Kickstarter Followers are typically the cheapest and most effective option to crowdfund a project. Even the in-house Performance Marketing Team at Kickstarter gathers Kickstarter Followers during prelaunch phases for their select client projects.
However, to get deeper diagnostic information regarding page-visitor’s excitement levels, consider testing a survey offer or VIP offer on your own website first prior to making a decision regarding canning a project.
Similarly, using a $20+ VIP Offer will help qualify potential backers for products priced at $500 and above.
Your KPI marketing goals may change throughout your campaign. You can exchange the call-to-action at various touch points at any time.
NOTE: The conversion rate of email signups will be higher without using a VIP System. This is because the VIP System identifies and segments the highest-quality leads within your existing email list, thus moving them into a different “bucket”.
Here's a chart of various types of pre-launch leads and their conversion rates into sales or Kickstarter backers:
- Email Signups
- Conversion Rate: 2% to 10%
- Conversion Rate: up to 3% (using VIP system)
- Acquisition Cost: under $1 (in-app leadform)
- Acquisition Cost: $1 to $3 (landing page)
- Kickstarter Followers
- Conversion Rate: 10% to 50%
- Acquisition Cost: $1 to $4 (direct ad traffic to prelaunch page)
- Acquisition Cost: $2 to $5 (landing page, hero banner button)
- Acquisition Cost: $4 to $6 (landing page, post sign-up offer and email)
- Community Members (Facebook Group, Discord, WhatsApp)
- Conversion Rate: 10% to 50%
- Acquisition Cost: $4 to $6 (landing page, post sign-up offer and email)
- $1 VIP Reservations
- Conversion Rate: 10% to 50%
- Acquisition Cost: $5+ (landing page, post sign-up offer and email)
The average conversion rate of Kickstarter Followers into Backers is roughly 30% with a launch day success.
However, sometimes there are launch day failures which usually occur due to the campaign not being ready for launch - for example, if the team leadership decides that they must launch tomorrow because they have run out of funds and team members will disband, need to launch due to pressure from investors.
If the Campaign page is not properly designed, or the reward tiers are unclear, cluttered, or poorly priced outside consumer's expectations on fair market pricing, then a launch day failure can occur.
"Launch day failures" commonly result in conversion rates of 5%, whether using Kickstarter Followers or a VIP System. VIPs will not back a campaign if the campaign page does not fulfill their expectations, unclear descriptions, or the pricing is unrealistic and unfair for a premium product in that product category.
Regardless, these failures are relatively uncommon.
Deep Analysis of Kickstarter Follower & VIP Conversion Rates During Launch Failures
It is much more common to ask, "why did my campaign launch fail? Why didn't people convert?" than to ask "why did they convert above average?"
However, by looking at the launch failures and discovering patterns of mistakes or accidents -- it becomes clear how much each element of the campaign contributes to the whole average 25% conversion rate of VIPs or Kickstarter Followers into backers:
During the first 5 to 10 minutes, page visitors do not seem to explore the page or watch the trailer video, and instead go straight to checkout.
For example: if the Rewards fail but the page design is successful: users who back within 5 minutes will exit out of the Reward Checkout, review the page, but then re-enter and checkout.
Therefore, the reward tier design + programming takes priority on the first couple hours and majority of conversion % on KS Followers / VIPs / emails.
Furthermore, the Page Design then carries the remainder of mid-campaign in most cases. If the page design fails, then it can still be generally recovered using the techniques listed in the above chart image and result in a 15% to 20% conversion rate on KS Followers by the end of the campaign.
Reward tiers generally cannot be edited after somebody has backed them, making recovery more challenging. However, if the community voices heavy demand for a new type of tier bundle, add-on item, etc. this may be an opportunity for recovery by end-of-campaign, as well.
Real Examples of Kickstarter Follower Conversion Rates Into Backers, Broken Down By Product Category
For examples of Kickstarter Follower conversion rates into backers, here is a random sampling of the projects I have collaborator access on, mixed with some from within my Prelaunch Club Discord community.
I also provide a daily tracking spreadsheet (download it for free, here) with change-log notes throughout the client's journey for many of the following projects and more:
GAMING PROJECTS
Imperial Grace - 59% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Necromancers of Monastis - 31% conversion rate for Kickstarter Followers
Whispers of Luminaries - 26% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Kristala - 27% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Exalted Vales - 28% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Dice Bites - 16% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Tome of Hags - 46% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Wicked Echoes - 24% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Hearthkeeper's Almanac - 21% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Fiefdom - 14% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Myths & Tales - 27% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Champions of Wind & Fire - 30% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Wonderbox of Alice - 34% Follower to Backer conversion rate
DungeonBox - 30% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Mercurial: Alchemia - 31% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Houdini's Double Escape - 36% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Life After Everything Tarot Tabletop RPG - 30% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Gates of Krystalia: Last Deux - 38% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Tiny Toe Beans: Ultimate Mischief - 25% Follower to Backer conversion rate
PHYSICAL PRODUCTS
NANO TRACKS - 50% Follower to Backer conversion rate
SideSleeperZ - 32% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Mechi+ Carry Case - 21% Follower to Backer conversion rate
BBQAmigo - 23% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Galari - 19% conversion rate
Volta MAX Cables - 43% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Velaflame - 23% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Ultimate Hamper - 21% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Power Of Five Omnibus - 30% Follower to Backer conversion rate
Kickstarter Follower Campaign Performance Dataset
The table below summarizes performance metrics across multiple Kickstarter campaigns, including minimum reward tier pricing, conversion rate, average order value (AOV), cost per follow, and return on ad spend (ROAS).
| Project | Campaign Link | Minimum Tier Price (USD) | Conversion Rate | Average Order Value (USD) | Cost per Follow (USD) | ROAS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $97 average | 30% average | $153 average | $3.4 average | 14.7x average | ||
| $37 median | 30% median | $107 median | $3 median | 9.1x median | ||
| Necromancers of Monastis | View Campaign | $15 | 31% | $48 | $2 | 744% |
| Kristala | View Campaign | $20 | 27% | $66 | $4 | 446% |
| Whispers of the Luminari | View Campaign | $21 | 26% | $46 | $3 | 399% |
| Imperial Grace | View Campaign | $24 | 59% | $52 | $5 | 614% |
| Exalted Vales | View Campaign | $24 | 28% | $83 | $4 | 581% |
| Micro Wallet Finder | View Campaign | $25 | 12% | $55 | $4 | 165% |
| DungeonBox | View Campaign | $25 | 30% | $61 | $2 | 915% |
| SideSleeperZ | View Campaign | $28 | 32% | $56 | $3 | 597% |
| Tome of Hags | View Campaign | $29 | 46% | $56 | $2 | 1288% |
| Wicked Echoes | View Campaign | $30 | 24% | $87 | $4 | 522% |
| Velaflame | View Campaign | $30 | 23% | $123 | $5 | 566% |
| Mechi+ Carry Case | View Campaign | $32 | 21% | $176 | $3 | 1232% |
| Tiny Toe Beans | View Campaign | $34 | 25% | $72 | $3 | 692% |
| Life After Everything Tarot | View Campaign | $35 | 30% | $150 | $3 | 1667% |
| Fiefdom | View Campaign | $35 | 14% | $107 | $5 | 300% |
| Myths & Tales | View Campaign | $35 | 27% | $124 | $3 | 1116% |
| Volta Max Cables | View Campaign | $35 | 43% | $106 | $5 | 912% |
| Gates of Krystalia: Last Deux | View Campaign | $39 | 38% | $144 | $4 | 1368% |
| Hearthkeeper's Almanac | View Campaign | $39 | 21% | $107 | $3 | 775% |
| Dungeon Treats Monster Edition | View Campaign | $48 | 15% | $257 | $3 | 1285% |
| Wonderbox of Alice | View Campaign | $53 | 34% | $93 | $3 | 1171% |
| Champions of Wind & Fire | View Campaign | $58 | 30% | $98 | $2 | 1125% |
| CluePuzzle Pyramid | View Campaign | $58 | 29% | $111 | $3 | 1073% |
| Cotswold Mist | View Campaign | $59 | 14% | $80 | $5 | 224% |
| Houdini Box | View Campaign | $61 | 36% | $168 | $4 | 1635% |
| Dice Bites | View Campaign | $74 | 16% | $111 | $2 | 888% |
| Power of Five Omnibus | View Campaign | $85 | 30% | $141 | $0.4 | 10575% |
| Prolo Ring | View Campaign | $99 | 12% | $170 | $4 | 510% |
| Mercurial: Alchemia | View Campaign | $118 | 31% | $107 | $1 | 2457% |
| NANO TRACKS | View Campaign | $120 | 50% | $141 | $4 | 1763% |
| Galari | View Campaign | $387 | 19% | $478 | $2 | 5676% |
| Co Print Chromaset | View Campaign | $449 | 14% | $445 | $2 | 3115% |
| HILTS Watches | View Campaign | $485 | 8% | $535 | $10 | 428% |
| BBQ Amigo | View Campaign | $590 | 23% | $544 | $4 | 1328% |
Closing Thoughts
Kickstarter Project creators who use Kickstarter Followers as their primary KPI and marketing strategy appear to have substantially better returns on their investment by a factor of 4x or greater on average (average 15x ROAS for Kickstarter Followers versus average 4x ROAS for $1 VIPs and regular Email signup systems).
Dig deeper: How to setup the Facebook Pixel for Kickstarter
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