In our continuing series of advisory blogs on how to run a good Crowdfunding campaign we address three key activities in any campaign – Monitoring, Responding and Updating
Monitor
It is important to understand what is going on in your campaign so that you can amplify the positive aspects and tailor any aspect to any emerging patterns. So, in simple terms, keep doing what seems to work well and don’t flog a dead horse. To help you with that many of the platforms offer quite sophisticated dashboards that can provide insights on your project. Traffic rates, engagement, referrals etc., and a good analysis of this can lead to continued stream of actions and tweeks designed to improve the campaign. But the platform is not the only mechanism for monitoring the campaign. If you are using multiple communication channels then it is important to review what is happening there and monitor the results of your efforts. Using too many channels will be time consuming and using channels that are not being responded to is a waste of effort. So, for example, if you are sending email campaigns then use a tool that will provide specific insight about its impact. This might show how many people opened the mail, how many clicked on links, or forwarded it, the time of day these things happen. Create tracker tokens for links and see who is sharing and using them. All of this can help you tailor and enhance your campaign as you go. It may even be possible to find the time to compare different approaches and arrive at the best approach from a number of different messages. Build a monitoring framework and keep to it. Set yourself targets and benchmarks in order to measure progress. And be sure to act on what you discover.
Respond
If you are asked questions respond to them and do so quickly. Be open and friendly and take account of what is being said. If people are confused about something then clarify it in your response and check to see if the message needs amending elsewhere. In a reward campaign you may need to amend change or expand the range on offer as you go based on feedback. Platforms have varied rules on these matters but honest amendments responding to community demands are usually okay. In most cases, on reward platforms you cannot change the specifics of a reward once one has been purchased.
Update
Keep people updated. It might seem obvious but one of the great strengths of crowdfunding is that it establishes, or it should, a high touch relationship with your funders. Keep in touch with them and keep in touch with your community generally. Not everyone invests immediately, get them back to do it. Updates make your investors feel engaged, valued and involved. This sense of direct engagement in a project is a key motivator and one of the main principles of digital empowerment so it is a good principle to respect. By doing this you also maintain momentum which is key to a campaign. But this is demanding and time consuming so you should plan some distinctive trigger points prior to your campaign for releasing prepared material. The majority of what you publish will be responding to events, but having materials to hand to keep the campaign alive is essential. An important part of your preparation campaign is to prepare a publishing schedule for your project. This will include scheduled communications and publications, and material prepared ready for specific times, which might for example include announcements about hitting a specific target. Clearly bombarding people endlessly with repetitive messages will become annoying. Be creative, inclusive and informative and do be careful to avoid crossing the “irritating” line.
Remember this process can be prepared for and structured but, in many respects, it is an art not a science and never forget the old adage – we are given two ears and one mouth so listen hard to your crowd!
If you would like to attend one of our Preparing to Crowdfund workshops or some individual advice on your campaign then get in touch
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