by Helena Kaufman
Time to Ship Out
Photo credit usps.com
You’ve reached your goal! You’ve ‘shipped’ personally by getting the project done. Now time for the conventional shipping that sends out the rewards promised to backers who supported your potential.
Kickstarter has some tips on the reward fulfillment phase to help get out your final product to funders:
- Be organized. It reduces overwhelm.
- Have fun! It may even make it all simpler and easier, and less stressful.
- Get backer information. In the all or nothing funding model, you request information needed to deliver rewards only after project funding is complete. Kickstarter has its own survey tool where you design forms for the information you need. It notifies backers by email and their responses are entered automatically, ready for use in your Backer Report.
- Plan ahead –Take shipping costs into account when you budget at the start of your project. They are often underestimated. Factor in how you’ll ship rewards, their weight and both local and global shipping costs. Transportation, packaging costs as well as fees and time to deal with customs forms all cost. Kickstarter suggests you research at USPS guidelines, checklists, and bulk mail info, and then other options to help you select the best mode for you.
- Continue to Communicate! Engage and inform all the way through your fulfillment process. Your photos of packaging up rewards, your post office dramas and the fun and foibles from stamp licking to send off are all of interest to your backers.
Do share the photos and videos people love to see and make it a celebratory party for all involved.
You’ll ask your backers to communicate at least one more time—to tell you when their reward arrives. This is the last moment of your hard won first phase of your project. Enjoy it and hopefully you’ve planted the seeds for your growth and your backers telling friends, who’ll tell friends… and extend their experience in your success.
Be creative,
Be in touch,
Helena
Helena Kaufman is a writer and communications trainer. In 1982, success at promoting, marketing and writing about 200 artisans launched Helena as an event publicist. The designers who sold at the Annual Manitoba Christmas Craft Sale exhibited original functional and decorative pieces in fibre, pottery, metal, oil, paper, wood, distinctive wearable art and more. Helena worked to raise their profile, bring media attention and increase their sales. She now shares some of that savvy in the Artisan Ally series. Helena’s writing and communications site can be found here.
