Welcome back to the Funding Insider blog! Today we’re going to talk about how successful campaigns are curating their reward packages so we can draw some inspiration for future projects.

Now, tech and design campaigns are very different from artistic ventures, so we’ll be looking at a variety of projects from different categories to see how the packages differ between categories.

Tech and Design

Our analysis found that the vast majority of backers choose the Super Early Bird single reward package for Tech and Design campaigns.

Why is this? Well, Kickstarter products can be a bit hit or miss, and you never know for sure if the product you’re backing will actually arrive at your door. For this reason, campaigns will offer backers a significant discount, the biggest of which is given to Super Early Bird backers. Also, if the creator did any pre-launch marketing, then they should have received quite a lot of interest before the campaign actually launched. That’s why so many campaigns will reach their funding goals in just a few hours of launching—and the vast majority of that funding will be achieved with Super Early Bird rewards.

So, should we only make "Super Early Bird SINGLE" rewards for our backers? Not so—take CZUR for instance. In terms of the raw number of backers, almost all of them (605) chose the Super Early Bird single. But 4 backers also pledged for the 20-count package. These 4 backers combined bought 80 units of product—that’s almost 5% of the total money earned by the campaign brought by just a handful of people! So having that extra large quantity package as an option for your backers can make you a lot of money, even if only 1 or 2 people actually choose it.

Music

In our analysis of recent successful music campaigns, one throughline was made clear: backers want physical goods, usually in the form of a CD or vinyl.

Anyone who’s paid attention to the music industry in recent years will know that artists tend to not make money on streams or record sales anymore. However, the merchandise sector of the industry is alive and well, indicating that fans are hungry for goods from their favorite artists. And who can blame them? After all, fans want something they can touch and experience with all senses or post on social media. As such, a digital download of an album is often not going to cut it for most Kickstarter backers.

Our research revealed that most backers will choose to spend extra money on the album in a CD or vinyl form. Which of the two is more popular tends to vary from project to project, so ideally, if you are making a music crowdfunding campaign, you should try to provide both forms. As for other goods, our research found that expensive packages that included bonus goodies and accessories tended to not see much popularity on Kickstarter. So, if you don’t have any extra merch lying around and don’t want to commission any, it’s by no means obligatory.

An interesting exception to this finding was North Folk Crossing’s Kickstarter campaign. This campaign featured a $100 reward that included tour tickets and an invitation to a private party, and this was the most popular reward among the campaign’s backers. So, if you can give your fans a truly unique experience that goes above and beyond your typical vinyl or CD, it can go a long way to helping you reach your funding goals.

Art

Kickstarter Art campaigns saw the most success when creators gave a variety of reward choices that were both physical and digital.

A common feature of the art and comics campaigns we saw on Kickstarter was that the sheer number of reward choices for each campaign was incredibly high—nearly 15 per campaign. Normally, we’d encourage keeping your reward choices simple. But for art campaigns, having many different reward choices seems to work in your favor.

When creating your reward choices, think about what cover art variations you can provide, if images will be censored or uncensored, if rewards will be provided physically or digitally, etc. Having so many options helps let backers choose exactly how they want to customize their rewards, while also letting you prepare ahead of time on the logistics end. 

In terms of physical vs. digital rewards, it was surprising to see that most projects in this category had an impressive demand for digital packages. Recall that, for musicians, vinyl or CD rewards were the most popular option by a wide margin. This is evidently not the case for art; digital art is very popular, though there is still an impressive demand for physical books. So, if you’re crowdfunding an art project, preparing a wide variety of reward options for users of all backgrounds and preferences will do you well in this category.

That’s all for our look at reward pricing and types for Kickstarter art, music, and tech categories. You can see that each space has different backer preferences and popular packages, which should help you make decisions for your own campaign. If you have any other questions or ideas about crowdfunding, feel free to reach out to the Funding Insider team!

Funding Insider is an all-inclusive crowdfunding agency with expertise in marketing, campaign management, copywriting, photography, and more. We work with clients from all around the world and would be happy to work with you! 

Researched Campaigns:

Music:

Help MARK ERELLI record & release TWO new albums! An Honest New Record by Blair Borax: The Color Green, Help North Folk Crossing Make Their Second Album!

Tech and Design:

loomos AI Glasses: All-day 16MP Capture & Memory with GPT-4o, CZUR ET MAX- The Unprecedented Professional Book Scanner, XLASERLAB X1/X1PRO: The Most Versatile Laser Welding Machine

Art

THE FEW AND CURSED #11 - A Weird Western Saga, The Little Mermaid & The Pirate Queen #1 - Sapphic Adventure, The Unsinkable Ship of Fools by Jonas Goonface