Thoughts from a first time self-publisher Part 14: Listening to backers.

Week 3 of the campaign. Welcome back!

Best Part of my week (so far): On Saturday, I had a great consultation with Gabe Barrett on making a mid-campaign adjustment (the focus of this week’s blog). It was 100% worth the $75 to borrow his brain and time to think through my predicament. While time will ultimately tell, I feel way better about the solution I have landed on from our conversation than the one I was considering before hand.

Most stressful part: COVID. Friday, my wife came down with it, ending my isolation as we still had to care for the kid. Monday - Halloween - my almost-three-year-old came down with it and had to miss out on trick-or-treating. We made the most of the day at least and it is nice to all be together unmasked.

As of Wednesday at 11:43 from last week.

Funds Raised: $12,182 $12,512 (+330)

Number of Backers: 289 290 (+1, but really +17 and -16)

$1 Pledges: 42 (+1)

PnP Backers: 33 31 (-2)

Super Saver (reduced cost $25): 20 (sold out for now)

Retail Backers: 2

Super Snipers KS Game: 183 184 (+1)

Sharpshooter (prototype and game) $300: 2 of 8 3 of 8 (+1)

Elite (make your own Super Sniper) $1500: 1 of 2. No Change

There was some shuffling around and an extra $300 came in from another person backing at the prototype level. Overall, still pretty stalled though.

Listening to the Backers:
I’d mentioned previously that Alex from BoardgameCo had said something about the price potentially being the reason the campaign wasn’t doing as well as he would have expected. I also had a great conversation with another Indy designer who felt strongly that this was the issue that was hamstringing my campaign from reaching its potential. I created a Google Survey and surveyed my Backers and my email list and got a really good response rate. (143 respondents). I found that about 35% of folks felt that the game was overpriced for what it was. Furthermore, the vast majority responded that somewhere between $35-$40 would be the price they would expect. Lastly, about 35% stated that the reason they weren’t backing at a level with a physical copy was because they couldn’t afford it. What to do then?

Cancel and come back with a new price? One potential strategy is to cancel the campaign and come back with a price and product that would make a bigger initial splash. I could explain to my backers that I was really just getting them a better deal.

Pros: I get a redo of that first 48 hours and have a better chance at an overall more successful campaign.

Cons: That’s a lot of work starting over, and some backers would certainly feel cheated. Ultimately, no matter what the pros, this is a decision that I simply could not make. That funding goal was a promise, and one I feel strongly I have to keep since it has been met. I’m not saying that another creator in the same predicament wouldn’t be right to take this option; it’s just not me.

Offer a different version of the Game at $35 and make the $48 version deluxe?
I struggled with this one a lot and I won’t bother you with all the math I did. I had come into my conversation with Gabe seriously considering this but have arrived at the following 2 reasons it was not a good idea.
#1) While different versions of the same game can share some manufacturing costs, they are ultimately 2 separate manufacturing runs and it is a bigger investment. If I committed to this, I would potentially be putting myself in the hole by a lot. I see plenty of first time creators go this route, but it’s a risky one (especially if you need to do a whole print run for a version that only a handful of people back).

#2) The time for this particular strategy to really have an impact was at the campaign launch, and that window has passed.

Improve the Quality of the Offering AND lower the price.

A quick note, that once a pledge level has backers, you cannot delete it or change its description in the rewards section. No matter what I do, the current $48 level will still be available. Here is the solution I arrived at:

1) Increase the quality of the game: I redid my math based on slightly less than the 4x cost at a 3000 print run and determined what component upgrades I could make immediately that I had initially planned for stretch goals. I ultimately decided that I could upgrade all the discs in the game to acrylic, make the Target Grids PVC instead of cardstock, and make the draw bags premium. 4X makes retail, distribution, and licensing profits way more challenging, but still represents a healthy enough margin for Kickstarter backers. And I have Kickstarter backers. The retailers and Licensors have not materialized.

2) Offer a version of the game for $35: This is a much more attractive price point for a 1-2 player puzzley duel game. I don’t think the old price was a rip-off, but it was not meeting expectations. Now, I’m offering a higher quality game for a better price. But, I’m only offering this price during the Kickstarter. This incentivizes folks to jump in now instead of wait for the pledge manager.

3) Pump up the $48 level to be more attractive: Both pledge levels receive the same core game with the same unlocked stretch goals. The $48 level will come with the PnP and Digital Art pack (as it previously did), plus I will be including a mini-expansion (2 additional characters), and a “Make your own Target” digital pack that players can make and print their own puzzles with.

4) Redo the Stretch Goals for further incentive to back now: I revised the stretch goals to offer a very realistic path to 6 new pieces of art (the locations) and a new Sniper added to the game. Then, at $20,000, I upgrade the polyominoes to acrylic. That’s a really big stretch goal that adds a lot of value to the game.

The Risks: I may just be speaking to the audience I already have. While I’m sure I will convert some $1 backers, I may also lose money with $48 backers dropping to the $35 level. I could be taking my “successful” Kickstarter and making it less successful.

The Hope: That I can get the word out enough and bring in backers who will be attracted to the new upgrades and price point and ultimately deliver a much more robust end of the campaign then I am currently heading towards. Also, that my current backers feel heard and feel more strongly about supporting and sharing the campaign.

Deep breaths, I’m about to do this. You can read the Update in the KS that covers the plan here

Any help spreading the word is appreciated!

Galen