<aside> <img src="/icons/arrow-right_purple.svg" alt="/icons/arrow-right_purple.svg" width="40px" />
</aside>
It's the most tangible opportunity to tell a story and to transcend your campaign from a purely fundraising one into an audience-building one. Because the ultimate goal with this is not just to fund your project, right? It's also to gain viewers for the amazing thing you’re about to make. And the best way to do that is to tell a story and make your campaign marketing-focused.
Below, we’ll walk you through all the best practices for crafting your rewards effectively and strategically, but always remember the golden rule: the best rewards for your project can only come from you.
Let’s get into it!
Supporters want to feel special: In terms of the psychology of crowdfunding supporters, even from totally disparate fan communities, you can boil down what they want from an incentive in four main ways. The first is that they want to feel special and high status, so offering things like premiere invites and exclusive early access tend to go over well. Be sure to price appropriately because this can work against you too- if you value specialness too low, they will assume it’s actually not all that special.
Supporters don’t want to be burdened: Don’t make people work for their incentives; if it takes more than a sentence to describe the offering, and more than a single email to get what you need to deliver, that’s too complicated, and will work against you/dissuade people from choosing that level.
Supporters want to feel like a part of something: The more you can include incentives that include your audience in what you’re making, the more responsible they’ll feel for your project’s success (in crowdfunding and beyond!). So make sure you continue to include them after the campaign closes; don’t ghost them, because they’re now part of your team, and living up to that will encourage them to get involved in future campaigns and projects as well.
Supporters want to be recognized: To accommodate this, in addition to making special thanks an option, be sure to thank them publicly- share the incentives you give to them on your own feeds and tag them when you can. If you include a link to your campaign as well in the post, when they share it on their own feeds, they aren’t just spreading awareness, but literally spreading the link as well.
Check out this Lunch&Learn session we did for a deep dive on the psychology of crowdfunding supporters, and how that plays into the rewards you build for your campaign.