The 15 lessons learned from the 18 most funded Kickstarters

  1. Do your market research - and keep doing it.
  2. Shipping and manufacturing have hidden costs. Price your product conservatively. It will pay off.
  3. Your backers will forgive you for all your mistakes if you communicate them instantly and transparently. They will hate you if you keep them in the dark.
  4. Utilize already existing technology - don't try to build it all yourself.
  5. The money you get from Kickstarter is just 40% of the prize. Your backers are worth their weight in gold.
  6. For god's sake, make more prototypes for influencers. It pays off.
  7. You will convince people with a few good features - not many mediocre features. Also, less is more in copywriting.
  8. Consider joining up with a famous person to be the face of your brand. It will cut marketing and advertisement costs a lot.
  9. Your updates to your community are more important than you think. Don't write them half-heartedly. Also, understand different people want to hear different things. Accommodate all.
  10. Since Kickstarter backers will give you feedback from day one, be prepared to change your product and have people and time ready to dedicate to testing changes. Change is not bad; ignoring your backers is.
  11. Crazy crowdfunding products do well. Mix two markets that are not traditionally linked and earn a market that is more than the sum of its parts.
  12. Putting a product on Kickstarter and waiting for people to back it is a 2015 technique. Utilize and gamify the reward system.
  13. Try to avoid shipping heavy and big objects. If you can change your concept early to prevent this, you'll avoid a headache.
  14. Kickstarter campaigns are personal. Don't be afraid to be funny, bold, and crazy - people love it. If you're too polite, you'll lose money. Humor is free to add to your campaign and has a massive ROI if you ask us.
  15. Think bigger than just making a one-hit-wonder. If you've successfully launched and have a group of people loving your product - you kind of owe the world to continue creating stuff you believe in.

Source: https://www.tcf.team/blog/most-funded-kickstarter