5 Tips for Kickstarter Fulfillment Success

When you start a project on Kickstarter and Indiegogo there are a LOT of things to take care of.

It's easy to get confused and not know where to start: logistics, marketing, prototyping etc.

Thinking about shipping logistics isn’t the most fun part, but of course, it’s something every ''crowdfunder'' shouldn’t ignore when creating a product that requires shipping to backers.

It's fundamental to plan well ahead the fulfillment of your shipping otherwise it could turn out to be catastrophic for campaigns, just look at the example of The Coolest Cooler, the most funded Kickstarter that failed to deliver. At worse, it will result in using the majority of funds raised to cover shipping costs, returns, taxes, and delay disputes, which can cause a huge loss of money.

Before reading the article...

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SHIPPING TIPS TO CONSIDER BEFORE CROWDFUNDING

Before considering shipping your product through crowdfunding there are a lot of things to consider in order to establish the final goal of your campaign and make a profit out of it.

1) Ship Everywhere?
Considering people purchasing and backing on crowdfunding a BackerKit survey states that 38% of backers live outside the United States, so it’s definitely worth planning to ship internationally. But of course, some countries are easier to ship to than others.

If you consider the difference between a city surrounded by land and mountains and a coastal city, it's pretty obvious that shipping costs may vary depending on the ease of reaching them, shipping costs in remote areas could vary between $30 to $70. Another thing to consider is that certain countries require a lot more personal documentation from the receiver, some other countries take a lot of time to inspect the packages and it will also fail to deliver to the recipient.

2) Taxes & Duties Involved
Other than paying your crowdfunding taxes shipping to another country involves that you or your customer may be asked to pay additional duties and taxes before the delivery. Costs may vary per country, and that could make it difficult to figure out your shipping budget.

There are a lot of services online to calculate these costs, maybe you could check them out to have an idea of the shipping costs, duties, and taxes. For example, some countries have a high duty and tax threshold with low taxes making it easier to ship to, but other countries have higher duties and taxes rates making it harder to ship to.

3) The Perfect Packaging

Packing boxes for shipping is fundamental to unlocking the cheapest way to ship.
When shipping, the couriers measure the deadweight and dimensional weight of your package, and the highest one got charged. (Dimensional weight is calculated by multiplying the length, width, and height of a package and dividing it by a cubic divisor.)

For that reason a small reduction in packaging and efficient packaging avoiding damages can save thousands of dollars, for example, if you need to ship 1,000 orders and get a reduction worth 2$ each package you will end up saving $2,000!

Let's see now how to proceed step by step with the shipping fulfillment plan.

1. ESTABLISH THE DIMENSIONS

As we already said, the dimensions and weight of the packages are fundamental to track the costs and avoid expensive shipping costs, so keep in mind to measure your items in the right way in order to avoid extra costs.

You could measure your items with a tape measure and a scale to determine weight and dimensions and then write them down. After doing this job you will need to determine how big the packages you will be sending will be. If you sell a product into a box, the box needs to be a little bigger than the product itself, even only half an inch in each direction.

After doing so, you’ll also need to account for the weight of the box the items are being shipped in, as well as the weight of cushioning materials and other extras.

Now you should have an accurate estimate of the dimensions and weight of your packages, and that allows you to calculate all the initial costs.

2. HIRE A 3PL PROVIDER

3PL means Third-Party Logistics and it's a useful way to store your rewards before shipping them.
For sure you could ship your rewards on your own, but these logistic companies are able to do so faster and spending less money, too.

Before choosing the right company you should do a deep research to find the one that suits you, you could search for the most reviewed one and then you can request a quote from those you choose, specifiying the number of items to ship, location where to ship and dimensions.

After this step you will get to know their prices and their ability to serve your campaign's needs.

3. ESTABLISH SHIPPING PRICES AND WAREHOUSE

The most important thing is to establish a clear and definitive shipping price considering the location where to ship, postage costs and warehouse costs. Finally having a fixed price you could either consider making your crowdfunding goal bigger to cover that expenses and eventually inform your backers regarding the shipping rates prior to your campaign’s launch so they can make an informed decision about whether to back your campaign.

After that, you need to establish and collaborate with the fulfillment center to store your items in their warehouse, and then all you need to do is tell them where the items need to go.

But before the fulfillment center, you will need to coordinate the transfer of your rewards from the manufacturer to the warehouse, unless you make it by yourself. That will involve freight shipping, which can include different shipping methods like by plane, by boat or truck.

You can book freight online with different services, you can choose the one you prefer.
Of course, depending on the products you’re shipping and where they come from, you may need to pay for duties or taxes, because you are importing goods into another country.

4. SHIP AND DELIVER TO BACKERS

After choosing your fulfillment center you will need to send them your backer's information. For that you will collect all the addresses and phone numbers of the backers (you could do that through your crowdfunding platforms), then you will need to send all these data to the fulfillment center through an Excel file or similar. In this doc you will write the addresses, items ordered, and quantity. After receiving the required info, the order fulfillment will start after the items arrive from the manufacturer to their warehouse.

Finally, it's time to deliver to your backers, which is the easiest part. If an order fulfillment center is handling everything, they will take the items out of storage, place them in shipping boxes or bags, and apply postage. They may contact you for more info about the package or some backer's address, you will need to answer sooner to their request.

If you are shipping valuable rewards, you may ask your fulfillment center for parcel insurance. That way, if packages are lost or damaged in transit, you can claim with the postal carrier and receive reimbursement.

But beyond that, your backers will finally receive their so long wanted rewards, make sure you're ready when they start post pictures and comments on your campaign pages!

5. BE THERE FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

After waiting for all the orders to arrive at your backers you will need to be ready for customer service duty because there will inevitably be some issues coming up. For example, some items could be damaged or lost (that could happen regardless of your fulfillment center, so don't blame them if that happens.)

Your responsibility now it to handle your backer's requests and make them satisfied, with refunds, returns (every fulfillment center has a different policy so check them out before chosing them) and shipping new items.

All of that will for sure offer your backers a good experience and your brand's reputation will eventually grow, so be there and get ready to satisfy every customer, you will thank yourself later!

WRAPPING IT UP

Creators, I know that shipping your crowdfunding rewards seems difficult and full of obstacles, but starting with these steps you can start to plan everything well ahead and be satisfied with your work after your campaign is funded, all of that will make you and your backers happy!

Step by step you will learn all the tiny parts of the creation of your crowdfunding campaign, I will lead you through this path making your business project easier!

A crowdfunding launch requires a lot of hard work and sacrifices, but I'm sure that it will be worth it in order to start making your dream project come true.

Always remember that before launching your project you will need to analyze and prepare your pre-launch phase to launch your first product, I’ve got you covered with my crowdfunding pre-launch free e-book called ''3 steps to success on Kickstarter and Indiegogo''. 

As always make sure to subscribe to my channel to stay updated on fresh new content that I’m gonna drop there.

Ciao ciao! 

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