Since Crowdfunding first exploded in the early 2010s, Indiegogo and Kickstarter have cemented a legacy as leading platforms for creators to host their crowdfunding projects. Today, there are over 40 million Kickstarter visitors and 15 million Indiegogo visitors each month.
With these numbers, the opportunity to create a million-dollar campaign is feasible
As a creator, you might be led to wonder: Should I be using both platform communities to best maximize fundraising?
Here are some factors you should consider before launching on both platforms:
- Project Credibility
- Funding
- Workload
- Fulfillment
Project Credibility
Launching on two platforms can put you in a position to lose momentum and your credibility, as it might cause confusion among your contributors. Which website should they visit to pledge? How can they properly suggest their friends to your project? These may have a detrimental influence on your project’s credibility.
Funding
Having two campaigns will split your viewers, causing it to look like there are fewer backers than there really are. This can also prevent you from exceeding your goal and missing out on earning platform badges like Kickstarter’s “Projects We Love” and Indiegogo’s “Popular.” These badges will allow you to be featured on their main page and can potentially attract more backers as there are more eyes on your campaign.
In short, performing exceptionally well on a single platform is often better than diluting your funding into two smaller pools. The momentum that comes with doing so can lead to a higher total raise in the long run.
Workload
You’ll almost certainly need to call on more resources to meet the additional demands, with more time and money spent. You’ll have to develop a different game plan for each platform because Kickstarter and Indiegogo have different rules and requirements. Finally, even with all this extra work, launching your crowdfunding campaign on two platforms provides no necessary guarantee of higher returns.
Fulfillment
Manufacturing obstacles, shipping chaos, and overseas logistics are the main reasons for the delay in fulfillment. These can lead to backers feeling frustrated and anxious. Inquiries on campaign pages, email, social media, and other channels must always be promptly responded to in order to avoid an influx of piled-up complaints. Manufacturing an innovation, hitting fulfillment timelines, and making sure all backers are happy is already challenging with just one platform — why ramp it up to two? Although this information can come off as daunting, do not worry! It can be done.
So, the short answer is yes, you can launch a crowdfunding campaign on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo. However, it may come with its own set of challenges that you don’t have to face alone. That’s where we come in!
Here at Rainfactory, our crowdfunding expertise dates back a decade. We have had over 50 product launches that have raised over a million dollars across Indiegogo, Kickstarter, and Shopify!