Learn how to transform your Kickstarter campaign into a successful online store with this step-by-step guide to make the transition easier.
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On this page
Why should you create your online store before you start?
Pre-launch: Setting up your e-commerce business
Launch: Moving Kickstarter Backer Data to Shopify
Shipping and Fulfillment: Delivering Rewards to Your Backers
And finally, growth
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Kickstarter is a great platform for raising the funds needed to turn product ideas into real products.
However, often the next step after completing a successful campaign is to transform those products into a long-term business.
From Rockwell Razors to Smart Nora , many crowdfunding canada whatsapp number campaigns have evolved into highly successful e-commerce businesses thanks to Kickstarter and Shopify.
Click here to start selling online right now with Shopify
Whether you're in the early stages of your campaign or have already reached your funding goal thanks to your own efforts and the support of your backers, it's crucial to start thinking about how you'll fulfill your promise and what steps you'll take next.
Transitioning from Kickstarter to an online store can be a complicated process, and this comprehensive guide will help you learn how to do it.
Why should you create your online store before you start?
Running a successful Kickstarter campaign is already a lot of work, so why would you want to add more effort to your project?
The short answer is that it will actually save you a lot of headaches in the long run and make the transition from a successful Kickstarter campaign to a fully-fledged eCommerce business easier.
The long answer is that having an e-commerce infrastructure in place from the start will allow you to:
Start building your email list and accelerate your email collection efforts.
Use email marketing to communicate with customers, opening up opportunities for upselling, sending newsletters and more.
Retarget visitors with your ads to convert them into backers and customers (you need a website or landing page outside of Kickstarter to use the Facebook conversion tracking pixel).
Manage orders in one central location : Having all your orders in one place and moving away from reporting/spreadsheets about your backers will help you avoid errors, duplications, and delays, and streamline fulfillment now and in the future.
Integrate print-on-demand services to offer simple rewards like t-shirts, merchandise, accessories, and more with no upfront costs.
Understand your most valuable patrons/customers based on purchase history and lifetime value.
Run referral and loyalty programs to increase your repeat purchase rate and potential to acquire new customers.
A/B test copy and design options : With a store, you can start testing everything from different messaging to colors to optimize your landing page over time.
As you transition your store online, this guide will cover everything from setting up your Shopify store, migrating your Kickstarter backer data, fulfilling rewards, and planning for growth.
If you already have an existing Shopify store, consider using a solution like BackerKit in the following circumstances:
Assigning a retail value to rewards would be too complicated for you because you have multiple variants for your products (colors, sizes, etc.) and you've already offered your products at different discounted prices for each sponsor level.
You don't want to confuse your existing online customers with Kickstarter pre-order items that aren't yet available to everyone.
“BackerKit is an indispensable tool for Rockwell Razors to run crowdfunding or pre-sell campaigns for innovative new products that are not yet available for shipping, while continuing regular operations on our Shopify store of in-stock products.”
Rockwell Razors
Pre-launch: Setting up your e-commerce business
Whether you do it before your product is launched or after, you will inevitably need a place for your business to reside.
At the very least, you should consider setting up a separate landing page to complement your Kickstarter campaign, which you can easily build and launch in Shopify.
Once you've signed up, it's time to build your landing page and create the infrastructure you need to have an effective eCommerce store.
Choose a topic
One of the first things you'll need to do when setting up your store is choose a theme, which you can do by heading to the Theme Store or visiting Online Store > Themes in the admin panel.
There are over 100 styles to choose from in the theme store, but the following themes have been popular choices among past Kickstarter successes:
Startup
Palo Alto
Editions
Impulse