scythe example, as Scythe is a bit of an anomaly in many regards–there are probably some more recent examples too. I also understand that distributors and retailers want to sell games and that they might be frustrated by reprint and new edition projects offering low prices, but for any new product, I’m really disappointed to hear that they’re threatening creators in that way.
One thing on #2 (price)
I don’t know about you but I’m seeing a LOT of very big, very expensive projects turning up these days. Many of them I look at with interest, but they’re just too expensive to tempt me in.
That said, the companies are still killing it with severla thousands of backers on some of these – so it’s hard for me to see how they can get away with it.
Maybe they spend an exorbitant amound on marketing and their sale % is painully low. But if they put half a million dollars away, who cares?
I dunno I’m seeing a huge number of very pricey kickstarters these days and plenty of backers seem to be willing to jump in.
Definitely, I’ve seen those projects too. But whenever I see them, I have to wonder: Instead of charging $100 for your core reward and getting 5000 backers (which is still a great accomplishment), could you have charged $79 and had 10,000 backers? And perhaps the answer for some of those creators is that they’d rather have $75 in profit margins for fewer people instead of $55, and that’s perfectly fair. I’d personally rather get our games in the hands of more people, though.
It’s the market space a little bit above me :)
I think your games are an easy buy and theirs are a hard buy (again, I passed myself on some I would have enjoyed but $100+ for a lighter game is too much for me).
What I don’t know is just how they manage to get so many people to agree to part with so much money. Is it just that people are prepared to spend more on Kickstarter these days?
or is it that I’m a Northern Englishman and, therefore, scared of spending money and somewhat out of touch with what people are prepared to spend…?
That’s why the majority of games I own are Stonemaier games games and their expansions.
I agree about your observations on KS these days but at the same time, I’d put Price lower down Jamey’s list, insofar as price isn’t an absolute. People will pay a premium if they feel the offer matches the price. So, is $100 expensive? It depends on what you’re getting. To me, price issues are more a concern when there isn’t good alignment with what you’re asking for and what you’re providing. I’ve had no hesitation backing more expensive games when I feel it is fair value.
For me, Trust (and the things that build it) would go higher on this list. There is an element of gambling on a KS pledge – and anything that makes it seem like your bet is a better one is crucial.