How to avoid the mid-campaign drop: the Crowdfunding Valley of Death

Anyone who’s ever done a crowdfunding campaign knows that there are better days than others. Everyone has experienced a mid-campaign drop in backers. We call this the Valley of Death, and it’s inescapable. In fact, it’s normal.

If you do a quick online search or go into crowdfunding forums, you’ll notice that people struggle with this and ask around what they can do to avoid this drop. But what exactly is happening? Picture this:

Mid-Campaign days drop: The Crowdfunding Valley of Death 

You got your email list, your ads, your newsletter building excitement towards launch, creating a sense of urgency around your launch. You finally go live, get a lot of backers and conversion, the conversation starts and for a week or so people are very actively commenting and asking things. That’s all very nice. 

But in the middle days, there’s a drop of everything. No one is talking about you or asking you questions, there are no updates to offer, it’s hard to keep the excitement up and you might even get a refund. This mid-campaign drop is what we call the Valley of Death.

Usually, creators see a rise in backing and conversations when the campaigns are about to end, after those middle days. Probably because they now can promote the “ending soon” posts, and are able to create excitement and urgency again.

I personally believe it doesn’t have to be like this! There’s much to be said in those mid-days so the drop is not so big, and the conversations are always flowing. Check out my approach:

Cycles

Cycles. Ebbs and flows. Ups and downs. Every company, niche, and project has them. Just like seasons, any kind of online business has cycles throughout the year. Same goes for crowdfunding. 

So first things first: You don’t need to freak out! You’re not doing anything wrong. No impostor syndrome here. 

What you want is to be proactive. You want to be creating engaging conversations with the people who already backed you, because if they gave you money on day 1, they have 30-59 days of your live campaign to take that money back.

Have A Marketing Plan Bigger Than Launch Day 

It’s not enough to have marketing plans for day one. You want to be active throughout the whole campaign so you get that backing secured. You want to have content, surprises, reviewers, shoutouts, etc. for the central part of your campaign to avoid the mid-campaign drop as much as possible.

Don’t plan marketing for launch day. Plan to be releasing new content, new social proof for the middle days. Whether is interviews, reviews, or shoutouts, you want to have a plan before launching. 

Reach Out To New Potential Backers

Talk to your backers! 

If someone backs you, ask them what they think. Where they heard about your project, what they like the most about the idea, and what channels they listen to where they might see your project fit: youtube channels, podcasts, forums, etc. This will let you know where you can find more people alike who perhaps would like to know about your project as well. 

Once you have a list of content creators in your niche, you can get in touch with them, show them your campaign page, and get featured to their audience. 

Talk to your audience and learn from them. Take this time to get to know your audience better and target more people like them.

Be ready with more content

You want to release content that reassures people and shows that you’re moving forward, that this project is coming to life. Here are 7 ideas for your mid-campaign updates.

You can share production updates, testing updates, molds, what you’re doing now that you have some funding, etc. People want to know this. They want to know that their investment is worth it. 

Make sure that you have these videos, pictures, updates, features ready to share in the middle of the campaign. Give people reasons to stay.

The second yes is always easier than the first

Another way to take advantage of the middle days of your campaign is to actually get people excited about an ad on in the product you’ve already sold to them.

And this will be easier than getting them to back you the first time. It’s a basic upsell.

Let me explain. 

Let’s imagine you’re launching a bag. And you get people to back you. Now, you can take some time to upsell to them the idea of also buying a special strap for that bag. You can talk to them and tell them about these ad-ons you’ve worked on and see if it’s something they would be interested in. 

Why is this worth it? Because the relationship is already established. Because you already have the trust of the backers and they will listen to you and your ideas. This way, you keep the conversations alive and backers engaged.

What are Stretch goals?

Something that creators do to keep the excitement alive in the mid-days drop of their campaigns is to present stretch goals to their backers. These are goals that are a little bit stretched, a bit more than what the original product is. 

It works like this: Let’s say your original funding goal was $50k, and you get them. Then what you can do to avoid that mid-days drop is say “hey! If we’re able to get to 55k, then everyone will get this extra thing/personalized/signed thing with their rewards”.

This way people who already backed you will want this extra thing and will do some promotion for you so other people see your campaign, back you, and get to that stretch goal. They’ll be excited to get a new something and will be enticed to continue the conversation about the campaign, or even to up their backing amount!

You can plan as many stretch goals as it’s logical for you, but remember that they have to be attractive enough!

Final thoughts on the mid-campaign drop

So you see, the middle days drop doesn’t have to be the end of the road for you as a creator. There are many things you can do at this time, and it can even mean more backing and more engagement for your campaign.

Don’t be afraid of the campaign cycle. Work with it!

If you’re wondering how to get funded in 90 days this is for you.

Please share this article on LinkedIn if you liked it – would mean a lot to me. And since you’re already there, check the Facebook group for crowdfunding creators!