Pre-Order Best Practices

When a crowdfunding campaign draws to a close, project creators typically witness a sudden uptick in pledges in the final days. But what can project creators do about potential backers who may have missed out?

With BackerKit, you can create a pre-order store to sell your items after your campaign ends on your crowdfunding platform.

Selling pre-order items allows you to generate additional funds and gives anyone who missed out on your campaign a second chance to buy your items.

If you choose to go with the BackerKit Pre-Order Store, there are a few best practices you can keep in mind while setting things up:

Kickstarter Spotlight

Make sure to feature your pre-order store using the Kickstarter Spotlight feature here: https://www.kickstarter.com/spotlight

Images

95.74% of the best-selling items in BackerKit pre-orders stores had at least one image. BackerKit is optimized for images with a square aspect ratio of 500 x 500 - 800 x 800 pixels. Use high-quality images and BackerKit’s gallery feature to upload multiple images that showcase each item from all angles.

Descriptions

Think about your target audience and write a description that will highlight features and benefits while also answering any questions that will help backers make an informed purchase decision. Keep it short and sweet!

Break Out Variants

If you’re an apparel project, make sure you’ve set up items for each color and/or style of an item. Instead of just selling a “Jacket” in the pre-order store (and offering options from there), set up a Red Jacket, a Blue Jacket, etc., all as separate items. The fuller the store, the nicer it will look (and this will help with conversions)!

Sort Order

In BackerKit, there is a “Sorting” tab in the add-ons section where you can determine the order in which your items will appear. Put your most popular items first, and the “Tip Jar” (should you choose to keep this item) last. Order matters! We a-b tested this with one of our biggest tabletop game projects, and by putting their base game first in the pre-order store, sales increased dramatically.

Creator's Choice

Be sure to highlight one or two of your favorite items as the “Creator’s Choice!” You can edit any add-on and apply this tag. It adds a little personality to your pre-order store and allows you to call out the items you’re most excited about.

Retailer Price

Consider including a “Retail Price” so that your backers know they are getting a special deal that’s just for them.

Tip Jar

BackerKit automatically generates a tip jar item. Be sure to add an appealing image and spruce up the language! If you make the tip jar more personal by naming it “Buy me a coffee” or offering a social media shout-out, folks are more likely to tip.

Old Inventory

You don't need to rule out including other (non-project exclusive) inventory in your pre-order store. If you have left over products from your last project, why not include them?

If the inventory is limited, feel free to mention that in the title of the add-on, and include a “per backer” cap or inventory limit here:

Shipping costs

Are your shipping costs all set? It’s super important to have your shipping costs nailed down before setting your pre-order store live. Remember, you can always bake in shipping costs into the cost of the add-on and offer “free” shipping instead to entice your backers.

Consider Offering "Limited Time" or "Exclusive" Items

You can always hide an add-on. So, if you want to offer one for the first few weeks of the pre-order store, that’s a great way to drum up interest!

Check out the “hide” button here if you need to “discontinue” an item.:

Coupon Codes

Check out our coupon codes! You can offer a dollar amount off of the pre-order total and you can disable this code at any time.

Share, Share, Share!

Marketing and promotion will make a significant difference in driving pre-order sales. Here are some tips on how to promote your pre-order store!

Shout Out Your Store in a Public Kickstarter Update

Let folks who are visiting your Kickstarter page know when (and for how long) the pre-order store will be open. Provide a link that your backers can share with their friends who may have missed the campaign.

If you have any other questions about getting your pre-order store set up in BackerKit, check out our other help docs here.