I was pleasantly surprised he was concerned with the trust factor because founders usually think much of it. It’s the backers who are mostly concerned (rightfully so) and so it prompted me to give up an answer that I’ll share with you today.

Here goes.

Why Trust is an Issue with Indiegogo

Unlike Kickstarter, Indiegogo does not have a rigorous approval process. This means it’s an open platform where anyone can start a project and there is no manual review process.

Indiegogo is more of a crowdfunding marketplace. And when there’s a marketplace, there are all types of people coming in.

Backers are generally warier of Indiegogo than they are of Kickstarter, however, that does not mean Indiegogo does not make an effective crowdfunding platform.

In fact, it is often preferred by campaigners who want an easy entry and do not want to go through an approval process for whatever reason.

The only caveat though is you got to put in the extra work to earn customer trust. There have been many scams on the platform so unless you have strong evidence (in the form of verifiable reviews, prototypes, reports or influencer backup), you’ll have a hard time gaining backers trust.

What are Indiegogo’s Trust Policies?

Simply put, evaluating the feasibility of a project is on backers. While the team does not manually review every project, it does investigate feedback and concerns from community and partners.

Indiegogo also keeps it realistic by stating, ‘With crowdfunding, there are always risks, so Indiegogo does not guarantee that contributions will be used as promised, that campaign owners will deliver perks, or that campaigns will achieve their goals…. To that end, Indiegogo does not resolve disputes, nor do we offer refunds once the funds have been disbursed.’

While Indiegogo should have a review mechanism to fight off spam, it’s not a sustainable model for a platform that aims to be an open marketplace.

So for entrepreneurs as well as for backers, you will need to work extra hard to be successful on Indiegogo.

The point is, should you?

Is it worth it to spend so much time and effort on Indiegogo?

Why Choose Indiegogo for Your Crowdfunding?

For some people, Indiegogo’s model has a few benefits that do make it worth it.

Some of those are:

• Flexible Funding: Unlike Kickstarter, Indiegogo does not operate under an All or Nothing model. This means even if you don’t fulfill your funding goal, you can still withdraw the funding you’ve received.
• A Chance to Stand Out of the Crowd: Because most campaigns on Indiegogo are incomplete or poorly executed, those with a strong execution plan can find plenty of success. The only condition? You need to convince the audience that you’re legitimate & will deliver on your promise.
• Other Additional Benefits: Indiegogo allows you to continue to raise money even after you’ve done a successful fundraiser. With the Indiegogo InDemand option, you’ll be able to continue to raise money from website visitors. Most Kickstarter campaigns transition over to Indiegogo after their successful fund.
• A True Marketplace: Almost anyone can launch an Indiegogo campaign for any purpose. Charity, business, tech, films, innovative projects, personal projects, creative projects – it’s like a shopping place for those interested in cool stuff. The chances of succeeding in a marketplace is far more than in a controlled platform.

Check out this video to know more about Kickstarter vs Indiegogo. 

How Can Campaign Founders Build Trust on Indiegogo

There are three simple things you can do.

1. Give them Accurate Information: Don’t hold back on information. Let them know how your product works. Share research reports. Share beta user feedback. Share testimonials. Share videos of your teams at work. Share insights. Share prototypes. The more information you give, the higher the legitimacy of your project.
2. Engage with the audience: Communicate. Communicate. I can’t stress this enough. Answer questions. Share updates. Tell them what you’re working on. Show that you’re actively involved in your project. Engaging with the audience and keeping their interest will help your post-campaign too, especially if you’re planning to continue fundraising.

   
   You May Also Like to Read:

   How Does Indiegogo Work?

   Is Crowdfunding the Right Choice for You? Here are Five Questions to Help You Decide

3. Build a community: Whether you’re crowdfunding on Indiegogo or Kickstarter, you need the power of a community to succeed with your funding goal. It takes building a strong community and email list for your campaign to see success. Without a community, your campaign will not come off as trustworthy.

To Conclude – You Can Trust Indiegogo But You Got to Do the Work

Entrepreneurs must put in the work to earn trust. Backers are rightfully wary of Indiegogo, but they know the nature of the platform and are also able to detect campaigns that are not trustworthy. Once you earn the audience’s trust, it’s easier to succeed on Indiegogo even after a successful fund-raiser.

Get in touch and see how we can help you succeed on Indiegogo. 

The post Can Indiegogo Be Trusted? How Trust Affects Campaigns & Backer Confidence appeared first on samitpatel.

Indiegogo is a dynamic and renowned crowdfunding platform that empowers innovators, creators, and entrepreneurs to transform their dreams into reality. Since its inception in 2008, Indiegogo has become a leading force in the world of crowdfunding, connecting project creators with a global community of backers eager to support a diverse array of ideas and initiatives. From groundbreaking technological innovations to artistic endeavors and charitable causes, Indiegogo serves as a catalyst for innovation, providing a platform where individuals and organizations can seek financial support to bring their passions to life. Let’s delve deeper into the world of Indiegogo and discover how this vibrant crowdfunding ecosystem has transformed the way projects come to fruition.

So how does Indiegogo work? Let’s dive in.

Getting Started on Indiegogo

Indiegogo is quite simple to get started on. Unlike Kickstarter, you don’t have to submit applications or wait for a review of your project. 

You can just simply start a campaign by visiting the website and signing up for your Indiegogo platform. 

Being an open platform, Indiegogo does not limit its intake of projects; moreover, if you’re a non-profit, you can benefit from the platform’s Go Fund Me feature that caters specifically to non-profit funding. 

Once you sign up, you can begin inserting details of your campaign, which will remain as a draft until you publish it. 

Choose Your Funding Type

Indiegogo has two main funding options – fixed and flexible. For both options, you are not required to achieve your main funding goal in order to withdraw money. 

Indiegogo does not have an ‘All or Nothing,’ policy like Kickstarter, so you don’t have to worry about losing your money even if you have not reached your goal. 

If you choose the fixed funding option, you can easily withdraw your money after your campaign ends regardless of whether you’ve achieved the goal. 

In the Flexible option, you can withdraw money as you go. It is the most popular form of funding on Indiegogo as it’s easy for project creators to use the money they need to continue their work. 

Regardless of fixed or flexible, the minimal funding goal on Indiegogo is 500 (USD/CAD/GBR/EUR/AUD) 

For most project creators, waiting for months to receive the cash is counter-productive. It beats the purpose of crowdfunding if you have to wait for money when you’re in need of it. 

Preparing Your Campaign

Although Indiegogo is an easy platform to start your campaign, it comes with its set of challenges. 

For one, the lack of an internal review means anyone can submit projects and this leads to trust and credibility issues. Some backers are aware of this and so they may be reluctant to crowdfund a project that does not have all the right elements ticked off. 

So be sure that you prepare your campaign well and include all the necessary elements that make for a great crowdfunding campaign.  

Some things to prepare are:

• An amazing video narrating your story or journey 
• If you’re funding a product, then 3D renders of the product and preferably a prototype too to show the functionality and features 
• Transparent milestones and timeline for your project. Backers LOVE those who adhere to deadlines and show results on said deadlines 
• Perks for your backers. Crowdfunding is a rewards-based system which means you need to give your audience some perks or rewards for backing your project. This could be a limited edition of your products, gift packs or anything of value as a token of appreciation for people backing your project 
• Your first 100 backers. For any campaign to be successful, you need to have at least 100 backers to fund your project on the platform. So bring in your friends, family, and friends of friends if you want to create some noise for your campaign! 

Assess the Cost of Running a Campaign on Indiegogo

Indiegogo has a 5% platform fee and a 3 – 5% payment transaction fee that varies according to different regions of the world. 

Transfer fees, or Bank Delivery Fees, are also applied each time Indiegogo sends funds to your bank account. 

Apart from the platform fee, you also have to take into account other costs such as marketing, PR, photography, videography and lots more. 

With every withdrawal that you make you’ll be charged the platform fee, bank fee as well as the transaction fee so make sure you keep all this in mind before you withdraw the money. 

For a crowdfunding campaign to be successful on Indiegogo, it is imperative that the campaign has transparent details, has quality backers, has great PR and marketing & has a goal that is achievable. 

You May Also Like to Read:

Can Indiegogo Be Trusted? How Trust Affects Campaigns & Backer Confidence

Want to know if your project can be successful with crowdfunding? Drop us a note below and we’ll get back to you with the necessary information to kickstart your crowdfunding project! 

Check out the videos below for more.

The post How Does Indiegogo Work? appeared first on samitpatel.

People often assume that you simply launch a crowdfunding campaign and you’ll get $$$$ pooling in without having any extra expenditure.

This is not how it works.

Crowdfunding does require the spending of money but the good part is you can always recover that money spent by setting a goal that is three times higher than the money you spend. 

So let’s say, you have to spend $5000 on marketing, campaign creation, video shoots, photography etc, so your campaign goal should be at least $15,000 to cover up your costs, build your project and also earn some profit. 

When starting your crowdfunding campaign, make sure you are aware of the costs, hidden charges and other expenses involved. 

To help you, here’s a breakdown of all the costs you may incur during a crowdfunding campaign. 

Kickstarter vs Indiegogo Fees

This is a common question most people ask. Does Kickstarter charge more than Indiegogo or vice versa? 

Kickstarter and Indiegogo fees have the same structure. Both have a 5% platform fee of your total funds raised which you’re required to pay when claiming the funds. 

Both also have the credit card and payment processing fee which is usually set at 3 – 5% depending on the payment partner. 

So in a nutshell, you need to spend at least 8% as platform + payment fees. This 8% is from the total funding amount received. 

Assuming you raise $10,000, you’ll be paying $800 as platform fees + other charges. 

Creating Product Demos and Renders

If you’re raising a crowdfunding campaign to support the development of a product, then you’ll need to have a product demo made. This can be done by hiring a product design company to create 3D renders of your product and bringing it to life. 

The cost for product demos and renders varies, but expect a higher cost that starts from at least $3,000. 

Creating Product Prototypes

With so many crowdfunding campaigns turning out to be frauds and scams, people are now reluctant to invest in a product unless they are able to test it out. The same goes for journalists who will be covering your story. It’s not mandatory to create prototypes, but it’s beneficial because it shows backers you’re actually working on your product. 

The cost of building prototypes varies but it can start from $10,000 and go up to $30,000 depending on the complexity of the project and the company you hire. 

Multimedia Content

When you’re creating a crowdfunding campaign, you obviously need to create multimedia content like images and videos. You’ll need professional photography services as well as video editing/shooting services. 

Photography from a professional photographer could cost you from $200 to $3,000 depending on who you hire. 

Video specialists, i.e animators, editors, videographers are not cheap. It could cost you from $1,000 to $5,000. 

You could hire these specialists from freelance platforms so the price may be cheaper than hiring from a professional agency. 

Marketing & Advertising

You’ll need a marketing specialist or agency to take care of your press releases, social media advertisements, landing pages, and other assets. The more people know about your campaign, the more opportunities for funding. 

Marketing agencies can charge you up to $10,000 for growing your campaign. If you’re spending on ads, you’ll need to keep an additional $10,000 for that. 

Other Miscellaneous Expenses

Miscellaneous expenses include creating rewards for your backers such as badges, tee-shirts, or any other giveaway in return for their contribution. Small expenses like shipment, packaging etc should also be counted. 

You should be keeping a budget of at least $3,000 for all miscellaneous expenses. 

In Total

As you can see, running a crowdfunding campaign is not easy. Although crowdfunding is meant to provide you with financial support, it still needs money to deliver results. The trick lies in the funding goal you set for yourself. 

Considering all of the above expenses, let’s say you need to earn $150,000 if you’re spending $50,000. This is why we always recommend setting a higher funding amount so that you can get some extra cash to improve or build your product as you go.

Crowdfunding is super beneficial for companies that don’t want to go to investors or banks to fund their projects. However, a successful crowdfunding campaign is not run for free – you have to spend some to gain some. 

Want to know more? Feel free to reach out to us for details. 

Check out the videos below for more.

The post How Much Does it Cost to Run a Crowdfunding Campaign on Kickstarter and Indiegogo? appeared first on samitpatel.

Although crowdfunding is a great way to receive investment for your business or product, it does not come without its additional costs. From platform fees to bank fees, credit card processing fees to taxes, you have to pay a significant amount from your pledged amount. 

Other than standard fees, you also have to take into account additional costs for photography, marketing, campaign page creation and a lot more. 

This article aims to give an overview of Indiegogo fees along with other costs so you may have a clear idea of how much money you may have to spend to get your campaign rolling. The costs of a campaign should be factored into your total campaign pledge. 

Indiegogo Platform Fees

Similar to Kickstarter fees, Indiegogo has a 5% platform fee which is deducted from the funds you raise. Remember, fees are only applicable to the funds you have and not on the goal you set. 

Say you raise $25,000, you’ll be paying $1250 as platform fee. 

If you’re using the InDemand program (moving from another crowdfunding platform to Indiegogo) you’ll have to pay 8% platform fees. 

You are not charged any fees if your goal fails with fixed funding. Backers are refunded so no one loses any money if the campaign fails. 

You May Also Like to Read:

How Much Does it Cost to Run a Crowdfunding Campaign on Kickstarter and Indiegogo?

Transaction Fees

You will need a payment gateway to receive the funds. Indiegogo uses Stripe as a payment gateway and the transaction fee is 3% + $0.30 on each transaction. There may be additional fees charged by the credit card networks and payment processors if contributions are made via a non-local credit card. 

So again, with the $25,000, you’ll be paying $750 as transaction fees. 

The above was merely your platform and transaction fees. Next, you need to evaluate additional costs to manage and launch your campaign. 

Content Production Fees

When you run a crowdfunding campaign, you’ll need to invest in content production. That would mean creating: 

• Hiring a copywriter to write your campaign page content 
• Hiring photographers and video editors to manage the multimedia of your campaign
• Hiring marketers to market your campaign on social media 
• Hiring a consulting agency to help you through the phases of your campaign. 

Here is a rough estimate for the costs you’ll incur on these content products. 

✓ Copywriters:A good sales copywriter could cost you from $35 to $125 an hour. Assuming they take 5 hours to finish your page, that’s around $600 for your copywriting costs. 

✓ Photographers or Video Editors: Professionals will cost you from $1000 – $3000 depending on the length and complexity of the video. 

✓ Marketers: If you’re hiring a marketing agency, expect to pay from $1000 to $10,000 depending on who you’re hiring and what kind of services you require. 

So in total, you’re spending around: 

$1250 + $750 + $600 + $1000 + $1000 = $4,600 out of $25,000 pledged. This leaves you with $20,000. 

It is always a good idea to start early and create an estimate of your total costs in running a crowdfunding campaign. If you begin hiring people after pledging a goal or creating a page, you’ll be losing money and setting yourself up for possible failure. 

Avoid the ordeal of losing money on a crowdfunding campaign and talk to an expert as early as you can to ensure a smooth campaign. 

The post Indiegogo Fees and Additional Crowdfunding Costs You Need to be Aware Of appeared first on samitpatel.

Both Indiegogo and Kickstarter are leading crowdfunding platforms with thousands of businesses raising millions in funding, however, they have key differences that set them apart from each other.

To truly have an effective crowdfunding experience on either of these platforms, it is essential for you to know important differences because it could significantly affect your campaign goals, budget, and eventual outcome.

Here are top differences between Indiegogo and Kickstarter to watch out for:

Campaign Review Process & Rules

Kickstarter has a reputation for being stringent with campaign reviews. They take two to three days to review your project to make sure that it falls into one of the 15 categories and that it meets the platform’s rules.

Kickstarter claims to accept 80% of all projects that are submitted on their platform. Important rules to follow are:

• Projects must be honest and clearly presented
• Projects can’t raise funds for charity
• Projects can’t include prohibited items like Contests, coupons, gambling, and raffles and a whole list of other things.

Make sure you read all the rules of the campaign before you submit to Kickstarter. Indiegogo, on the other hand, is more relaxed. They do not review campaigns and leave it up to backer to make a sensible decision.

Funding Statistics & Success Ratio

Perhaps one of the most defining differences between the two campaigns is the funding success rate. Kickstarter has a better reputation than Indiegogo and has been known to have a successful funding rate of 35.72%.

To date, Kickstarter has $4,295,731,140 pledged with 16,276,544 total backers and 5,328,242 repeat backers.

Indiegogo does not have public funding rates available, however, news report claim that around $1.3billion has been raised as of 2018.

Kickstarter is comparatively harder to get funding, but when a project hits popularity then funding figures can rise significantly.

The difference in Funding Types

One of the key difference between the two platforms is the way they fund projects. On Kickstarter, you’ll have to raise the complete amount you pledged before you can take the money away. Also known as, ‘All or Nothing,’ this is pretty helpful for businesses that want a lump sum amount.

Indiegogo has two funding options with the first one being the traditional option while the second one is flexible. In the second option, you can avail money as your project progresses without waiting until the end.

While this flexible option by Indiegogo sounds good, it comes with a catch – you will have to pay a 9% fee and be charged for payment fees too.

Generally, experts recommend using the fixed-funding option because the risks are lower and you will need a capital amount to work on your project.

Fee Structure of the Two Platforms

There is no difference in terms of percentage fees; both charge 5% of the total amount raised. The difference, however, is that Kickstarter will not charge the fee until you’ve met your goal. Indiegogo will charge on the amount raised regardless of whether you’ve reached your goal or not.

Indiegogo has 3% plus 30¢ per credit card transaction along with 3-5% for PayPal transactions. Prices differ region wise, so do make sure to check your region costs before making a campaign.

Types of Projects Accepted

Kickstarter has only 15 categories that you can use to register your project. It’s very specific in nature and is ideal for creative projects and requires a working prototype in case you want to launch a product.

Indiegogo is pretty laid back with three main categories (tech, creative, community) that are further broken down into sub-categories. Indiegogo is an open marketplace for anyone interested in crowdfunding.

You May Also Like to Read:

Indiegogo vs Kickstarter 2019/2020 – A Deeper Perspective (UPDATED)
Kickstarter vs Indiegogo: The Best Crowdfunding Platform in 2020

The difference between the two Kickstarter vs Indiegogo is dependent on your project and your personal preference. Do you want an open marketplace or you’re more comfortable with a well-vetted campaign? Do you want fixed or flexible funding? All of these are questions you’ll have to analyze before submitting your project.

Need help deciding on the perfect crowdfunding platform? Get in touch!

The post Five Important Differences between Indiegogo and Kickstarter appeared first on samitpatel.