I’m sorting out the rewards and stretch goals for the Perilous Journeys Kickstarter (which is imminent, eek), and I…

8 thoughts on “I’m sorting out the rewards and stretch goals for the Perilous Journeys Kickstarter (which is imminent, eek), and I…”

1. I’m not incredibly experienced with Kickstarter, but I’ve been working in marketing departments and ad agencies for a long time. Marketing is all about incentives. It’s a great motivator for higher pledges if patrons can see what their money is working toward.

2. What he said. Show ’em all (or most of them) up front.

3. It might be happening unconsciously, but I can’t relate to the idea that I might pledge a little more to help unlock something that’s hundreds of backers away. My incremental effort seems minuscule compared to whether I feel I’m getting good value for the rewards I’m selecting at my pledge level. I do think that stretch goals help convert people who are on the fence. EDIT: .. about whether to back, or about whether to back at level A or B.

4. How many stretch goals are you thinking about?

   With projects like Reaper’s Bones or the recent Conan board game, with dozens of stretch goals (some add-ons, some automatic), the constant reveal/achieve structure served to keep me (and, i presume, others) coming back and paying attention.  On a smaller scale, something similar seems to have happened with Blades in the Dark.  Even with DW’s “revealing the map” bit. 

   That approach continued to generate enthusiasm and attention throughout the course of the campaign.  And the later reveals of “add-ons” (as opposed to freebies) in the Reaper & Conan projects spurred people to continually increase their pledges.

   But… those projects were blockbusters (in their relative spheres).  If you’re only thinking about a small number of stretch goals and expect a relatively small number of backers, I think you’re better off putting the goals up front. 

   As Michael points out, the main thing on a small project is “what am I getting for my pledge,” not “how will my pledge advance us towards the next goal.”

5. I like most of it upfront then maybe some “bonus goals,” revealed as you go is frustrating especially if its a longer kickstarter where some of the goals have been talked about ahead of time. For example I backed Blades in the Dark right away, but I was holding out hope the whole time that the modern paramilitary skin Razors would drop, but it never made an appearance. To be fair a lot of the stretch goals were great, but its hard to get your friend to back if they dont see something they like immediately.

6. list upfront

7. Thanks everyone, up front it shall be.

8. Late to the party, but up front is what I prefer. Because I often “Back and forget”; so new revealed stretch goals don’t entice me to add later.

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