Building Pledge Levels for your Crowdfunding Project

Designing Pledge Levels for your crowdfunding project is an art all on its own! Your goal is to figure out the perfect price points, deciding what rewards to include (and how many), writing clear and concise descriptions and creating compelling images. All while making it straight forward and convenient for backers to support your project.

Pledge Level Price Points

Pricing your product can take a fair amount of research. Check out these resources on how to research and price your rewards:

Create Your Base Pledge Level
The reason people want to back your project is to support what you're doing. A popular price point is $25. This price point is appealing to the masses, in both that they get to support your project idea, and receive something of value in return. Win-Win for all parties! However, you want to make sure you're pricing your product in a way that will ensure you have big enough margins to cover your costs. Check out the industry standard for similar products and do not undercharge as a way to bring in more backers.

Remember to add a buffer to help cover additional costs, which can include: percentage fees, transaction fees, and payment processing fees.

Low End Tiers
There is also benefit of having an entry point pledge level for folks who only want to support your project without receiving a reward in return ($1-$10 range). Or if they do receive something it is a small digital reward or public 'Thank You'. Please note: if you are spending any money on ads/boosts, you typically do not want to have a $1 tier, as this could bring down your AOV (average order value)

High End Tiers
Create high valued tiers that give the backer something special for their support, along with limiting the number of backers who can back at this level. Depending on the nature of your project, if you are building a tabletop game, give a one-on-one gaming event for the backer and their friends. Offer customizations that will be included for all backers, such a character card made in their likeness, or to be apart of the design process. The power backers who want to help your project in a massive way, should receive something truly special, which doesn't necessarily need to be tangible. Not only are you building a product idea, you are building an experience for your backers!

Go ALL-IN!
We recommend setting up an "All-In" tier if you have several products on offer. Backers love to have a one-click option that ensures they're getting all of the items/exclusives available for your campaign. Even if you don't think any one will spend that much money, the evidence shows this is one of the best ways to increase your average order value

Pro Tips:

  1. Keep the number of Pledge Levels to a minimum - too many options will confuse backers, which may result in them not backing your project.
  2. Keep the actual rewards within a pledge level to a minimum as well - stuffing a pledge level with too many little rewards (taking away from the main rewards) can also cause confusion and will overcomplicate your production and fulfillment efforts.

What Rewards Should I Offer?

Rewards are the bread and butter for any project, but what will you be offering? You know your project and community members best, but there is opportunity in offering rewards in different ways.

Basic Rewards

What item or items really sparked this project to begin with? Start with those basic rewards, and build your first tiers around them. From there, you can build up or build down to build out your pledge levels.

Digital Rewards

Will you be offering digital options? Creating digital copies of your main rewards can help international backers save shipping costs and open your project to a global audience.

Deluxe or Limited Editions

Will there be Limited Edition variations? Including special rewards in a Deluxe or Limited Edition version can help increase your average pledge amount, which boosts your overall funds raised.

Bundles

Can you bundle together lower tiers into one big tier? 'Stacking' tiers, including rewards from a previous tier into the next tier makes it clear to backers the benefit of pledging at a higher level.

How-To Setup

PAGE BUILD —> Pledge Levels

  • On the lefthand side of your Crowdfunding dashboard, under Page Build, click Pledge Levels.
  • Click Create a New Pledge Level in the upper right hand corner
  • Add a Title (Include Early Bird in the title if offering Early Bird rewards)
  • Short Description: What is visible from the Campaign Page, make short, clear and concise on what rewards come with the tier
  • Full Description: Backers can click 'Learn More', this is where you can add a lot more details about the rewards, such as size, medium, list artists involved, game time, or any other special details a backer might want to know before pledging.
  • Pledge Level Image:
    • PNG, JPG, GIF up to 10MB
    • A square (1:1) ratio is optimal. Image will scale to fit available space.
    • Image dimension should be at least 600 × 600 pixels (width × height).
  • More Options:
    • Purchase Limit: How many times can this pledge level be sold
    • Feature This Item: Puts a small badge around the pledge level distinguishing it as special
    • Hide This Item: Manually hide pledge levels, such as Early Birds after the 24 or 48 hour mark
    • Digital Only: Let's backers know rewards in this tier are only digital
    • Excluded Countries: Select countries you will not be shipping to

Pro Tips: Add a Pledge Levels Story Section, and create images for your Pledge Levels. This will really make your Campaign Page pop!

Did this answer your question? Thanks for the feedback There was a problem submitting your feedback. Please try again later.

Still need help? Contact Us Contact Us