When it comes to crowdfunding your product on a platform like Indiegogo, it’s never too soon to plan for shipping. Having a game plan for shipping your product ensures that you don’t get caught scrambling. It will also allow you to have your ducks in a row and answer any early questions about actually getting the product into the hands of your backers. If a backer reaches out and you have this information ready, your quick response will help reinforce your credibility and professionalism. It really is a win-win to know your shipping plan ahead of time. Below, we’ve listed out some quick and easy shipping tips to help your campaign be a success.
A few things we always recommend
- Make shipping to USA and Canada free. Many large companies like Amazon have made “free US shipping” an expectation. Working against this expectation could cause major backlash.
- Ship worldwide. A lot of the most successful crowdfunding campaigns have around 50% of their total campaign raise from countries other than the USA. Don’t limit yourself!
- If worldwide shipping is not an option, then we recommend at least shipping to Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. These are the biggest contributors to companies that ship internationally.
For Indiegogo specifically, here’s what you’ll need to know:
- Shipping costs can only be whole dollar amounts ($1.00, not $1.50).
- Shipping costs can be offered on a per-country basis or at a worldwide/rest of world flat rate.
- They allow you to set the European Union as a shipping zone.
- Indiegogo has an in-depth walk-through of How to Add Shipping Price and Countries here.
It’s important to note that most Indiegogo campaigns offer shipping in a tiered fashion. For example:
- FREE SHIPPING: United States and Canada
- Price One – EU, UK, Australia
- Price Two – Rest of the World
If you are not able to run with free shipping, we recommend at least keeping your shipping prices as low as possible. Remember, locking down these details early on the campaign will save you a headache down the line.
If you have specific questions about your upcoming crowdfunding campaign, including how strategically granular you should get with ship-to countries, we have experience with that! We’d love to hear from you.