The electric atmosphere that accompanies a successful crowdfunding project is hard to match. You come up with a successful idea, others catch the vision for your idea, and suddenly you have the funding to make that idea a reality. Reaching your goal, though, is only a small part of the work to be done. Once your goal has been reached, you have to maintain the interest of your backers to ensure your flame doesn’t burn out. To help you move forward successfully, here are a few tips to keep backers interested in your project after your crowdfunding goal is met.
Project Updates
Now that your backers have given you their hard-earned money, they want to know that they’ll be rewarded in the way they were promised. That’s why it’s crucial to provide regular project updates to help keep your backers interested. These updates should happen at least weekly or anytime that a major development occurs. Even if development hits a snag, it’s important to push some type of update so that your backers know that you haven’t forgotten about them.
Website Launch
Though crowdfunding sites are fairly reputable, there’s still usually some doubt in your backers’ minds that you’ll be able to achieve what you envisioned. One great way to add credibility to your project and to maintain backer interest is to launch a website for your company or product as soon as possible. The best practices of crowdfunding dictate that this website should have a professional appearance and should be free from bugs. Otherwise, the poor impression from your website will be projected onto your competence to see the project through to the end.
Human Interest
Another great way to maintain excitement in your project is to connect with your backers on a personal level. An excellent way to achieve this is to release human interest stories that are related to your project. Whether it’s a story of a problem someone is facing that could be solved by your product once it’s released or a story of someone actually using your product to better their life, you will gain a lot of interest by connecting with people on an emotional level.
Send Out Test Samples
At the end of the day, your backers’ interest in your project is dictated by holding the actual product in their hands. One way to do this quickly is to send test units out to a select group of backers to allow them to provide feedback and to provide proof of your product “in the wild.” Just be sure that your product is serviceable to the point that your product testers won’t leave negative feedback in a public forum that is accessible by your other backers.
Ultimately, when people bought into your project, part of what they were buying into was your vision and enthusiasm. As long as you maintain that enthusiasm once your goal has been met, you will help maintain the interest of your backers. Even when the going gets tough, as it almost always does with crowdfunded projects, possessing a positive attitude will help get you through. That, along with plenty of honesty, will help make you a crowdfunding hero for years to come.
