We asked 8 eCommerce operators and strategists a deceptively simple question: when do I need a 3PL? Their answers reveal that the decision is far more nuanced—and the stakes far higher—than most brands realize.

Every eCommerce founder hits the same inflection point, or at least hopes to.

You’ve heard many variants of this story. Orders keep rolling in, and the garage (or spare bedroom, or rented storage unit) is bursting. It’s the Shopify dream, come to bear fruit.

But shipping errors start to add up, and they go from rare to routine. And somewhere between packing boxes at midnight and fielding another angry customer email, a question starts nagging: is it time to outsource fulfillment?

There’s no universal answer, which is the frustrating part. The right time depends on a lot of different factors, including your business model, your operational maturity, and your product complexity. But chief among them all is whether fulfillment is helping you grow or quietly arresting your momentum.

Desiree Shank was an early hire at Shopify, co-founded the Just Startup Community, and now works at the intersection of TikTok live shopping and social commerce. She doesn’t mince words: “If fulfillment complexity is slowing growth, you’re already paying too much to keep it in-house. The real question isn’t, ‘Is a 3PL cheaper?’ It’s, ‘Does outsourcing unlock more revenue, stability, and scale than it costs?'”

Not everyone we talked to agreed. Chris Carroll is an Ecommerce Director at STARK. In the course of his career, he’s driven double-digit revenue growth across DTC and marketplace channels. That means he’s spent a good deal of time personally overseeing warehouse operations. His take runs counter to the prevailing wisdom: “in-house will get you better margins, faster problem resolution, and tighter inventory control and that is hard to argue with.”

Both are right. The question is which argument applies to your business, right now, at this stage, and for your goals.

That’s why we reached out to eight eCommerce professionals. These are all people who’ve collectively touched hundreds of millions of dollars in online sales. And they’re here to help you make the right call.

We asked them when to outsource fulfillment, and what goes wrong when companies wait too long. Then we asked them to help us run the math on whether a 3PL actually pencils out.

Here’s what they told us.

How Many Orders Do You Need Before Outsourcing Fulfillment?

Founders love a clean threshold. Give me a number, and I’ll know when to make the call. The experts we spoke with did offer numbers. But they all qualified those numbers with caveats.

Faheem Khalid is the COO and Head of Growth at Accelero, an Amazon Certified Marketplace Strategist. He’s spent 10+ years scaling DTC brands across Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify. He puts the range at the lower end: “I tell clients that they should seriously evaluate 3PLs around 500–1,000 orders per month (or 50–100/day consistent). If you have the space and the team, in-house typically wins the cost battle [below] 300–500/month.”

James Coccaro specializes in scaling DTC brands from early-stage through $50M+ in revenue. He has deep expertise in supply chain and fulfillment infrastructure. He’d start the conversation earlier than Khalid: “Most brands should start evaluating 3PLs around 15–25 orders per day consistently. By 50+ orders/day, you’re usually already behind if you haven’t modeled it.”

This lines up well with our experience as a fulfillment center. But others set the bar higher.

Jaime Hill has spent over two decades as an eCommerce and digital director across brands like Monsoon, Oak Furnitureland, and Avis. She’s a frequent speaker and judge in the UK eCommerce space. Her take is that “there isn’t one singular magic number, but in my experience most brands typically begin evaluating 3PLs somewhere between 1,000–3,000 orders per month.”

Deepankar Singh, an eCommerce growth advisor who specializes in Amazon 1P (first-party) and 3P (third-party) strategy across Indian, European, UK, US, and global markets, has a comparable take. “From what I’ve seen, brands usually start considering it around ~1,000 orders/month. That’s when fulfillment starts taking a lot of the team’s time and space and it begins pulling focus away from growth.”

So at this point, you’ve no doubt noticed that this range—roughly 300 to 3,000 monthly orders—is enormous. Asking “how many orders before outsourcing” is a bit like asking how many miles you should run before hiring a coach.

Forget About Order Volume (At Least For Now)

“It’s less about a specific order number and more about operational strain,” says Shank. Everybody we talked to echoed some version of this.

Coccaro rattles off the real trigger points. The list includes: multiple SKUs with variants, bundling or kitting, growing wholesale/retail alongside DTC, international shipping, and the founder spending more time shipping than selling.

Let’s focus on the founder-as-warehouse-worker problem. This came up in almost every conversation. And that’s absolutely as it ought to be. If your CEO is making post office runs instead of closing deals, the order count is beside the point. Something structural needs fixing.

Hill adds triggers that volume alone won’t surface: brands that “launch international shipping, start selling on marketplaces such as Amazon, or TikTok shop, need faster delivery options such as next day delivery, or introduce subscription or repeat shipments.” These are complexity triggers, not volume triggers. A brand doing 400 orders a month across three countries and two marketplaces might need a 3PL far more urgently than one doing 1,500 orders a month of a single SKU shipped domestically.

An Alternate Path: Dropship → 3PL → 1PL

Roy Steves brings a perspective that none of the other experts share, and it’s worth wrestling with even if you don’t fully agree.

Steves co-founded Poolaroo, a pool supplies retailer, and StatBid, a profitability-minded PPC and SEO agency for eCommerce brands. Before that, he was CMO of PoolSupplyWorld and VP of Digital Marketing at Leslie’s Poolmart. The detail that matters here, because he personally built the warehouse-management platforms that moved tens of millions of dollars in product per season. He’s seen fulfillment from the code level up.

His mental model isn’t “in-house vs. 3PL.” It’s a three-stage progression: “Dropship -> 3PL (because you need margins, but can’t handle a warehouse) -> 1PL (first-party logistics, because you’re big and sophisticated enough for a warehouse). 3PL is first party inventory with less direct overhead, but it doesn’t replace 1PL.”

In Steves’ world, 3PLs are a temporary means to an end. You start in-house, get big enough to outsource the work, grow more, and then get big enough to take it back in-house.

We included this take because it shows just how many ways there are to solve what looks, on the surface, like a pretty standard-issue supply chain problem. Most of the content you’ll find on when to outsource fulfillment treats a 3PL as the endgame. It’s the thing you graduate to, goes the logic.

Steves sees it as something many brands will eventually graduate through. It’s a minority view among our experts, but it’s grounded in direct experience scaling a company to two warehouses and 130,000 square feet of space.

The disagreement is narrower than it looks, though. Nobody here is arguing that 3PLs aren’t valuable. The question is whether the most successful eCommerce companies eventually bring fulfillment back in-house. For the vast majority of DTC brands, that’s a question for another year (or perhaps decade), if it ever becomes relevant at all.

Non-Obvious Signs You Need a 3PL

It’s not hard to spot the obvious signs that you need a 3PL. You’re out of space, shipments are late, and customers are furious.

Those aren’t hard to misread. By the time those hit, you’re already in triage mode. The signals worth watching are subtler: the kind you rationalize away or simply can’t see because you’re too busy taping up boxes.

1. Your Leadership Is Drowning in Operations

Every expert we spoke with mentioned this one. Every single one.

Coccaro’s version is the most vivid: the “founder or ops lead packing boxes at 10pm.”

Khalid frames it as an organizational disease. “Operational responsibilities consume the founder’s/team’s time, undermining product and marketing efforts.”

Singh describes the same thing from the customer-service side. “Shipping delays during promotions, rising support tickets about deliveries and founders spending too much time managing packing, inventory and dispatch instead of marketing or product.”

What makes this so dangerous is the compounding. A founder buried in logistics isn’t just losing hours. They’re losing the capacity to think about anything other than logistics. Product development stalls, and marketing campaigns don’t launch. Partnership conversations don’t happen. The business doesn’t slow down, but it does stop evolving.

2. Marketing Spending is Capped Because of Operations

You might not clock this one at first, because it disguises itself as caution. Sounds like good judgment. It’s not.

Shank flags it directly: “You’re holding back marketing because you’re afraid fulfillment will break.” Hill describes the same dynamic from the UK perspective: “[Marketing becomes] constrained by operations and the business avoids running campaigns because fulfillment cannot handle any spikes in demand.”

Sit with what that actually means for a second. You have a product people want. You have a marketing team (or a founder with a plan) ready to drive demand. And you choose not to because your backend can’t handle success. That’s not prudence. That’s your operations department setting a ceiling on your revenue.

3. Shipping Errors are Piling Up

Coccaro offers specific benchmarks. “Shipping errors creeping past 1–2%… Inventory accuracy below 98%… Cash stuck in inefficient reorder cycles.”

None of those numbers sound alarming on their own. But run them out and the picture becomes clear (and scary). A 97% inventory accuracy rate means roughly 3 out of every 100 orders might have a problem. Those 3 orders spawn customer service tickets, negative reviews, refund costs, and—worst of all—customers who simply don’t come back. You never see a dashboard alert for “quietly lost a loyal customer.”

Khalid highlights how insidious the decline can be. “Error rates are rising slowly (e.g., wrong picks), which will impact reviews and repeat rate a lot more than visible delays.”

That word slowly is doing heavy lifting. A sudden spike in errors gets noticed and fixed. A gradual creep? That one sneaks into your repeat purchase rate and your review average and lives there for months before anyone connects the dots.

Mark Taylor, a UK-based eCommerce CEO and managing director with deep expertise in digital strategy and business transformation, adds warning signs that are less metric-driven and more organizational. “Difficulty in recruitment and finding expertise. Negative customer feedback and poor reviews. Costs becoming disproportionate. Product margins shrinking.”

4. Your Staff Can’t Call Out Sick

Shank offers a gut-check that’s worth stealing: “If one warehouse employee calls out and everything falls apart, the system isn’t scalable.”

No need to belabor the point on this one. This question tells you something that a KPI dashboard might otherwise bury.

5. Inventory is Aging

Steves contributes a diagnostic that the other experts didn’t mention, drawn from his years building warehouse systems.

“The way I’ve approached it is to look at their inventory aging reports. If they’re struggling to manage their fulfillment efficiently, it’s going to show up as boxes that have been on shelves too long.”

Aging inventory is a proxy for operational friction, which includes problems like slow turns, inefficient picking, or forecasting problems. And all of these compound over time.

6. Fulfillment is Constraining Growth

Coccaro identifies “the biggest one” in his mind: “When fulfillment decisions start constraining growth strategy.

Khalid describes the same phenomenon from a channel perspective. “You reject wholesale/multichannel deals since your firm can’t scale up quickly enough.”

Hill quantifies the scaling problem. “Your unit economics cease improving and you need to hire more warehouse staff for each sales spike, leading to temporary labour cost increases and your scaling becomes inefficient.”

If you recognize yourself in more than two or three of these signs, the question has probably shifted from “when do I need a 3PL?” to “what took me so long?”

What Happens If You Wait Too Long to Outsource Fulfillment?

Delay has a cost. Most founders underestimate it, because the damage doesn’t arrive all at once. It accumulates, like interest on a debt you didn’t know you had.

1. Operational Chaos Becomes Normal

Coccaro has watched this movie enough times to name the three acts:

“They normalize chaos. What feels ‘scrappy’ is actually margin erosion.”

“They underprice fulfillment internally. Labor is treated as ‘free’ because it’s salaried.”

“They delay systems maturity. By the time they move to a 3PL, they’re migrating broken processes instead of clean ones.”

That third one deserves its own spotlight. A 3PL can’t fix bad processes. It can only execute the processes you hand off.

If you wait too long and outsource a mess, what you’ll get is a professionally managed mess. The onboarding will be rockier, the error rates will stay elevated longer, and you’ll be tempted to blame the 3PL for problems you baked into your own workflows.

2. Your Reputation Takes a Hit

Steves, who has watched this play out from both the operator and agency side, puts it starkly. “Reputation is everything, and slow time to ship and damage in transit tank that from customers you’ve already paid to attract. If your fulfillment isn’t supporting your reputation, that’s a sign that you should have considered fixes earlier.”

Shank catalogues what the customer actually sees. “Customer experience quietly declines: late shipments, wrong SKUs, slow refunds, limited tracking visibility.” That word quietly matters here, too.

Nobody calls you screaming about a package that arrived one day late. They just don’t order again. A thousand of those small, silent defections—spread over six months—will hollow out your customer base without ever triggering an alarm.

Singh sees the same dynamic. “The biggest one is operational stress during peak periods. Errors increase, delivery slows down and the team ends up firefighting logistics instead of focusing on scaling the business.”

3. You’re Forced to Hire a 3PL in a Crisis

The worst version of “waiting too long” plays out like this: a brand finally cracks under the pressure and tries to onboard a 3PL right in the middle of the crisis that forced the decision.

Shank has watched it happen. “The worst scenario is panic-migrating to a 3PL during Q4 or right after a viral spike. Onboarding while drowning is never ideal.”

Hill reinforces this from her experience across major UK and international brands: “Moving to a 3PL during a crisis is the worst possible moment, closely followed by migrating just before or during peak season.”

There’s a world of difference between the brand that evaluates providers calmly in February, runs a pilot in the spring, and migrates during a slow summer stretch—and the brand that panic-signs a contract in October. Hill notes that “brands that move early can design their ideal 3PL partnership.” The ones that move late are negotiating from desperation.

See Also: How To Choose An Ecommerce Fulfillment Partner

4. Your Growth is Slowed Down Arbitrarily

Here’s what delay actually costs in concrete terms. Coccaro: “I’ve seen brands lose 6–12 months of growth because fulfillment became the bottleneck.”

Six to twelve months. For a brand growing at 30–50% annually, that’s not a rounding error. That’s a material loss of revenue, market position, and momentum—the kind of setback that permanently bends a company’s growth curve.

Hill spells out the downstream effects: “Poor fulfillment quietly caps your revenue growth with poor delivery experiences reducing repeat purchases, slow shipping times reduce conversion and your international expansion ends up being delayed.”

The Case for Keeping Fulfillment In-House: When You Don’t Need a 3PL

Here’s where we need to pump the brakes.

Everything above might lead you to think that outsourcing fulfillment is always the right call. But that’s not always so. And in fact, Chris Carroll makes the strongest case we heard for keeping operations in-house.

This is not a theoretical argument, either. It comes from direct experience overseeing warehouse operations while simultaneously managing DTC and marketplace channels at scale.

Carroll’s position: “Most of the time, [brands are better off keeping fulfillment in-house], provided the business has wholesale and/or DTC channels. If they need to be competitive on Amazon, they can go FBA to gain Prime sales.”

1. In-House Fulfillment Gives You Greater Control

“In-house will get you better margins, faster problem resolution, and tighter inventory control and that is hard to argue with,” Carroll says.

He backs this up with operational specifics that anyone who’s run a warehouse will recognize: “I’ve overseen a WHS operation and a tremendous amount of issues can happen on the daily. Inbound damage, missing inventory, freight not picking up, etc. You need someone you can trust to remedy quickly and report back so you can move forward.”

In practice, that means if there’s a problem in your warehouse, you can walk over and fix it.

If you have a problem in a 3PL’s warehouse, you open a support ticket and wait. Even with high-touch, easy-to-reach companies, you still need to call or email.

Maybe it gets resolved in an hour, maybe it takes a day. And if you’re shipping perishable goods, high-value items, or anything with tight delivery windows, that gap in response time is the kind of thing that costs you customers.

2. Nobody Cares About Your Business Like You Do

Carroll’s bluntest observation: “Where 3PL’s can sell you on a strong program, ultimately, it is not their business or goods. There is a difference in level of ownership, from small execution errors like wrong packaging to bigger strategic calls.”

This is the argument that 3PL advocates tend to wave away, but it’s stubborn. A 3PL is running your fulfillment alongside dozens (maybe hundreds) of other clients. Your 3PL might be hitting every SLA on paper while still eroding something you can’t easily measure: the feeling a customer gets when they open the box.

You can mitigate this to a large degree by choosing a fulfillment partner carefully, should you choose to outsource. But Carroll’s point is nevertheless one worth sitting with before you sign papers.

3. Outsourcing Can Be Expensive (If You’re Not Careful)

Carroll challenges the assumption that outsourcing is inherently cheaper, pointing to costs that tend to materialize after the contract is signed. “They don’t understand the all-in costs of outsourcing, whether added storage fees, adding new service levels or even that of disposal.”

(We’ll talk about all-in costs a little further in this post.)

Then there’s inventory reconciliation. “It is often unknown that it may take two weeks for inventory reconciliation for a specific SKU. That two-week reconciliation window has real downstream consequences for reordering and cash flow, and it rarely shows up in the initial pitch.”

Two weeks is a long time to not know exactly what you have on shelves. You can’t reorder confidently. You risk overselling. Your working capital sits locked in stock you can’t properly account for. And you might just see that reality reflected in your next statement of cash flows.

4. In-House Scales, Too

Carroll pushes back on the assumption that 3PLs are inherently more scalable. “If you’re doing 30% more shipments than expected, in-house labor is generally easier to scale than renegotiating service tiers with a 3PL mid-contract.”

And he closes with an observation that no spreadsheet captures: “Visibility and control of your stock and warehousing operation is a competitive asset that rarely shows up in a spreadsheet comparison.”

Carroll’s argument is strongest for brands that have the operational chops, the capital, and the leadership bandwidth to do fulfillment well. Not every brand has those resources. And for many founder-led DTC companies, the honest truth is that their in-house fulfillment will never reach the level Carroll describes. That gap is precisely what a 3PL exists to fill.

Steves—who, remember, sees 3PL as a stepping stone toward eventually running your own warehouse—validates the trajectory Carroll describes. “My last company grew to two warehouses and 130k sqft and was only going to keep growing till we were acquired by a national brick and mortar chain… But as we grew, our warehouse operations improved, but as the engineer building those systems, I’ve only ever seen it work well.”

Carroll and Steves are both describing what happens when a company has the resources to invest in first-party logistics at scale. It’s a real destination, although not likely the next stop for most eCommerce businesses reading this article.

How to Calculate the True Cost Before You Outsource Fulfillment

Whatever you decide—whether it be 3PL, in-house, or some hybrid—the decision needs to be grounded in accurate numbers. And the single most consistent finding across our expert interviews is that most brands are working with bad numbers.

Beware Underestimation

Three experts, independently, arrived at the same figure.

Coccaro: “Most brands underestimate in-house cost by 20–40%.”

Hill: “Most growing DTC brands discover that their true cost for in-house fulfillment is between 20–40% higher than they first thought.”

Shank frames the same problem from the comparison side. “Most brands compare a 3PL’s pick-and-pack fee to ‘what we pay our warehouse guy.’ That’s incomplete.”

We collected this information by direct messages with professionals, and these operators have no relationships with one another. Yet they arrived at very similar figures, which is not a coincidence.

The 20–40% gap isn’t a rough guess. It shows up reliably, every time, when someone finally sits down and tallies all the costs instead of just the obvious ones.

What to Count

Coccaro breaks in-house cost into five buckets:

1. Fully burdened labor (wages + payroll tax + management time)
2. Rent + utilities + insurance + equipment depreciation
3. Packaging + waste + damage replacement
4. Software stack (WMS, shipping tools, inventory systems)
5. Opportunity cost (what leadership could be doing instead)

He then compares it to:

1. Pick/pack fees
2. Storage
3. Inbound receiving
4. Freight optimization leverage
5. SLA performance

Hill offers a complementary framework with four cost layers.

1. Direct labor – including warehouse staff salaries, any temporary staff costs, and management time allocation
2. Warehouse overheads – [including] rent, business rates, utilities, insurance and equipment costs
3. Packaging and shipping materials
4. Shipping costs – often completely underestimated, but savings alone can often offset most fulfillment fees.

Taylor insists on total-cost accounting, including “a complete costs comparison analysis, including everything. For example, for people; salary, NI, bonus, overtime, absence, sickness, recruitment costs, recruitment time, downtime, etc.”

Singh offers a practical summary, saying that “I usually encourage brands to look beyond shipping costs and include labor, warehouse space, packing materials, tools and the time the team spends managing fulfillment. When you add everything up, the real cost is often higher than expected.”

That fifth bucket in Coccaro’s framework is opportunity cost, which many founders are tempted to omit entirely. If the CEO is spending 15 hours a week managing fulfillment instead of closing a wholesale deal, launching a new product, or building a marketing channel, what’s that worth? It doesn’t show up on any invoice. It might be the single largest expense in the operation anyway.

What to Compare Against

Once you have your real in-house cost per order, you compare it against the total 3PL cost—not just the pick-and-pack fee. That means storage, receiving, returns handling, shipping rates, technology fees, and any value-added services.

But a straight cost comparison still misses something. Coccaro reframes the question. “The decision isn’t just ‘is 3PL cheaper?’ It’s ‘does 3PL unlock scale, speed, and margin expansion?'”

Shank illustrates why that reframe changes the math. “Sometimes a 3PL looks $1 more expensive per order on paper. But if it unlocks 30% revenue growth, faster shipping, better CX, and founder time back, the math changes quickly.”

Carroll’s Counter (Again, It’s a Fair One)

Carroll argues that in-house costs are actually easier to project. “Keeping fulfillment in-house should be an easier projection based on your space, headcount, and the freight charges. You know when carriers usually raise rates and plan for those updates. Outsourcing comes with more variables as service levels are added as volume, SKU count, or service requirements shift.”

He’s not wrong, as 3PL contracts introduce variable costs that can surprise you. This is particularly the case as you scale and start hitting new service tiers or adding capabilities you didn’t anticipate at signing. The predictability of in-house costs is a genuine advantage for brands that can manage the absolute level of those costs.

Or Reframe the Fulfillment Cost Question Entirely

If you get nothing else from this section, take this.

Hill suggests the most useful reframe. “You can reframe the question by asking whether fulfillment needs to be a core competency of your brand or not, rather than [whether] a 3PL solution [is] cheaper.”

Coccaro puts it more directly: “If fulfillment isn’t a competitive advantage, it shouldn’t live in your garage.”

For some brands—the ones Carroll describes, with sophisticated operations and strategic reasons to maintain direct control—fulfillment absolutely is a competitive advantage. For the rest, it’s a necessary function that’s eating resources better spent elsewhere.

So When Should You Outsource Fulfillment? A Decision Framework.

Eight experts. Wildly different backgrounds—agency operators, DTC scalers, marketplace strategists, eCommerce directors who’ve personally run warehouse floors. Here’s what we’d distill from all of it.

The volume benchmarks are starting points, not gospel. Most experts land somewhere between 500 and 3,000 monthly orders as the evaluation window. “How many orders before outsourcing” is the wrong question asked at the right time. Instead, use that range as a trigger to start researching, not a trigger to sign a contract. Then let your own spreadsheets and analysis help you make the final call.

The real signal is operational, not numerical. When fulfillment constrains your growth strategy, consumes leadership bandwidth, or degrades customer experience, you’ve probably already waited longer than you should have. Multiple experts used some version of the phrase “you’re already behind.”

Don’t wait for a crisis. Scrambling to onboard a 3PL during Q4 or after a viral moment came up as the worst-case scenario in nearly every interview. The best time to outsource fulfillment is during a calm stretch when you can evaluate partners strategically and migrate without the building on fire around you.

Calculate the full cost. In-house fulfillment is 20–40% more expensive than most brands think. Include burdened labor, overhead, packaging waste, software, and the opportunity cost of leadership time. Then compare against total 3PL cost, not just the pick-and-pack rate.

Know when in-house is the right answer. Some brands genuinely have the capital, the operational expertise, and the strategic reasons to keep direct control. If fulfillment quality is a true brand differentiator for your company, Carroll’s argument deserves serious consideration.

Consider the trajectory, not just the moment. Steves’s dropship → 3PL → 1PL framework is a useful mental model even if you never reach the 1PL stage. It reminds you that the fulfillment decision isn’t permanent. A 3PL that serves you well at 2,000 orders a month might not be the right fit at 20,000—and that’s okay.

Shank captures the throughline that ran across nearly every conversation we had. “Fulfillment isn’t just a cost center. It’s a growth lever. The goal isn’t to spend less—it’s to build a system that supports the scale you’re aiming for.”

And Steves, characteristically, resists the binary entirely. He says he “rare[ly] think[s] about it as a matter of exclusivity,” noting that dropship, 3PL, and first-party fulfillment all have their advantages and can coexist within the same operation.

The right answer for your business might not be “outsource everything” or “keep everything in-house.” It might be a hybrid—FBA for Amazon, a 3PL for DTC, and in-house for wholesale or custom orders. Build the fulfillment infrastructure that lets your business do what it does best.

And if packing boxes at midnight isn’t what you had in mind when you filed your LLC paperwork? Then you now have a framework for figuring out what comes next.

International eCommerce is an exciting opportunity for businesses to reach customers around the world. But how do you provide high-quality shipping service to the world at large?

You need to build a fulfillment network. This is especially true given recent changes to global trade policy and U.S. tariffs.

Making a fulfillment network requires connecting multiple regional or national 3PLs (third-party logistics providers) through software. Doing this properly can make a big difference to backend store operations. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to start!

To help you get started, we’ve put together this step-by-step guide to help you build a top-notch fulfillment network.

Why Establish a Fulfillment Network?

A fulfillment network is a system of logistics providers that handle storage, packing, and shipping of products. As mentioned earlier, 3PL providers are crucial in eCommerce since they can take care of these logistics functions without the eCommerce store owner’s constant input.

A single fulfillment center is a partner. Multiple fulfillment centers working together is a network. Having a network helps businesses scale operations and make sure products reach customers efficiently.

When set up properly, a multi-location fulfillment network offers four key advantages:

1. Faster Delivery Times: Localized 3PLs can ship products quickly to nearby customers. For instance, if you have a 3PL in Germany, your customers in Europe will receive their orders much faster.
2. Reduced Shipping Costs: Strategically placed 3PLs minimize shipping distances and costs. This means if you have a 3PL in the US and another in Australia, you can serve customers in those regions without paying exorbitant shipping fees.
3. Improved Customer Satisfaction: Faster deliveries and lower shipping costs make customers happy. When customers get their orders on time and don’t have to pay high shipping fees, they are more likely to shop with you again.
4. Trade Policy Benefits: With warehouses in multiple countries, you may be able to avoid or reduce customs duties by shipping from within a given trade zone. This can help you reduce your exposure to tariffs and lower your overall landed costs.

Put more simply, if you have the right warehouses in the right locations, you can ship your orders to far more places for much cheaper.

The 2 Parts of a Fulfillment Network

To create a successful international fulfillment network, you need to focus on two main components. The first component are 3PLs, who will handle the physical act of shipping. The second component is software, which will send each order to the right 3PL.

#1: Regional/National 3PLs

To build a fulfillment network, you need different 3PLs to act as nodes.

When selecting 3PLs, consider factors such as:

• Location: Choose 3PLs that are strategically located to cover your key markets. For example, if you sell a lot in Asia, you could have a 3PL in Hong Kong or Singapore.
• Reliability: Partner with 3PLs known for their reliability and good track record. Check reviews and ask for references.
• Cost: Make sure the 3PLs offer competitive pricing without compromising on quality.
• Services Offered: Look for 3PLs that provide a range of services, from storage and packing to shipping and returns management.

You want to be strategic with where 3PLs are located. For instance, a US-based eCommerce business might work with 3PLs in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami to cover the entire country with cost-efficient two-day shipping.

#2: Fulfillment Software

Having different 3PLs is a huge part of building a fulfillment network. But when the orders come in, someone – or something – needs to divide up the work. Software can do that for you.

Here is what you would need to consider when choosing software:

• Order Routing: The software should automatically route orders to the nearest 3PL to the customer. For example, if a customer in the UK places an order, the software should route it to your UK 3PL.
• Inventory Management: Keep track of stock levels across all your 3PLs. This will help you avoid stockouts and overstocking.
• Real-Time Tracking: Provide customers with real-time tracking of their orders. Nervous customers like to check their order status. Being transparent with them will help build trust.

The right fulfillment software, such as Orderhive or Cin7, to name some examples, can help streamline operations. When set up correctly, this can seamlessly divide up orders, sending them to the warehouses best equipped to handle them.

How To Build Your International Fulfillment Network in 5 Steps

Building an efficient international fulfillment network is obviously a large project. But you can still break it down into smaller, more manageable tasks.

Here are five straightforward steps you can follow to get started.

#1: Research and Select Regional/National 3PLs

Start by identifying potential 3PL partners in the regions you want to serve. Research companies that have a good reputation and offer the services you need, such as storage, packing, and shipping. Look for companies that are known for reliability and efficiency.

• Evaluate Capabilities: Make sure the 3PLs can handle your product types and volumes. For example, if you sell electronics, ensure the 3PL has experience in handling and shipping such items.
• Negotiate Contracts: Once you find suitable 3PLs, negotiate contracts and service level agreements (SLAs). Clear SLAs help set expectations and ensure that both parties understand performance standards.

Choosing the right 3PLs helps you lay a strong foundation for your fulfillment network. No matter how well you set up your software, if something goes wrong with the physical shipping process, the result is the same: late packages that cost too much to ship!

#2: Choose the Right Fulfillment Software

Next, you need to select order routing software that can manage your network efficiently. Explore popular options like Salesforce, ShipStation, NetSuite, and others.

A few factors you will need to consider include:

• Compatibility: Ensure the software works well with your existing systems. That includes your eCommerce platform and other existing inventory software you use.
• Scalability: Choose software that can grow with your business. As your order volume increases, the software should be able to handle the extra load without slowing down.
• Ease of Use: The software should be user-friendly for your team, making it easy to manage orders and track shipments.

#3: Integrate 3PLs with Your Fulfillment Software

Set up integrations between your 3PLs and your order routing software. You want seamless data exchange. That’s how you make sure orders get processed smoothly.

Set up the software to route orders based on factors like location, stock levels, and shipping costs. For example, an order from a customer in France should be routed to your European 3PL, while an order from Australia should go to your Australian 3PL.

Once you do this, you can use the software to automate and streamline your fulfillment process. This reduces errors and speeds up deliveries.

#4: Test the Network

This is not a flashy tip, but it’s expensive to ignore it! Before launching your network fully, you need to test it carefully.

Steps in the testing process include:

• Simulate Orders: Create test orders in your system to simulate actual customer purchases. Test various scenarios, such as different regions and shipping methods. You want to make sure the network can handle all possibilities.
• Run Pilot Programs: Start with a small group of real orders to gauge performance. Watch key metrics like delivery times, accuracy, and customer satisfaction.
• Collect Data: Gather data from test and pilot orders to identify any issues or bottlenecks. Use this information to refine your network before a full rollout.

During your testing process, you might find out, for example, that orders to Asia are taking too long. This could lead you to choose a different 3PL in that region or adjust your order routing rules.

#5: Launch and Monitor the Network

After testing, you can roll out the fulfillment network. For best results, gradually scale up operations to include all regions and handle more orders. You want to make sure all 3PLs and software are fully integrated and operational.

Again, you will need to use your fulfillment software to track performance metrics like delivery times and order accuracy. This is, ultimately, about making sure items get to the right people in the right place, on-time and intact.

Keep an eye on this data and that will help you track trends and see what can be improved. Keep tweaking order routing rules and stay in touch with your 3PL partners. Optimization and communication go a long way!

Common Fulfillment Network Challenges

Building and maintaining an international fulfillment network can be quite challenging. But if you’re smart about how you approach it on a strategic level, your main concern will be handling day-to-day operational issues.

Here are some common obstacles and how to overcome them.

#1: Complex Logistics Coordination

Managing multiple 3PLs across various regions can get complicated. Each 3PL might have different systems and processes, making coordination a headache.

Using centralized fulfillment software as we’ve stated earlier will help you coordinate logistics seamlessly. The main thing you need to do once selecting and rolling out good software is to regularly test and monitor it.

With enough order volume, small quirks in routing can lead to big additional expenses in postage. It’s worth making a habit of routinely monitoring your order routing software to make sure it’s working well.

#2: Customs and Regulatory Compliance

Different countries have varied customs regulations and compliance requirements. This can be a hassle to navigate, especially if you’re shipping to multiple countries.

Work with 3PLs that know how to handle international shipping and customs. They can keep your company compliant and help you avoid costly delays.

#3: Cost Management

Shipping internationally can be expensive, with fluctuating costs due to factors like fuel prices, tariffs, and currency exchange rates. To keep shipping costs down, make sure your order routing is optimized to choose the most cost-effective route. This is one of the biggest things you will want to get right.

Plus, once you consider the recent U.S. tariff increases in 2025, it’s more important than ever to monitor landed costs. That is, the total cost of getting a product to the customer, including duties and customs fees. If you’re shipping internationally, use HS code optimization and work closely with customs brokers to keep costs down.

Once you have enough leverage, it might also be smart to negotiate favorable rates with the 3PLs in your network. If you ship enough orders with them, they will likely want to keep you as a client and may be more flexible. Those price breaks can add up!

#4: Inventory Management

Keeping track of inventory across multiple locations can be tough. You need to know exactly what’s in stock at each 3PL to avoid stockouts and overstocking.

To that end, the best thing you can do is make sure your order routing software also has robust inventory management functions. This is something worth vetting before you commit wholeheartedly to using a system as a core piece of your fulfillment network.

#5: Technology Integration

Fulfillment networks are built on computer networks. That means keeping up a smooth data exchange between your system and your 3PLs. But ask any IT person you know, and they’ll tell you – different systems don’t always communicate well with each other.

From time to time, run and test and make sure all your 3PL integrations are working properly. The last thing you want to see is orders going out late because of some obscure technical hiccup. Much better to be proactive here!

#6: Customer Satisfaction

You know what it’s like to get a package late! As you can imagine, any delays and errors in fulfillment can negatively impact customer satisfaction. Customers expect fast and accurate deliveries, and any glitch can make them mad.

Use your fulfillment software to track how long orders take to be processed and delivered. If you see delays, look into the problem and address the root cause, such as switching to a faster 3PL or improving your order processing system.

#7: Trade Policy Changes

International trade policies can shift rapidly, impacting duties, tariffs, and shipping regulations. The U.S. tariff increases in 2025 are a perfect example of how sudden changes can raise costs and complicate fulfillment logistics.

To protect your business, stay informed about major trade developments and maintain flexibility in your fulfillment network. Working with multiple 3PLs in different regions gives you more options if tariffs or regulations make one shipping route less viable.

Depending on how big your business is, you might also want to consider diversifying suppliers and fulfillment partners across multiple countries. This can be a good way to hedge against future trade disruptions.

Final Thoughts

For large eCommerce shops, having a well-connected fulfillment network is incredibly important. Having the right software and the right 3PLs is what makes it possible to ship across the world quickly and cost-effectively.

If you set up your fulfillment network properly, you can keep customers happy and expand your global reach. All while keeping costs down too!

Yes, setting up a fulfillment network is a huge task. But if you break it down into its two main parts – picking the right software and picking the right warehouses, it’s a lot easier to understand.

Don’t let the complexity scare you. There are a lot of good software options and a lot of good 3PLs in the world. If you find the right ones to work with, you can get a fulfillment network built out in record time.

Getting your board game in stores isn’t just about making a great product—it’s about understanding how retailers think. At GAMA Expo 2025, a board game convention for industry folks in the know, I sat in on a panel called Things Retailers Wish Publishers Knew.

The panel featured Andrea Robertson of Rain City Games, Kylie Primus of Games Unlimited, and Courtney Hartley of Bonus Round Café.

Each panelist brought a different perspective—from traditional hobby stores to game cafés that focus on teaching and playing. What they all had in common: years of experience figuring out what sells, what sits on shelves, and what frustrates the people doing the selling.

In this post, we’ve pulled together 10 key takeaways from the conversation. If you’re a publisher looking to build strong retail relationships and actually move units, this is a must-read.

Getting your board game in stores successfully starts with listening.

1. Retailers Get More Email Than They Can Answer

Retailers get buried in emails—Kylie mentioned getting 64 solicitations in a single week. If they didn’t ask for it, chances are it’s going to spam or a filtered folder they might check once a week.

And even if it gets seen, many emails say the same thing or offer no clear next step. What retailers want is simple: clarity and action. Can they order now? Can they flag a reminder? Is there a direct link?

One retailer said, “If I can’t do something about this now, I’m not going to remember your game in November.”

Sending multiple emails about the same game without adding anything new can actually turn them off. So before you hit send, ask yourself: is there a clear reason for this email to exist? If not, it’s just adding to the noise.

Tip: If your email doesn’t give the retailer a clear action they can take, rewrite it so that it does.

2. Retailers Learn About New Games The Same Way Players Do

Solicitations are just one piece of the puzzle—and they’re not exactly as important as a corner piece in a traditional puzzle. You might be surprised to hear that retailers learn about new games the same way players do: conventions, staff picks, reviews, customer requests, and social media buzz.

A game that comes recommended by staff, gets demoed at a convention, and shows up in multiple places is much more likely to get on the radar. One retailer said they rely on a staff member who “watches pretty much every board game review podcast there is,” while another emphasized listening to customer chatter.

Going after multiple touchpoints matters. Being seen more than once builds interest and credibility. You can’t rely on one email to carry all the weight.

Tip: Think like a marketer—frequency builds familiarity. One email won’t do it.

3. Packaging Needs To Be Practical

If your box doesn’t tell the story, the game won’t sell. Retailers want customers to pick up the game and immediately understand what it is and whether it’s for them.

That means a strong back-of-box layout with visuals of what the game looks like on the table—one retailer said they’d flip a box over and be forced to pull up BoardGameGeek just to explain what it is. That’s a lost sale waiting to happen.

“Can your demo team sell the game using just the back of the box?” one panelist asked. If not, something’s missing. The sides of the box matter too—many stores shelve spine-out, not face-out. If the game name isn’t visible, it gets ignored.

Non-standard box sizes also create headaches. “If it doesn’t fit on the shelf, it goes on top… and no one sees it.”

Tip: Ask your demo team to try selling the game only using the box. If they can’t, fix the box.

4. Release Timing: Avoid the Holiday Black Hole

If your game hits shelves between mid-October and mid-January, it’s likely to be ignored. Retailers are swamped—managing inventory, restocks, holiday traffic, and end-of-year admin.

“Anything we get during that window is probably never going to be seen,” said one panelist. That doesn’t mean the game won’t sell at all—but retailers won’t have the time to learn, demo, or actively promote it. Exceptions are titles they’ve already preordered or expansions to games with a strong existing presence.

For everything else, timing is critical. Want to make a push for the holidays? Hit retailers in September or early October with a short list of your top games to stock. Make it easy to pick, easy to order, and ideally, easy to sell.

Tip: September and early October are ideal for pitching holiday titles. Send a clear list of your top 3 SKUs—make their job easier.

5. Direct Sales: Some Do It, Many Don’t

Some retailers will order directly from your website. Others won’t touch direct ordering at all. The reasons vary—time, logistics, staffing, and habit. “I love ordering direct,” one panelist said, “but a lot of stores are too small or too busy to manage it.”

Offering direct ordering is still worth doing—but don’t assume all retailers will use it. You need to offer multiple paths: distribution, direct sales, preorder portals, bundles, whatever works. Just avoid bundle structures that force a 1:1 ratio of base games to expansions—that causes inventory headaches.

And never assume what “every retailer” will or won’t do. As one panelist put it, “Retail is not homogenous. If someone tells you no store will ever do X, ignore that advice.”

Tip: Offer multiple options for ordering. Even if only a few stores use them, those few may be your champions.

6. Be Smart About Expansions

Retailers are cautious with expansions—especially for games they haven’t sold before. If the base game has a proven track record or an active local fanbase, bringing in expansions makes sense. But if the game is new to the store, most retailers will only take a chance on the core box.

One panelist explained they’ll sometimes bring in expansions at a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio to base games—but only when demand is already there. Packaging matters too. If the expansion comes in a blister pack or small format that has to hang far away from the base game, it might not sell at all. Ideally, the expansion should shelve next to the original—clean, simple, and obvious.

Tip: Don’t bundle expansions in ways that force retailers to sell them with the base game. Give them flexibility.

7. Know Your Pricing Sweet Spots

If you’re pricing a game for retail, the consensus was that $40 is a magic number. That’s the average ticket price in many stores, and it’s what customers are most comfortable spending on a casual visit.

Games around $70 are still viable but need to justify the cost—retailers will hesitate unless they already believe in the title. And once you cross into triple-digit pricing, the sales drop significantly.

Games at $100+ need to be special to move. Meanwhile, sub-$20 games fall into impulse-buy territory, especially if they’re easy to demo or explain.

Licensing complicates this: if adding an IP pushes a $35 game up to $50, you’ll lose customers who like the brand but not enough to pay a premium.

Tip: Price smart. IPs that inflate cost too much can tank sales, even if the game’s good.

8. Respect the Game Café

Game cafés aren’t just places to play—they’re powerful sales channels. A demo copy in a café might get played dozens or even hundreds of times. That kind of exposure builds familiarity and turns casual players into buyers.

But publishers often overlook cafés or saddle them with case minimums to access demo copies. That’s a mistake. One panelist explained that cafés act as long-tail ambassadors, especially for evergreen titles.

They don’t want free product—they want a fair way to buy demos without hoops. And they need them at the same time as the sellable inventory, not weeks later. If you wait, they’ll open a sellable copy themselves. That’s one fewer game on the shelf, just because you didn’t ship things together.

Tip: Let cafés buy demos at a discount with no hoops. It pays off long-term.

9. Promos & Marketing Materials: Tread Carefully

Promos can help—but only if they’re handled right. If a publisher advertises a promo item and the store doesn’t have it, customers may walk away. “Do you have the promo?” is a question that can cost a sale. And if the retailer didn’t even know a promo existed, that sale’s gone.

Materials matter too. Posters are hit or miss. Many cafés and premium stores want clean aesthetics—bold or poorly designed posters won’t go on the wall. What works better? Coasters, clever leave-behinds, and materials that feel native to the space.

Café owner, Courtney Hartley, suggested dual-purpose materials: evergreen on one side, new product on the other. Don’t just print and ship stuff—think about where it’s going and whether it will actually get used.

Tip: Make promos store-friendly, and offer marketing materials that actually suit the store type.

10. Final Advice: Just Talk to Retailers

There’s no substitute for a real relationship. GAMA panels are great, but one-on-one conversations are better.

Want to know how your packaging lands? Ask.

Want to see if your bundle structure works? Ask.

Some publishers do this well—reaching out to trusted stores for a private Zoom or quick call with their team. Those sessions are invaluable. Just be respectful of time.

Cold calls won’t get you far, and walking in unannounced during peak hours is a sure way to get ignored. Build relationships early, and keep them going between shows. It’s worth it.

Tip: Pick 3–5 retailers to build real rapport with. Zoom calls go a long way.

Final Thoughts

Retail is messy, inconsistent, and deeply human. No two stores run the same way, and no one approach works for every buyer. That’s not a flaw—it’s the reality of selling games through people instead of algorithms.

If you want to succeed in retail, you need more than a great game. You need to think like a partner. Make things easier, not harder. Stay curious. Listen more than you pitch.

And remember that retailers aren’t gatekeepers—they’re allies. Their feedback isn’t just critique — it’s insight into what actually moves units in the real world.

Most consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands aren’t rolling in venture capital. And that’s okay.

You don’t need a million-dollar ad budget to succeed. But you do need focus. Clear strategy. The willingness to test things fast helps, as does a little grit.

To help you understand what CPG marketing looks like on a shoestring budget, we’ve brought in Alison Smith and Karin Samelson. They are the Cofounders of UMAI Marketing and have worked with dozens of CPG brands. They know what it takes to grow, without breaking the bank.

I sent them a bunch of questions by email, and they were kind enough to provide thorough responses. You can find their expertly written thoughts below, cited extensively throughout the post.

1. What’s the biggest challenge CPG brands face when trying to stand out?

“Money is number one, then time,” say Alison Smith and Karin Samelson, co-founders of UMAI Marketing.

It’s not that you can’t grow without outside funding. But it’s harder. Much harder.

“If a CPG brand doesn’t have the funds to hire help to sell and market their brand,” they explain, “then they are going to need to invest their own time to do so.”

There’s no shortcut around it. Either you’re hiring experts or doing the work yourself. And that means wearing every hat in the business—founder, marketer, operations, finance, customer service, and more.

“It’s not impossible to grow a successful brand without raising capital,” they add, “but it’s going to take a founder who is willing and has the time to wear all the hats.”

That’s the tradeoff. Cash or time. If you don’t have one, you need a whole lot of the other.

2. How has digital marketing changed how CPG brands sell their products?

A lot has changed in just the last few years. Long gone are the days when you needed a slick commercial and a big ad spend to make an impact.

“Less traditional advertising with overly thought-out (and EXPENSIVE) ad campaigns,” the co-founders say, “and more of a focus on of-the-moment, user-generated content that’s social first.”

That’s good news for smaller brands. You don’t need a creative agency or a big media buy. You need a phone, a little time, and a willingness to try things.

“CPG brands need to be nimble,” they explain. “Willing to test content. Not be afraid to have pieces of content fail. And have a human element to their marketing.”

This isn’t about getting it perfect. It’s about getting it out there.

When something resonates, double down. When it flops, move on quickly.

Being small gives you an edge here. Big brands have layers of approvals and brand guidelines to get through. You don’t. That means you can move fast, ride trends, and talk like a real person—because you are one.

Want to start simple? Share a founder video. Show your product in action. Repost customer content, ask questions, and answer comments. Or put another way: keep it real.

It doesn’t have to be polished. It just has to be you.

3. What’s the best way for CPG brands to drive sales in retail stores?

Digital and physical sales are more connected than most people think. If you want your product to move off the shelf, you have to do more than just get into the store—you have to drive people there and make sure the staff knows what they’re selling.

“Geo-targeted social ads with retailer coupons are one of the best ways to get people into stores and actually buy your product,” the co-founders say.

They recommend platforms like Aisle, which help brands offer digital coupons tied to specific retail locations. When a customer redeems the coupon, you get proof of purchase. That’s real ROI.

But don’t stop there.

“In addition to running ads,” they add, “have a good relationship with your buyer, schedule store demos, and educate store staff on your product.”

That last part often gets missed. If a store employee doesn’t understand what makes your product special, they’re not going to push it. But when they do understand? You’ve got an ally in the aisle.

“You have to build support both outside and inside the store,” they say. “That’s how you drive sales.”

4. How much does brand storytelling really matter for CPG marketing?

“A lot,” the co-founders say. “Especially if you don’t have million-dollar budgets.”

You can have the best product in the world, but if people don’t know your story—or worse, don’t feel anything about it—you’re just another jar on the shelf.

“If you don’t build that know, like, trust with your audience,” they explain, “then you’ll never achieve quality growth.”

This isn’t just about having a good origin story. It’s about giving people a reason to care. A reason to buy from you instead of the bigger, cheaper, or more familiar brand next to you.

“Give people a reason to support and rally behind you,” they say. “Even if you already have an awesome product. That reason is usually your story.”

And that story doesn’t have to be flashy. It just has to be real.

Did you start this company because of a personal need? Are you obsessed with your ingredients? Is your family involved? Are you fighting to stay independent?

Tell that story.

5. Does influencer marketing actually work for CPG brands?

Short answer: yes. But only if you do it right.

“Well, Poppi just got acquired for almost $2B,” say Alison and Karin. “So I think that answers your question!”

Poppi’s success with influencer marketing is impressive. But the co-founders make it clear—you don’t need VC money to make this strategy work.

“If you’re tight on cash,” they say, “find partners who really believe in your brand story + product, and may be willing to promote it for commission only (to start).”

That’s the key. Don’t chase big-name creators. Focus on real fans with loyal, engaged audiences.

And avoid the one-off $10K video trap.

“Stay far (far) away from influencers who immediately come to the table with ‘It will cost $10K for 1 video,’” they warn. “It’s absolutely outrageous what some of these content creators are charging.”

Even if you could afford it, it’s rarely a smart bet.

“Content quantity is important in this day and age,” they explain. “The odds aren’t in your favor for success with ONE video.”

Instead, think long-term.

“Negotiate a longer-term partnership to show their audience that they’re a true fan,” they say, “and not just peddling a new weekly product that doesn’t stick.”

That kind of repeat exposure builds trust—and trust leads to sales.

6. How can CPG brands use customer data to make better marketing decisions?

Good news: you probably already have a lot of what you need.

“There are plenty of platforms that you’re likely already using,” the co-founders say, “like Shopify, Meta, TikTok, Google Analytics. These give you a broad idea of who your customer is.”

But that’s just surface-level. To go deeper, you have to ask questions.

“To go deeper,” they advise, “survey your customers post-purchase. Use an app like KnoCommerce, or send an email.”

And make the questions count.

“Ask them: How they first heard about you. What they like or dislike about your products. What’s important to them in your category. What brands they also buy. And any additional feedback.”

That kind of insight is gold.

“Knowing who your customers are is essential to crafting marketing campaigns,” they say. “You can’t make smart decisions if you’re guessing.”

So stop guessing. Ask—and then actually use what you learn.

7. What’s an underrated CPG marketing strategy that more brands should try?

“There’s not a one-size-fits-all strategy that works for every CPG brand,” the co-founders explain. “Our approach is to at the very least, use a platform to create a community (like IG or TikTok), have a way to acquire new customers (like Influencers or Social advertising), and have a way to further indoctrinate and increase lifetime value (like through email marketing).”

That’s not flashy. But it’s effective.

Community. Acquisition. Retention. Miss any one of them, and you’ll stall out.

Community means showing up on social and giving people a reason to connect. Acquisition is how you bring new people in—whether through ads or creator partnerships. And for retention?

“Email marketing,” they say, “is a way to further indoctrinate and increase lifetime value.”

It doesn’t have to be complicated. But it does need to be consistent.

8. How can smaller CPG brands compete with big-name companies?

Let’s be honest—big brands have a lot of advantages. But speed and authenticity usually aren’t on that list.

“Big-name companies have to jump through hoops when it comes to creating content,” the co-founders say. “Endless chains of approval and watered-down ideas.”

That’s where small brands can win.

“Smaller CPG brands can be quick to react to trends,” they explain, “and be a part of the conversation with their fans + audiences.”

You don’t need corporate approval. You don’t need a six-week rollout. You can post now.

“Show up where they are on social,” they say. “And chat with them.”

That might mean replying to comments, responding to DMs, or hopping into a live video.

It sounds simple. That’s because it is.

This isn’t about glossy branding. It’s about trust. And trust is something big brands can’t buy—but you can earn.

9. What’s the biggest difference between marketing for DTC vs. retail CPG brands?

“More real-time data to help you optimize and grow quicker with D2C brands,” say Alison and Karin.

When you’re selling direct-to-consumer, you get instant feedback. You can tweak your ads, adjust messaging, and see the results in real time.

“With retail,” they explain, “we use a lot of the same channels, but our store data is delayed and not as transparent, so we have to be very aware of what we’re testing in these periods between receiving store data.”

That slower feedback loop makes testing trickier—but not impossible. It just means you need a plan, and you need to be patient.

10. What CPG marketing trends should brands pay attention to in the next few years?

“While we wish we had a crystal ball and knew of the newest, hottest social channel before everyone else,” the co-founders say, “right now we are completely focused on marketing & spending efficiently on the social platforms that work for CPG (like Instagram & TikTok).”

No need to chase every shiny new platform. If something’s working, get better at it.

“That being said,” they add, “we do share what we’re seeing as social trends each month in our Trend Report!”

The point is to stay aware without getting distracted. Keep your marketing grounded in what already moves the needle—and test from there.

Final Thoughts

There’s a kind of freedom that comes with being a small brand. You can move faster. Speak more honestly. Build a real relationship with the people who buy from you.

That advantage disappears the moment you start playing by someone else’s rules—chasing trends that don’t matter, copying campaigns that don’t fit, or spending like you’ve got cash to burn.

What Alison and Karin lay out here isn’t complicated. But it is disciplined. It’s about showing up, testing ideas, staying human, and knowing your customer better than anyone else.

If you’re willing to do that work—consistently—you’ll build something that not only lasts, but grows.

Not through hype. Not through luck. Just through good marketing, done right.

Want to get organic traffic to your store so you can make some sales? Ecommerce search engine optimization, or SEO, is how you do that.

Optimizing your website for search engines will help increase visibility, attract potential customers, and improve your chances of turning those visitors into buyers.

SEO can be broken down into a bunch of smaller disciplines. There’s technical SEO, which is about your site’s speed, structure, and security. Then there’s on-page SEO which is focused on making individual pages more searchable. Then there is content marketing and link building, which is about making pages people want to read and then getting those pages in front of readers.

It’s a lot to take in, especially if you don’t have a technical background. It’s for that reason that we compiled this guide to give you some actionable tips to help you get started.

So let’s begin with a quick definition of eCommerce SEO.

What is Ecommerce SEO?

Ecommerce SEO is all about optimizing your online store to rank higher in search engine results. Unlike general SEO, eCommerce SEO zeroes in on product and category pages, optimizing for relevant keywords, and enhancing the user experience to turn visitors into customers. It targets specific search terms to attract shoppers actively looking for the products you sell.

Good SEO impacts your store’s visibility, making it easier for customers to find your products. High search rankings lead to increased organic traffic and better conversion rates. Effective SEO strategies also boost your online presence, helping you attract and retain customers, which ultimately drives sales and growth.

In this guide, we’ll provide tips on how exactly you can optimize for SEO.

Technical SEO Tips

Optimizing the technical aspects of your site is crucial for better search engine rankings. But technical SEO can get complex if you research it online.

To help you get started, here are some concrete steps to help you optimize your technical ESO.

#1: Optimize your site structure.

A well-organized site structure is a must for SEO. As Nikola Baldikov, CEO of Inbound Blogging, suggests, “start with defining your categories. They should be logical and intuitive, so both users and search engines can browse the website easily.”

He continues, saying, that “if you don’t know where to start, try checking what your competitors are doing and gathering some ideas. Simply uploading products without considering the organization can cause your visitors to get confused and hurt your sales.”

#2: Make sure your website is mobile-friendly.

Mobile optimization is key since search engines prioritize mobile-friendly sites. After all, 45% of web users shop through their phones.

Brandon Schroth, Founder at Reporter Outreach, emphasizes that “mobile phones are the most popular form of devices used to perform online shopping.” He goes on to say that “if a website is not mobile optimized, user experiences may be imperiled, in addition to search rankings being affected.”

Make sure your site is responsive and adapts to different screen sizes. This is because a mobile-friendly site enhances user experience, reduces bounce rates, and boosts search performance. Or, put in a less technical way, people stay on your site for longer and are more likely to buy.

#3: Improve site speed.

Fast-loading websites rank higher and offer a better user experience. “Speed matters more than you think,” says Nathaniel Miller at The SEO Marketing Dad. “Make sure your site loads fast and looks great on mobile. Customers expect quick, seamless experiences, and Google rewards it too.”

If you want to improve your site’s load time, then optimize images, turn on browser caching, and minimize HTTP requests to improve loading times. Use tools like GTMetrix to find and fix speed issues.

#4: Secure your site with HTTPS.

Security is a ranking factor, and HTTPS ensures that data exchanged between your site and users is encrypted. Make sure you have a valid SSL certificate to secure your site. Additionally, HTTPS improves user trust and can lead to better search engine rankings, as search engines prefer secure sites.

If you have trouble doing this, use Why No Padlock to troubleshoot.

On-Page SEO Strategies

On-page SEO is all about optimizing individual web pages to rank higher and attract more relevant traffic from search engines. Here are some specific tips you can apply today to improve your on-page SEO.

#5: Optimize product pages with targeted keywords.

Make sure to incorporate relevant keywords naturally in your product titles and descriptions. Use keywords that your potential customers are likely to search for. Be sure to also include them in headings, subheadings, and bullet points. This helps search engines understand your content and rank your pages higher for those specific terms.

But that said, avoid the temptation to stuff keywords into product titles and descriptions. You instead want to incorporate relevant keywords naturally. Tom Jauncey of Nautilus Marketing advises that you “optimize product pages with unique, keyword-rich descriptions and high-quality images. Too many eCommerce sites rely on manufacturer descriptions, which can hurt rankings. Make sure each product page offers value in terms of content.”

#6: Use high-quality images and optimize alt text.

“The first SEO tip for an eCommerce site is image optimization,” says SEO consultant, Jase Rodley. “Since eCommerce is all about visuals, make sure all product images are high quality and have descriptive alt text with relevant keywords. This helps with SEO and accessibility.” He also recommends using user-generated content like customer reviews and testimonials, which he says, “adds fresh unique content to your product pages and builds trust with potential buyers.”

#7: Create compelling meta descriptions.

Meta descriptions are short descriptions of your page that can be sent to search engines. Usually, they are 160 characters at most.

You need to write concise and compelling meta descriptions for each page. This will involve summarizing the page content and including targeted keywords.

Now you should know – meta descriptions not always appear in search results. It depends on the search terms used and, frankly, whether or not Google feels like using your meta descriptions.

But all the same, well-written meta descriptions increase the odds that searchers turn into visitors.

#8: Optimize URL structures for clarity and keywords.

Create clear, concise URLs with relevant keywords. Avoid long, complex URLs. Google, and other search engines, tend to dislike long URLs or ones that contain irrelevant information like random numbers.

Additionally, as Ross Kernez from SEO Meetup suggests, building links from trustworthy websites in your industry can further enhance your site’s rankings by signaling credibility and relevance to search engines. “Aim to get links from well-known, trustworthy websites in your industry,” says Kernez. “These good links help boost your site’s ranking in search engines.”

Content Marketing for SEO

Creating valuable content is a good way to improve your search rankings. Sometimes, this means improving the quality of your product pages with reviews or FAQs. Other times, it means creating blog posts, videos, and other forms of content to help answer questions that your customers may have.

No matter how you choose to go about it, content marketing is a proven way to help boost your SEO.

#9: Start a blog related to your niche.

It’s not relevant for every niche, but it works like a charm when it is! Regular blog posts can improve your search rankings and also help you establish your site as an authority in your industry.

Blogging allows you to create keyword-rich content that attracts organic traffic. In order to do this, write about topics relevant to your niche, addressing common questions and sharing useful knowledge.

#10: Use user-generated content.

Encourage customers to leave reviews and testimonials on your site. User-generated content (UGC) adds credibility and naturally incorporates relevant keywords.

“Feedback and reviews from your existing customers offers social proof and helps to convince and convert new customers,” says Michelle Symonds, CEO of Ditto Digital.

It’s not hard to understand why search engines like UGC. Much like human beings, search engine bots like seeing proof that your brand is as good as you say it is!

Positive reviews can also improve your search rankings and attract more visitors by showing that you have satisfied customers.

Building up UGC takes time. But one way you can speed up the process is by remembering to ask customers to leave reviews. Many will if you remember to ask!

#11: Build a keyword-rich FAQ page.

Create an FAQ page that addresses common questions and concerns related to your products. As you answer questions, you will naturally use keywords in the questions and answers.

“I would recommend that sites prioritize their product descriptions,” says Kim Butler from Online Optimism, “being sure to answer any potential questions their customers might ask. You could also include this in frequently asked questions after descriptions to add more value.”

In addition to being good for SEO, adding FAQs improves user experience, on top of simply driving organic traffic to your site.

Link Building Techniques

Search engines tend to favor websites that other sites link to. When other sites link to your website, these are called backlinks. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the better your website will rank.

So here are some tips on how you can build up your backlinks.

#12: Implement a link-building strategy.

“Link building, [such as] building links to the root of your domain via brand mentions, is not only important but is one of the most natural ways to obtain backlinks over time,” says John White from Complete White Label. “I recommend doing this via expert commentary campaigns.”

That’s just one technique you can employ though, as there are a lot of ways you can get backlinks. Many of them boil down to networking.

To acquire quality backlinks, reach out to the owners of larger sites. Offer to create guest blog posts or strike up a partnership. A lot of this will come down to outreach, often cold outreach, done via email or social media.

Another good way to build up your link profile is by getting mentioned in the media. You may also consider using websites like Qwoted or HARO to get in touch with reporters.

#13: Partner with influencers for content outreach.

Collaborate with influencers to create and share content that includes links to your site. Influencers can reach a wider audience and provide high-quality backlinks. This not only improves your link equity but also drives targeted traffic.

“Apart from increasing your credibility,” says Brandon Schroth from Reporter Outreach, “this will also help expand your brand’s reach. Moreover, these collaborations help in producing creative and original content that can be published on social networks and other digital media, thus generating quality backlinks and increasing the visibility of your website.”

Overall, this is a smart way to increase brand awareness. This is especially true in some niche markets such as cosmetics.

It’s also useful to remember that influencers aren’t just people with big Instagram or TikTok followings. Reporters, reviewers, bloggers, and even community organizers are all influencers in the broader sense of the term. Don’t overlook them because of all the people talking into ring lights!

#14: Use internal linking wisely.

“Don’t skip out on the importance of internal linking,” advises Nathaniel Miller from The SEO Marketing Dad. “Internal linking is a powerful way to guide users and spread link equity. Don’t overlook it.”

Internal linking helps distribute page authority throughout your site and improves navigation. Link related products, blog posts, and category pages to enhance user experience and SEO. Be sure your most important pages receive the most internal links.

You will also want to make sure you use descriptive anchor text. That means avoiding turning words like “here” into links. The linked text itself needs to tell you something about the page that is being linked to.

Advanced SEO Tips

SEO advice can become very complex. If you follow all of the previous tips but are still looking for further ways to improve, here are a few more things you can do.

#15: Use schema markup for rich snippets.

Schema markup helps search engines understand your content. When you use schema markup, it can improve search result visibility with rich snippets.

Rich snippets include additional information below the meta description in the search result. That might include a product rating, number of reviews, price, delivery cost, returns policy, and similar information.

Paul DeMott, CTO at Helium SEO, explains that using it for “highlights like stock, ratings, and pricing can boost your presence on search engine result pages by offering rich snippets.”

In order to add rich snippets, you need to implement schema markup. This can get complex, so here is a guide on how you can do this in Shopify.

While complex, it is often worth it. That’s because rich snippets improve click-through rates by making your listings more attractive.

#16: Optimize for voice search.

Voice search is becoming more common. So think about the kinds of keywords people will use when using Siri for search.

Think about how you can get your pages to rank when using natural spoken language. Think about the kind of long-tail keywords that reflect how people speak.

Truthfully, this is very hard to do. But if you answer common questions directly in your content, such as descriptions, you will improve your odds of appearing in the voice search results. This is because of the conversational nature of copywritten text online.

For more information, check out this post by Design Rush on voice search best practices.

#17: Focus on local SEO if applicable.

You might also consider optimizing your eCommerce site for local search if you have a physical store or target a specific region. Include your business address, phone number, and operating hours on your site. Use local keywords.

If nothing else, create a Google My Business listing to improve your visibility in local search results.

#18: Use comparison pages.

“Comparison pages targeting keywords like ‘Product A vs. Product B,’ are perfect for capturing bottom-of-funnel shoppers who are ready to buy but need that final push,” says John Butterworth of Mint SEO.

“They’re searching for specific product comparisons, so give them a clear breakdown of features, benefits, and pricing to help them decide. If your page has a clear winner, it’s likely the customer will purchase that product straight after reading.”

#19: Make gift guides for seasonal SEO.

Another underrated tip, advocated for by Hemapriya Natesan is creating seasonal guides. She says that you can “create blogs centered around popular themes, like holiday gift guides, that incorporate long-tail keywords.”

On those pages, you can “showcase your products with high-quality images, customer experiences, and descriptions that illustrate why they’d make thoughtful gifts.”

It should be noted this can be a solid way to acquire first-time customers since shoppers tend to be more open to new brands during the holidays.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to SEO, there is one animating principle. Make a site that people want to find!

In practice, that means creating a site that is easy to use, secure, and loads quickly. That’s where technical SEO comes in. Every single page needs to be useful, which is where on-page SEO is handy.

The best sites make content that users want to find and distribute it to other websites where it can be found. To accomplish that, you need content marketing and link-building.

Take a few of these tips and think about how you can apply them to your site. There’s a good chance that they’ll help you improve your eCommerce SEO game!

Further Resources

For further learning and implementation of advanced SEO techniques, consider the following tools and resources:

• Google Search Console: Monitor and maintain your site’s presence in Google search results.
• Ahrefs: Comprehensive SEO toolset for keyword research, backlink analysis, and site audits.
• Moz: Offers tools and resources for SEO learning, including keyword explorer and link-building strategies.
• SEMRush: An all-in-one marketing toolkit for SEO, including competitive analysis and site audits.
• Yoast SEO: A popular WordPress plugin to optimize on-page SEO.
• Neil Patel’s Blog: Extensive resources and guides on SEO best practices and strategies.

FAQ

How long does it take to see results from eCommerce SEO?

SEO is a long-term strategy. You might see some improvements in 3-6 months, but significant results typically take 6-12 months or longer. Technical fixes like site speed improvements can show faster results, while content marketing and link building take more time to compound.

Should I hire an SEO agency or do it myself?

It depends on your budget, time, and technical comfort level. If you’re just starting out, focus on the basics yourself—technical SEO, product page optimization, and creating quality content. As your business grows, consider hiring professionals for more advanced strategies like link building and technical audits.

How do I choose the right keywords for my products?

Start with how your customers actually search. Use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or Answer The Public to find relevant terms. Focus on a mix of high-volume competitive keywords and longer, more specific phrases that your ideal customers might use. Don’t ignore local keywords if you serve specific geographic areas.

Is it worth optimizing for voice search?

Voice search optimization is becoming increasingly important, especially for mobile users. Focus on natural, conversational language in your content and FAQ sections. Answer questions directly and concisely, as voice assistants often read featured snippets aloud.

How many keywords should I target per page?

Focus on one primary keyword per page, with 2-3 related secondary keywords. Avoid keyword stuffing—search engines prefer natural, helpful content over pages crammed with keywords. Your primary keyword should appear in the title, URL, and naturally throughout the content.

Do I need to optimize every single product page?

Yes, every product page should have unique, optimized content. Avoid using manufacturer descriptions across multiple products. Each page should have unique titles, descriptions, and relevant keywords while maintaining helpful, readable content for your customers.

No matter where you go – Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Patreon, GoFundMe, or somewhere else – one thing is clear. Crowdfunding is growing by leaps and bounds.

In North America alone, $17.2 billion was generated through crowdfunding campaigns in the year 2020. That’s up 33.7% from the year prior. Also in 2020 – the middle of a pandemic – almost 6.5 million crowdfunding campaigns were launched.

For many startups, the question is no longer “should we launch a crowdfunding campaign” but rather “where should we launch our crowdfunding campaign?”

And that’s a good question. One that’s often answered by defaulting to Kickstarter, because it is the most popular crowdfunding platform.

But what about Indiegogo?

The plain fact is that some products do really well on Kickstarter, and others do really well on Indiegogo. Each website has a dedicated community of people willing to back crowdfunding projects. Each website is capable of helping crowdfunders succeed.

But some products are just a better match for one platform over the other. Here’s how you can make your choice between Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

What is crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is a way to raise money from a large group of people, usually online. Instead of relying on one investor, you get small amounts from many. It’s popular for launching new products, creative projects, and businesses. Kickstarter is the most popular crowdfunding platform, with Indiegogo being in the top 5.

Anyone with an idea can set up a campaign and ask for support. People who believe in the idea contribute. In return, they often get rewards like early access to the product.

Crowdfunding has changed how people fund projects. It makes it easier to bring ideas to life without needing a big loan or investment. All you need is a good pitch and an audience willing to back you.

What is Kickstarter?

Kickstarter is one of the oldest crowdfunding platforms, having started back in 2009. It’s known for creative projects like art, games, tech, and – of course – board games.

You can’t just launch any project you want, though. Kickstarter has strict rules on what is and isn’t eligible to fund on their platform.

Plus, Kickstarter is based on an all-or-nothing model. If you don’t hit your goal, no one’s card is charged, and you get nothing.

What is Indiegogo?

Indiegogo is another popular platform. It’s less popular than Kickstarter but has a more flexible platform. Tech and gadgets seem to do particularly well on Indiegogo.

Indiegogo allows a broader range of projects and has fewer rules. That means some projects, like those related to personal causes or charitable campaigns, can be funded through Indiegogo, even when Kickstarter says no.

Indiegogo also allows creators to choose between all-or-nothing or keep-what-you-raise funding options. That means if you reach, say, 70% of your goal, you can keep the funds you raise, whereas on Kickstarter you would get nothing.

What other crowdfunding platforms are there?

There are tons of crowdfunding platforms online. Many, like Patreon or GoFundMe, don’t necessarily immediately come to mind when you say “crowdfunding”, but still count because they are based on raising small donations from a lot of different people.

Bearing that in mind, there are plenty of crowdfunding platforms besides Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Some are better for personal causes, while others focus on helping startups raise capital. Here’s a quick look at some of the most popular alternatives:

• GoFundMe: Best for personal causes and emergencies.
• Patreon: Focuses on ongoing support for creators through monthly subscriptions.
• StartEngine: A platform for equity crowdfunding, aimed at startups seeking investors.
• Gamefound: A crowdfunding platform exclusively for board games.
• Crowdfunder: Focuses on helping startups raise capital from investors.
• Fundable: Allows startups to raise equity or rewards-based funds.
• Republic: An equity crowdfunding platform for startups and real estate.
• Crowdcube: A UK-based equity crowdfunding platform aimed at helping companies raise investment.

These platforms serve different purposes. Some focus on personal causes, while others target startups or ongoing projects. Choose based on your needs—equity, rewards, or charitable giving.

Not every platform fits every project. For instance, GoFundMe works well for raising money in emergencies but wouldn’t be suitable for launching a tech startup. Equity platforms like StartEngine or Republic are perfect if you’re looking to offer investors a stake in your company.

3 most important factors to choose between Kickstarter vs. Indiegogo

When you choose between Kickstarter and Indiegogo, there are only three factors that should make a decisive difference: your product type, the rules, and whether you want partial funding access.

There are plenty of differences between the platforms, to be sure, and we’ll talk about those. But these three factors are, by far, the most important. Below is explanation of why this is the case:

1. What platform will be the best fit for your product?

Kickstarter is best for creative projects. Think games, films, and art. Even Kickstarter’s branding leans heavily into creativity and artistry, in much the same way that Adobe’s does.

Indiegogo, on the other hand, covers a broader range of categories. But among them, projects in the technology, fitness, outdoor, and home categories tend to do well.

You need to go to the platform your audience expects you to be on. Launching a board game on Indiegogo would be a mistake. But that would not be the case if you launched a new consumer electronic product on Indiegogo.

2. Are your product and company able to follow the rules?

Kickstarter has strict guidelines. It doesn’t allow charities, personal causes, or any project that isn’t focused on creation.

Indiegogo’s rules are more relaxed. If your project doesn’t follow Kickstarter’s rules, this could be your better option. This would be the case for charity or for personal causes. There’s simply no use in trying to launch projects like that on Kickstarter, since the manual review process will eliminate them before they have a chance.

3. Do you want the ability to take partial funding if you underperform your goal?

Kickstarter is all or nothing. You either hit your goal, or you get nothing. It’s great for ambitious projects with big goals, where not having enough capital would lead to the creators having to invest far too much of their own money to ship far too few products.

Indiegogo offers flexible funding. If you want to keep whatever money you raise, no matter if you hit your target, Indiegogo’s flexibility gives you that option. To be clear – Indiegogo still offers all-or-nothing funding as an option too. But the point is that you can choose in advance to keep the funds if you don’t raise enough to reach your goal outright.

Flexible funding is useful for creators who can still succeed even with partial funding. If you want to take advantage of that, you can’t use Kickstarter.

Kickstarter (Pros)

Kickstarter is a household name in a way that other crowdfunding platforms simply aren’t. It’s this brand name – and the community that comes along with it – that set Kickstarter apart since it helps with reach, success odds, media exposure, and community-building.

1. Kickstarter has a larger audience.

Kickstarter is the largest crowdfunding platform. Even though you should build your own audience before launching, you will still see a huge spike in attention just by the act of launching on Kickstarter. This makes it easier to attract even more backers, creating a virtuous cycle.

2. Kickstarter success rates are higher.

Kickstarter campaigns generally have a higher chance of meeting their funding goals compared to other platforms. The all-or-nothing model encourages backers to help you reach that target. This gives creators a better shot at full funding.

3. The media loves Kickstarter.

Kickstarter projects often get media coverage, especially if they are unique or innovative. The word “Kickstarter” itself rather than “Indiegogo” or “Patreon” or some other crowdfunding platform tends to get the attention of journalists.

When you land press coverage, it can help drive even more attention and backers to your campaign. It’s simply easier to do that with Kickstarter than other platforms.

4. Kickstarter’s fixed funding model reduces the risk of being underfunded.

By only allowing funds to be collected if the goal is met, creators avoid being stuck with less money than they need. This ensures that you get enough resources to complete your project. It’s a safeguard against underperformance.

In fact, Kickstarter’s strict insistence on all-or-nothing funding has likely contributed to its success as a platform. Reducing the risk of creators having to fulfill orders without enough funding reduces the risk of backers paying for products and receiving nothing. It likely has helped Kickstarter’s reputation.

5. Kickstarter generally has better analytics.

Both Kickstarter and Indiegogo have built-in analytics tools. But Mark Pecota, CEO of LaunchBoom, says in his article comparing the two platforms that “in my experience, Kickstarter has better integration and the data tracked in Google Analytics almost identically matches the data tracked on your Kickstarter campaign.”

6. Kickstarter has a thriving community of creative projects.

Kickstarter is home to a passionate, engaged audience that loves supporting creative ventures. This community boosts projects in categories like art, film, and games. It’s hard to measure the impact of culture on a crowdfunding platform overall, but let’s not forget that Kickstarter is home to “superbackers” who have supported more than 25 projects with pledges of $10 or greater in the last year.

7. Kickstarter will pay all funds after 14 days, holding none back.

Once your campaign ends successfully, Kickstarter transfers the funds quickly. The 14-day period is short, allowing you to start using the money right away. There are no additional holdbacks or delays. Indiegogo, by comparison, holds onto about 5% of the funds to issue to backers in the event of refunds.

Kickstarter (Cons)

Kickstarter also has its downsides. The platform has some limitations that you should be aware of prior to launching.

1. Kickstarter manually reviews projects and has strict rules.

Each project must pass Kickstarter’s approval process, which can be time-consuming. The platform has strict guidelines on what projects are allowed. This can be a hurdle for creators with unconventional ideas.

2. Flexible funding is not an option on Kickstarter.

Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing model, meaning you must meet your goal to get any money. If you fall short, you get nothing. Some creators simply hate the idea of working hard on a crowdfunding campaign only to end up empty-handed and this lack of flexible funding can be a dealbreaker for certain projects.

3. Kickstarter’s page builder is notoriously hard to use.

Kickstarter’s tools for creating campaign pages are known for being clunky and difficult to navigate. Creators often struggle with formatting and design. This can make it hard to build a professional-looking page.

4. Kickstarter does not have a platform for post-campaign fundraising.

Once your campaign ends, there’s no built-in way to continue raising funds on the platform. Kickstarter doesn’t offer tools for ongoing support like some other platforms do. This limits creators who want to extend their campaigns.

This forces a lot of creators to use third-party tools like BackerKit, Gamefound, or even Indiegogo InDemand to continue raising funds after the completion of their projects.

5. Kickstarter has relatively few project categories.

Kickstarter focuses heavily on creative projects and has fewer categories for business or personal causes. This can make it hard for some campaigns to find a home. If your project doesn’t fit their mold, you might have a hard time raising enough funding.

Indiegogo (Pros)

Though it is less popular than Kickstarter, Indiegogo has some attractive features for campaign creators. In particular, it’s known for its flexibility and openness to various project types.

1. Indiegogo allows flexible funding.

Unlike Kickstarter, Indiegogo gives you the option to keep whatever you raise, even if you don’t hit your full goal. This reduces the risk of walking away empty-handed. Flexible funding is perfect for creators unsure about meeting their target.

2. Indiegogo has a broader range of product categories.

Indiegogo welcomes projects that range from creative endeavors to personal causes and tech innovations. That makes it more versatile for projects that might not fit into Kickstarter’s stricter guidelines.

3. Indiegogo is open to more countries.

Indiegogo is available to creators in a wider range of countries than Kickstarter. This makes it more accessible to a global audience. It’s a great option for international campaigns seeking a broader reach.

4. Indiegogo allows for post-campaign funding via Indiegogo InDemand.

Once your campaign ends, you can continue raising money through Indiegogo InDemand. This feature lets you keep accepting contributions even after your initial goal is met. It’s perfect for projects that want to maintain momentum.

If you want to do this with Kickstarter, your only choice is to use a third-party pledge manager such as BackerKit. Although it should be noted that Kickstarter has been researching and beta testing a system for post-campaign funding.

5. Indiegogo’s page builder is more flexible.

Indiegogo’s tools for creating your campaign page offer more customization options than Kickstarter. You have greater control over the design and layout. This flexibility makes it easier to create a polished, professional page.

If you are particularly tech-savvy, you’ll be pleased to know that Indiegogo’s page builder even supports basic HTML and CSS if you want to get a little more hands-on with your page styling.

6. Indiegogo collects backer information immediately after pledging.

As soon as someone contributes to your campaign, Indiegogo collects their contact and shipping details. This means you have everything you need to fulfill orders quickly. Early access to backer info helps streamline fulfillment.

7. Indiegogo has a thriving tech and gadgets community.

Indiegogo is particularly well-known for its tech and gadgets campaigns. If your project falls into one of these categories, you’ll find a ready-to-back community of interested backers. This niche focus can boost your campaign’s success in the tech world.

Indiegogo (Cons)

Indiegogo has some drawbacks, especially when compared to Kickstarter. It’s important to weigh these cons before deciding to launch a project on the platform.

1. Indiegogo has lower success rates.

As many as 37.7% of Kickstarter campaigns succeed. Only 17-18% of Indiegogo campaigns do the same.

To be clear, these are base odds of success that don’t consider the product category or the skill of the crowdfunding creator. But even still, this can be awfully discouraging for creators hoping for guaranteed success.

2. Indiegogo has a smaller audience.

While Indiegogo is a popular platform, it doesn’t have the same massive audience that Kickstarter does. Fewer potential backers mean you might have to work harder to promote your campaign. This smaller pool of users limits your campaign’s exposure.

Again, if you are launching in the right category, this is less of an issue.

3. Indiegogo campaigns aren’t as attractive to the media as Kickstarter campaigns.

Kickstarter has a stronger media presence, often drawing more attention from journalists and bloggers. Indiegogo campaigns don’t typically get as much press coverage. This lack of media buzz can make it harder to generate excitement.

4. Indiegogo holds 5% of funds for refunds.

Indiegogo keeps 5% of your funds on hold in case refunds are needed. This is a relatively minor concern if you budget for it, but it can still be annoying if you aren’t aware of this fact. Make sure you consider how immediate your cash flow needs are before you launch an Indiegogo campaign.

5. Indiegogo charges backers immediately, rather than after the conclusion of a successful campaign.

On Indiegogo, backers are charged as soon as they pledge, regardless of whether the campaign hits its goal. For cash flow purposes, this can be excellent, but until those orders are fulfilled, accountants will consider that money “unearned revenue.”

Now to be clear, this is also the case with Kickstarter, but since you receive rewards after the campaign is over, that’s less time that unearned revenue will be sitting on your books.

There’s also a psychological element to consider for backers. Some backers may hesitate to pledge if they don’t know whether the campaign will succeed. This could affect your overall funding.

Final Thoughts

Kickstarter and Indiegogo both have well-established communities, and both can be a great place to launch your crowdfunding campaign.

The most important thing to consider is: “what kind of product am I selling?” Games, film, art, publishing, and design do really well on Kickstarter. Technology, fitness, outdoor, and home do really well on Indiegogo.

After considering product category, it’s a matter of subtleties. What’s more important: higher chances of success or openness? Does flexible funding move the needle? What about the ease of transitioning into a post-campaign pledge manager?

These questions will help you determine whether Kickstarter or Indiegogo is right for you and your business.

But no matter what you choose – good luck! Let us know if you need any help shipping orders.

Plan on taking your board game idea to Kickstarter? There are a lot of games out there, and you need a way to prove yours is worth playing! Getting reviews is one way to do this, but it’s not the only way. You can also make an online board game demo.

But how do you do that? How do you turn a tabletop game into something playable online?

Turns out there are a lot of ways, the two most popular of which are Tabletop Simulator, which is available cheaply on Steam. The other is Tabletopia, which is entirely free.

Of course, as easy as it is to get into Tabletop Simulator or Tabletopia, making a good-looking board game demo is still not easy. That’s where Kenny Goodman, Owner of Overboard Games comes in. He runs a business entirely dedicated to helping board game publishers create online versions of their games.

I sent a bunch of questions his way by email, and he sent some insightful responses back which we’re going to share with you!

What follows are his answers to Fulfillrite’s questions, lightly edited.

What is Overboard Games and what services do you provide?

Overboard Games is a digital board game marketing company. We provide various services to help publishers and designers promote their board games, specializing in the creation of Tabletop Simulator & Tabletopia mods for online board game demos. We also do renders and animation.

How does Tabletop Simulator work?

Tabletop Simulator is essentially a physics sandbox engine that you can use to create board games. You drag and drop your files into pre-set templates which you then modify within the game to suit your need. It mimics the experience of having physical game components on a physical table.

It’s clunky at first, but once you get into the rhythm of things, Tabletop Simulator really starts to sing. Anyone can make a simple mod on Tabletop Simulator, but it’s hard to make good-looking ones, which is what we specialize in.

How did you get into creating Tabletop Simulator mods?

I got into creating Tabletop Simulator mods a couple of years ago by casually turning free print-and-plays into digital games. Then I would email the publishers to share the mod I made. This quickly snowballed into something bigger, and publishers started contacting me, which I did not expect. But once I saw there was a market, I embraced it and turned Overboard Games into a business.

When did Tabletop Simulator really start to take off?

Tabletop Simulator is one of those peices of software which board game publishers have always known about, but never fully embraced. Physical games reign supreme in the board game world. But it took off when the pandemic started, as it forced everyone to turn to digital gaming platforms.

Why do board game creators, particularly Kickstarter/Gamefound creators use Tabletop Sim so much?

They use it because it’s a free way to advertise their game. It also gives players a chance to play their new game before they back on Kickstarter.

It’s also opened the door for new designers by simplifying playtesting. Tabletop Simulator allows you to do an infinite amount of iterations for free, which increases the quality of your game way faster than doing it in person.

How does Tabletop Sim help crowdfunding creators raise money?

Tabletop Simulator has two sides: the workshop and downloadable content (DLCs). We use the workshop, a place where anyone can upload a mod and then distrubute it for free, for anyone to play. The workshop allows you to indirectly monetize the game by drawing attention to the crowdfunding campaign.

What was the hardest mod you’ve made?

This is an easy question. The most difficult mod is the one we’re creating right now: an update for Europa Universalis: The Price of Power. The demo originally had five custom scenarios, and now we’re increasing that to twenty in the complete game. As a result, it is going to require a lot of scripting. (You can program Tabletop Simulator mods to automatically perform certain functions like board setup. But writing the scripts to do this is hard!)

What was the most fun mod you’ve made?

Honestly, all the mods are fun to make, but Merchant’s Cove is my favorite. It has multiple fun things, like a spinning compass, a marble machine, sliding ramps, and cute little “good tokens.” It’s even got a very attractive and functional interface, backed up by scripting, that automatically sets up the game for certain factions.

What’s next for Overboard Games?

We would love to do more animation and renders as that is a lot of fun. As an overall business, I want to fully embrace the Overboard brand and branch into other forms of media that I’m interested in.

What else should crowdfunding creators do in order to ensure success?

To ensure success in an industry so competitive is difficult, but the key to it is to make your game known and market it to create a solid following. Build a community from the start, have a dedicated playtesting team, and get as many people as you can invested in your game early.

Want help creating a digital version of your board game? Check out Overboard Games to request a quote.

If you’ve browsed Kickstarter, Indiegogo or other crowdfunding sites lately, you may have noticed that the gaming category has been growing and growing in popularity. Crowdfunding has become a viable way for game designers to turn their ideas into reality.

Catacombs, the award-winning dexterity fantasy board game, was first published in 2010, followed by a sold-out second edition. When it came time for their third edition redesign, the creators did something a little out of the box, so to speak – they turned to Kickstarter.

We talked with Elzra Games cofounder Aron West about why Elzra turned to Kickstarter, what they learned and how they knocked their campaign out of the park.

This interview was originally published on November 11, 2015. We’ve updated the formatting for more recent devices, but have otherwise left the interview unchanged.

Elzra Games has continued to expand the Catacombs franchise since the publication of this interview and continues to be successful in crowdfunding!

What is your background? How did you become interested in designing games?

At a high level, I have a background in software development, enterprise systems, cloud computing etc., so designing board games enables me to ship “physical bits” as opposed to “digital bits.” It’s a nice change.

How did Elzra Games come about? How did the game Catacombs come to be – the idea, concept and design?

Catacombs as a product happened by accident. Approximately five years ago, Ryan Amos, Marc Kelsey, and myself were involved in designing and manufacturing the first edition of Catacombs. Given our exposure to a wide variety of board games, we had a feeling for some ideas that we thought could work. We discussed some initial designs and ultimately focused on the idea of a exploring a dungeon by flicking a wooden disc as most dexterity games involved sports or racing cars.

The first edition of Catacombs was released in 2010. From humble beginnings and word of mouth it took off under the Sands of Time Games brand. Elzra Corp. took over the assets of Sands of Time at the beginning of 2014 (before the Kickstarter). I am now responsible for the creative and operational aspects of the company and the Catacombs Third Edition product line.

The first two editions of Catacombs were very successful and in fact, sold out. Why turn to Kickstarter for the third edition?

We wanted to test the market demand for a new version that implemented some improvements that customers had suggested. Kickstarter seemed like a perfect way to accomplish this.

What sorts of research and preparations did you make before launching?

We reviewed other Kickstarter campaigns and devoted time and resources to creating an engaging video. We also paid close attention to our reward and stretch goal setup, which any serious campaign will do as a matter of course. Kickstarter had not been available in Canada for very long, so it felt like we were a trailblazing project.

Having a strong following from editions one and two must have made things a little easier. Did you find them to be supportive?

There was a great deal of controversy about the new artwork direction in the Catacombs Third Edition product line. Some of our existing fans felt that we had abandoned them. This is definitely not the case! However, the new artwork by the talented artist, Kwanchai Moriya, is much more colourful and accessible expanding the game’s appeal. As they have become accustomed to the new artwork and the many fan driven improvements in the Third Edition, people are becoming more accepting of the changes. Overall, the response to Catacombs Third Edition has been fantastic!

What were the biggest challenges you encountered while running your Kickstarter campaign? What would you do differently next time?

We would ensure we had currency-hedging instruments in place. The drop in the Canadian dollar from 2014 through this year really hurt us. Simultaneously launching with a German language version in conjunction with a third party publisher proved logistically challenging as well. Finally, we have a much better sense about the costs involved in shipping to certain countries and would raise the shipping rates accordingly. Who would have thought that shipping from Germany to Serbia was as expensive as shipping to Australia?

Really good point! Is this what led you to bring in help for your fulfillment?

Yes, because as a new company with low shipping volumes, it is very expensive to ship packages from Canada internationally. Instead, we shipped packages to European and international backers from a fulfillment company located near the printer in the Netherlands where our games were produced. We had Fulfillrite handle shipping packages to the backers in the US and we took care of sending out packages to domestic backers based in Canada ourselves.

Were you ready for the incredible response to the campaign, having raised over $200k of your $40k goal? How did you handle it?

No, it was a nice surprise. We knew how much work was ahead of us, so there were no celebrations or anything like that. We immediately got started. We also incorporated many suggestions from fans, for example, the “chicken hero” and the “bee familiar” were included in Catacombs Third Edition as direct result of comments received during the campaign.

What’s next, are you working on any new games?

Yes, three new titles set in the Catacombs universe. One is a card game being designed by one of the original Catacombs designers, Ryan Amos, another is a direct expansion to Catacombs and the third takes Elzra’s Dexterity Game System and turns it into a competitive experience. The Catacombs Third Edition product line looks set to become available in additional languages as well.

Finally, the Catacombs Third Edition base game and the Cavern of Soloth expansion will be available at retail before the end of 2015.

To learn more about Catacombs, the Cavern of Soloth and Elzra Games, please visit them at Elzra.com

For over a decade, board games have been dominating Kickstarter. But making them isn’t easy, especially when you need to find someone to handle complex plastic manufacturing for you!

So how do you find a company that can manufacture all those beautiful plastic minis? What’s the difference between PVC and HIPS sprue and resin?

To be honest with you, I don’t know the answers to those questions.

But Billy Long at Unicool Game Manufacturing does! That’s why I’ve asked him a bunch of questions about the board game plastic manufacturing business.

What follows is a transcript of our conversation. It has been edited for clarity and brevity.

10 Questions About Board Game Plastic Manufacturing, Answered by an Expert

1. What does Unicool Game Manufacturing specialize in?

Unicool Game Manufacturing is a premium board game manufacturer based in Shenzhen, China. We have printing and miniature manufacturing equipment in-house. We also have strong technical and sourcing abilities for quality game accessories such as dice, neoprene playmats, coins, customized wooden and metal pieces, and custom plastics.

2. What games has Unicool made?

We began as a plastic manufacturer of action figures, toys, and miniatures earlier. From there, we did some behind-the-scenes work for larger board game companies.

We have made lots of super nice miniatures for a host of big projects (such as Joan of Arc, Blood Rage, etc.). You won’t often find our name on boxes since we’re a parts manufacturer, but these days, more and more clients are happy to promote us and even proudly print our logo on the box (such as Eldfall Chronicles). We’re very grateful for that!

3. Creating plastic components is notoriously expensive in small batches. Why is it that?

I think one of the biggest impediments that many game designers/developers run into is the high upfront tooling costs. This makes the overall cost per unit steep in small runs once high molding costs are factored in.

But we’ve changed the game and started producing small batches in a way that is no longer cost-prohibitive and intimidating-proudly. We call it Unicool Plastic! It doesn’t require tooling and the plastic material we’re using isn’t as brittle as normal resins, while still maintaining the delicate detail seen in resins.

4. How does plastic manufacturing work?

There are 11 steps in the process.

1. The client provides us with their 3-D design in a common format such as STL or ZTL.
2. We check the files and see if they need to be resculpted prior to mass production. Sometimes we can even recommend changes to help clients save money later in the process.
3. If resculpting is needed, we provide advice on how to do it.
4. We print a high-resolution model with a 3-D printer.
5. We then make a tooling master with high-detail resin.
6. From there, we will make polyurethane resin miniatures for preproduction copies.
7. The client is given a chance to review the preproduction copies and see if they like them.
8. We create the mold for mass production of plastics.
9. We then inject plastic into the mold.
10. When parts are completed, we do any necessary gluing and assembly.
11. Then we pack boxes and the game is complete!

5. What’s the difference between PVC, HIPS Sprue, and Resin when it comes to manufacturing minis?

Yes, this one can be tricky and bemusing.

In a nutshell, PVC and HIPS minis will need a metal mold, which is substantially more expensive than the silicone mold for resin.

PVC and HIPS minis often come preassembled while resin models usually come unassembled. Resin can capture a higher level of detail but may break easily.

Then, of course, there’s Unicool Plastic, where we balance quality, flexibility, and fragility so we can have the best qualities of PVC, HIPS, and resin minis.

6. What’s the most cost-effective way to manufacture a game that has dozens and dozens of plastic miniatures?

The easiest way is to find a professional plastics manufacturer and ask for their help early in the process. They can help you perfect your 3-D models and find cost-efficient materials.

Unicool is a good option here, but any expert advice early in the process will help a lot.

7. What should first-time publishers know about plastic manufacturing for games that isn’t common knowledge?

What looks amazing in a computer-generated 3-D model can be really problematic in the physical model.

A lot of our job involves helping publishers fix 3-D models that won’t work in physical manufacturing. If you’re going to be manufacturing custom plastics, plan to spend at least some time revising your initial ideas. Build that into your project timeline.

8. What are the most unusual components that Unicool has ever manufactured for a client?

We keep mentioning it, but Unicool Plastic is definitely our most unusual component. It’s tough to create your own raw materials, but we’ve done so in order to give publishers more options for high-quality, cost-efficient miniatures.

Unicool Plastic raises the bar for the quality of materials and the level of detail, delivering top-quality models that fit every painter – even the most demanding for breathtaking details! We push the limits of possibility and make sure all your intricate features are wonderfully defined and elevated to create an incredible painting experience for you and your customers.

9. Does Unicool manufacture for crowdfunding campaigns?

Yes, we surely do.

We’ve finished a whole host of crowdfunding projects and we’re happy to provide added value and serve as a guiding hand to help you go from zero to hero along the ride.

10. Where can people find Unicool Game Manufacturing online?

You can find out more about us on our website as well as our YouTube Channel.

Need help turning your board game dream into a reality? Contact Unicool for a quote today.

After running 10 successful Kickstarters, we think it’s pretty safe to say that Don Moyer of Calamityware is something of an expert in running a crowdfunding campaign or two. Don and his partner Lynnette Kelley were recently featured on Kickstarter’s Google+ Creators Hangout and shared quite a bit of useful, real-life experiences they encountered on their crowdfunding travels.

This interview was originally posted on October 7, 2015. We added an AI-generated transcript on October 4, 2024.

Calamityware is still a client of Fulfillrite. To date, they have launched over seventy Kickstarter campaigns!

Start of Interview

Julio Terra: All right. Welcome everybody to this week’s Creators Hangout here at Kickstarter. My name is Julio Terra. I’m an outreach lead for design and technology at Kickstarter, and I’m going to be your host today. I’m really happy that we have Don Moyer and Lynette Kelley joining us. They are prolific creators, having completed 12 projects, with their 13th project live right now. They’ve worked on everything from plates to mugs, bandanas, prints, and their current project is a great puzzle. Their work always has a special touch of humor and whimsy. Many of you probably already know their work, but if not, you should definitely check it out. I’m a huge fan.

Before I turn it over to them, I just want to remind everyone that this is a live conversation. You can submit questions through the Google Hangouts page, Facebook, or tweet them to Kickstarter Tips. So, Don and Lynette, thank you very much for joining us.

Background and Introduction

Lynette Kelley: You’re welcome. Thanks for having us. Great to be here.

Julio Terra: To get us started, I wanted to hear a little bit about your background. What were you both doing before you started CalamityWare and all the projects you’re now running?

Don Moyer: I’ll start. For 40 years, I was a graphic designer and writer, solving problems for corporate clients. Recently, I retired and now get to indulge in projects I like to do—no clients, just me. So everything is about Don having fun.

Julio Terra: Awesome. So, I guess that answers the next question I wanted to ask—when you started, did you have a sense of where you wanted to take it? Did you plan for it to become as big as it has, or was it initially just a small side project?

Don Moyer: My dream has never been, and still isn’t, to build an international juggernaut of commerce. I’m just trying to do projects that I think are fun, and Kickstarter is perfect for that. It lets you find others who want to support a project. When I launched the first project, I didn’t know if it would succeed, but it was nice that it did. Then I got hooked and did a second one, and so on.

First Project Experience

Julio Terra: Awesome. Let’s talk a bit about your first project. You mentioned that you weren’t sure if it would succeed when you launched it. Can you tell us more about that experience? What were your expectations, and what was the biggest challenge you faced?

Don Moyer: Sure. Let me give you a little backstory. I love to draw and keep sketchbooks where I draw every day. Right now, I’m working on octopuses. A few years ago, I inherited an old blue willow pattern plate, and I thought it would be fun to draw one in my sketchbook. When I finished, I felt like it needed a pterodactyl to make it more fun. When I posted that on Flickr, where I share my sketchbook, people started saying, “That would be nice if it were a real porcelain plate.” So, I looked into it, and it seemed feasible to have plates made.

I had always wanted to do a Kickstarter, so I defined the project on the platform just to see what would happen. The result was a plate similar to this one, which became our first project. We had a couple hundred backers who wanted to have dinner with flying monkeys, and the project succeeded. That opened my eyes to all the logistics and administrative details, which wasn’t my focus at the time. That’s where Lynette and her husband Jack came in.

Joining the Team

Lynette Kelley: I’ve worked with Don for almost 20 years at the design firm he founded, and that’s how we know each other. Last May, in the middle of the third plate project—the sea monster plate—it really took off, and Don was overwhelmed with all the details. Jack and I were very interested, so we asked Don a lot of questions. Even though he’s retired, he still comes to the office hangout. Somehow, we just decided to help him out.

So, we’ve been on board since then, helping with the back end of things. I handle the operational tasks, customer service, and accounting, while Jack is in charge of marketing. He helps keep our customers informed and engaged with CalamityWare.

Building a Community Around Your Projects

Julio Terra: Awesome. And building on that, one of the things you’ve done very successfully is build a community around your projects. Your first project had around 350 backers, if I recall correctly. Now, with your dinnerware projects—plates specifically—you average over a thousand backers per project. How have you been able to grow the community and keep it healthy?

Lynette Kelley: Back in May of last year, in the middle of the Sea Monster plate, we were picked up by Colossal.com. That turned out to be a colossal boost for our audience, and that plate really took off. I think our customer base has built itself from there. We got another boost when we did the mugs this past summer, again from Colossal.

That kind of outreach has been a big help. It’s funny how one mention from Colossal leads to many other bloggers becoming interested in our product. We get a lot of free advertising without even being directly contacted. So, finding that one special niche that gets you a lot of visibility can really help grow your community. We’ve been fortunate to have that connection.

Organic Growth and Outreach

Julio Terra: How did that happen for you guys—was it purely luck? And what kind of work were you doing before to get the word out about your projects?

Don Moyer: I’d say it’s about 66 percent luck. The rest is something you can control by trying to reach out to people who might be interested. With all these projects, we’re aiming for products that are beautiful, utilitarian, and funny. That’s not for everyone, but for the people it does resonate with, it works well. When a blogger gets it and likes the idea, they want to write about it and share it with their audience. But connecting with them isn’t exactly a science.

Julio Terra: What about your actual backers? I know you’re averaging around 1,100 backers per project since your fourth one. Do you keep track of how many of those are repeat backers? Do you do anything to actively cultivate that relationship between projects?

Lynette Kelley: We don’t have a great system for tracking all of that, but I did go through the projects recently to see who has backed everything. We have about 30 people who have backed every single project. To those 30 people, if you’re watching, we are very grateful! We reach out to those people to thank them specifically for their support. They’re very important to us.

Why Kickstarter Works for CalamityWare

Julio Terra: It’s impressive how many products you’ve launched on Kickstarter. You even have your own website now, but what keeps you coming back to Kickstarter to launch new products and designs?

Don Moyer: Kickstarter is perfect for me because all my projects are experiments. I want to see what amuses me and what will amuse the people following me. I could be wrong, so Kickstarter allows me to present a project and get feedback without the financial risk. Traditionally, people would make things and then fill their basement with unsold stock. Kickstarter makes that problem go away.

Julio Terra: That’s great. A quick reminder for everyone—if you have questions for Don or Lynette, feel free to submit them through Google Hangout, Facebook, or tweet to Kickstarter Tips.

Advice for First-Time Creators

Julio Terra: Now that you have 13 projects under your belt, if you could give advice to the Don who was running his first project, what would you say?

Don Moyer: I’d tell that Don—whether he’s older or younger, I’m not sure with this time travel stuff—watch out for the administrative details. Having 300, 500, or 1,000 sponsors brings a lot of responsibility. The burden of taking care of them is bigger than I anticipated. You’ll need to answer more questions, send more emails, and create more thank-you notes than you’d expect. I’m not complaining—it’s wonderful—but it’s bigger than I imagined.

Lynette Kelley: I’d add that fulfillment was something we underestimated early on. For the first few plates, we relied on the shop that produced them to handle shipping. But by the third plate, with over 2,000 backers, they couldn’t keep up. We didn’t realize that soon enough to adjust, so our customers experienced delays over the summer. Since then, we’ve switched to Fulfillrite in New Jersey, and they’ve been fantastic. They’ve made it possible for us to expand from just plates to bandanas, prints, and note cards. Handling logistics for all of that is much easier now.

Julio Terra: So, partnerships really matter?

Lynette Kelley: Absolutely. Having the right partnerships makes a huge difference.

Production and Fulfillment Challenges

Julio Terra: Let’s talk more about the challenges of producing and fulfilling products at scale. You’ve expanded from just plates to bandanas and prints. How has that process been for you?

Lynette Kelley: Having a great fulfillment center makes things so much easier. For example, if a customer receives a broken plate, I can go into the fulfillment center’s website, copy their order, and ship them a replacement. I can do this within a day, and the customer gets their new plate quickly. That ability to solve problems fast makes customers happy, and that’s important to us. Having good fulfillment partners is key to maintaining good customer service.

Managing Unexpected Challenges

Don Moyer: Great. I want to go back and comment on a couple of questions you asked. One of my hobbies is sponsoring Kickstarter projects that other people are doing, just to see what trouble they run into. I love reading those emails and updates explaining delays, like “the magnetic thing didn’t work,” or “the shoulder straps are the wrong color.” I used to have those problems, but we don’t anymore. My products aren’t innovating new production methods; we use traditional ways of making things. But even then, logistical surprises can still pop up and slow things down.

If I could coach my younger self starting out on the first Kickstarter project, I’d say, don’t assume everything will go smoothly every day. There will be problems, and that’s part of the fun.

Lynette Kelley: It’s important to keep your backers informed. Don does a great job of keeping them updated on the process so that they’re not surprised when something is delayed.

Don Moyer: Most sponsors expect bumps along the way, and they want to hear about them. That’s part of why they’re supporting Kickstarter projects—they don’t expect it to go perfectly, but they do want updates.

Lynette Kelley: Whether the news is good or bad.

Planning a Kickstarter Campaign

Julio Terra: Let’s talk about planning for a campaign. There’s a lot of work that goes into it before you click the launch button. Since you’ve done so many campaigns, how do you approach the planning process?

Lynette Kelley: It’s funny you ask that because just last week, I made a to-do list for our team covering everything we need to do from start to finish for a Kickstarter project. I was shocked by how long the list became! I was assigning tasks—things Don does, things I do, and things Jack does. There’s a lot involved. But I’ll let Don talk about the pre-launch work because he typically starts it.

Don Moyer: Kickstarter provides plenty of tools and advice to help with planning, so it’s not a mystery the first time. Planning a project is about pinning down a thousand details. You have to define the product or reward, figure out how to make it, who’s going to help you make it, and who’s going to help you deliver it. A big question is always, what funding level are you shooting for?

Julio Terra: That’s actually one of the next things I wanted to ask—how do you determine how much money to ask for? I get that question from creators a lot.

Setting Funding Goals

Don Moyer: The advice I give people is, make sure you ask for enough, because you can’t go back and ask for more. That’s not how Kickstarter works. So the goal needs to be high enough, but I like to set it as low as possible to reduce anxiety about reaching it. Remember, for me, this is all about having fun.

Julio Terra: So you’re saying set it as low as possible, but ensure it’s enough to cover costs?

Lynette Kelley: Exactly. In our case, we always calculate based on what we need to produce, like 3,000 puzzles or plates. We figure out the bare minimum cost to do that—just enough to pay the manufacturer. That’s how we set our goal, and why it ends up being low. Don wants to make sure the project happens because it’s fun for him, so the goal has to cover costs but be achievable.

Future Product Plans

Julio Terra: That’s great. One of your fans, Kelly, is asking, “When are you going to make bowls to match the plates?”

Lynette Kelley: That’s a good question, Kelly.

Don Moyer: I think it will be early 2016. The designs are almost perfect, and I’m working out some production details. We’re working on it.

Lynette Kelley: It’s coming.

Don Moyer: Small plates will be coming at the same time too.

Julio Terra: Make sure to follow that planning checklist!

Don Moyer: Absolutely.

Storytelling on Kickstarter

Julio Terra: Moving on, one of the things I often tell creators is that Kickstarter isn’t just about raising money—it’s a storytelling platform. You’re telling the story of an idea you want to bring to life, and you want people to help you on that journey. Can you share your approach to storytelling on Kickstarter and any recommendations you have for other creators looking to bring their products to life?

Don Moyer: I’m not sure my approach would work for everyone, but I believe in showing my enthusiasm for the project. At its core, that’s all I’ve got—something I’m excited about doing, and I hope others want to help me do it. So, I show up in the video, explain why I think this idea is important, and talk about why the product is beautiful, useful, and funny.

I also try to keep the video as short as possible. I wish I could get it down to 10 seconds!

Julio Terra: Your newest video is really short—funny and short!

Don Moyer: Yeah, they’re under a minute now, which I like. They don’t have to be short, but they do need to show enthusiasm. I get nervous when a Kickstarter project looks like a corporate attempt to launch a product, with no personality or character. That doesn’t feel right to me, but it might work for others.

Effective and Wasteful Marketing Tactics

Julio Terra: We touched earlier on how being featured on Colossal.com was big for you. Are there any tactics you’ve tried that didn’t work or felt wasteful? And what’s been your most useful tactic?

Don Moyer: Let me start with what was wasteful—that’s where my mind goes first. Two things come to mind. First, you might be tempted to think your friends and family will be a good source of support, but that’s not true. I won’t get into the details, but if you think your sponsors will come from your close circle, that’s not where they are.

Lynette Kelley: We’ve also tried a few crowdfunding marketing services that reach out during campaigns, offering to help with promotion. Every time we’ve tried those, it hasn’t been successful. We haven’t seen any significant boost or movement in the campaign metrics. It just doesn’t feel like it’s been worth the investment.

Avoiding Events

Julio Terra: Have you guys ever done any events to showcase your beautiful products? Has that ever worked or been attempted?

Don Moyer: Well, Don’s not an event guy. I would pay extra to stay home during an event, so no, I’m not putting anything like that on my calendar.

Lynette Kelley: Yeah, we’ve never done that sort of thing.

Julio Terra: Just a quick shout-out—we’ve got about seven minutes left. If anyone has more questions, please submit them through Google Hangout, Facebook, or Twitter using #KickstarterTips. One thing I think is awesome is how you’ve been able to build a business around these amazing creations. You now sell them on your own website. Can you talk about how you’ve structured your process to make these creations into products you can sell on an ongoing basis?

Building an Ongoing Business

Lynette Kelley: Sure. When Don finished the first project, there were extra plates left over. He didn’t know what to do with them, so he started the online store at Calamityware.com. That’s really how it all began. Each time we run a project, we order more than we need, and then we sell the remaining stock through the website. Jack does a great job managing the site—handling the look and feel, processing orders, and keeping everything running smoothly. It almost runs itself because Jack manages it so well.

Julio Terra: So, just to clarify, you produce more than what’s needed for Kickstarter, and then you sell the extras? Once a plate sells out, is that it, or do you restock?

Lynette Kelley: That’s a great question. We talk about this all the time. For plates 1, 2, 3, and 4, we reordered when stock got low because we wanted enough for holiday sales. But we don’t always know what the future holds. Some items may not get reordered. We play it by ear, and a lot depends on what Don wants to do.

Don Moyer: Yeah, I’m inclined to let things run out of stock. Once they’re gone, they could be gone because I’m focused on designing the next product. I’m always thinking about what’s coming next—bowls, cookie jars, snowshoes, whatever—but not necessarily on keeping old items available.

Lynette Kelley: Occasionally, we also add small products to the website that never went through Kickstarter, like note cards or pocket squares. They’re just fun little things Don wanted to do. We do small, limited runs and sell them directly through the site.

Handling Updates

Julio Terra: Let’s touch on updates for a moment. You mentioned earlier how important it is to keep backers informed. Can you elaborate on how you handle updates during and after the campaign?

Don Moyer: I love doing updates. I want people to back my projects just so they can get my updates! I try to pace them at least a week apart, usually two or three weeks, depending on what’s happening. My updates always include images and actual news. I don’t like updates that don’t have any real content. I enjoy writing the updates almost as much as creating the original project.

Lynette Kelley: In addition to Kickstarter updates, we also send out a newsletter every two weeks to all our subscribers. It’s similar—we try to share news, even if it’s just updates like “this product is shipping” or “this is in production.” We aim to keep people interested and informed.

Julio Terra: Do you approach updates differently when a project is funding versus after it’s funded and you’re working on fulfillment?

Don Moyer: I think of updates more as progress reports—telling backers how we’re doing, not begging for more sponsors. I usually set the funding goal low, so we hit it within 24 hours, and there’s no time to worry about getting more backers. The updates are really about how things are going, what problems we’ve encountered, and how we’re solving them. Sometimes, there’s even good news, like when things are ahead of schedule.

Future Plans

Julio Terra: As we wrap up, what can you share about your plans for the future?

Don Moyer: I’ve got a bucket list of at least a hundred projects I’d love to do before I kick the bucket. I won’t get to them all, but as long as I have the energy, there are a lot more I want to create. In 2016 alone, there could be nine projects—if Jack and Lynette let me! We’ve got some cool stuff planned—more plates, small bowls, cookie jars, puzzles, prints, and some surprises.

Julio Terra: It’s been such a pleasure talking to both of you. And a big thanks to Jack in the background for keeping everything running smoothly. To everyone else, thanks for joining us, and we hope to see you next week for another Kickstarter Creator Hangout. Thanks again!

Lynette Kelley: Thank you!

Find Calamityware

You can check out Calamityware’s cool line of plates, bandanas and more at Calamityware.com and follow them on twitter at @calamityware

Creating a board game can be really difficult! First, you have to create a design and play-test it until it’s a great game. You have to build a business around it in order to raise funds, market, and eventually sell it. Of course, then there’s the small matter of actually turning it into a real, physical product. That’s where companies like Panda Game Manufacturing come in.

I recently had the pleasure of working with Jennifer Lee, CMO of Panda Game Manufacturing. I sent a bunch of questions her way by email, and she sent some insightful responses back which we’re going to share with you!

What follows are her answers to Fulfillrite’s questions, unedited.

1. What does Panda Game Manufacturing specialize in?

We specialize in making tabletop board games of the highest quality, and our mission is to produce (and play!) the best games in the industry. We believe we are at our best when there is a mix of different pieces in the box, as we have significant experience with a vast array of different materials and components. In addition, as Panda Project Managers, we are dedicated gamers and scrutinize each game we work on with a discerning eye to help our customers maximize the impact of their design.

2. Panda Game Manufacturing has been in business for 15 years now! Any special plans?

We do have some fun things going on to celebrate 15 years. We just launched an updated website design that should be easier for users to navigate and better showcase our capabilities. A critical part of the new design is our all-new pricing estimator tool. Now prospective designers and publishers can price out their game and adjust components on the fly to see how it affects the overall project. Lastly, we are celebrating by sharing some 15th-anniversary discounts and promos with our clients. You can learn more about them here.

3. What’s the toughest-to-manufacture game that Panda has ever done?

That is a tough one to answer. All projects bring their own unique issues, but we love a new challenge! Our team loves taking on a new or innovative design and figuring out how to make it work and look great. We actually have a project we are working on right now that has a game board, unlike anything we have made before – it is really wild. We can’t share too much more about it right now, but you will know it when you see it!

4. What materials are most commonly used in manufacturing board games?

Paper, cardstock, and greyboard make up the majority of components in a game since nearly every game has a box (greyboard) and rules (paper). Additionally, many have cards (cardstock). Panda has our own printing facility so we manufacture all of these items in-house under the guidance of our own specially trained staff. We think it’s especially important to have control of this process since most games contain printed components and quality control is so critical.

5. I’ve noticed that many of your games, such as Shiver Me Timbers and Mechs vs. Minions, tend to use unique game pieces. How do you make them?

It is a collaborative effort. Our clients come to us with a vision for what they want to do, then our team samples different iterations of these unique components until we get them to a place where the client and we are happy with everything. It is really amazing to see the prototypes of games and then compare them to the end product! It takes a lot of creative, hard-working people to make that happen and we love being in the middle of that process.

6. Panda Game Manufacturing is known for sending out really cool sample kits. What’s your current one like and how did you create it?

Many years ago, Panda pioneered making toolkits so people could see and feel our high-quality components. We’re thrilled that the industry responded so positively! Of course, toolkits have since become a standard in the game manufacturing industry. So, we’ve challenged ourselves to continue to innovate with even better and more useful toolkits.

In the past, we took a broad approach, with various cool components inside the toolkit. Recently, our toolkit honed in on just print and paper components so we could really explore all of the options available to our clients. Of course, with a bunch of paper samples, we had to print something on them, so we introduced our Panda adventurers exploring a board game-inspired fantasy world.

For our upcoming toolkit, our band of adventurers has wandered into some mysterious woods, so we’re focusing on wood components. We always want to wow clients and players so we sought out unusual or underutilized wood options to feature. That means our Panda Ranger meeple will ride an oversized moose meeple, roll wooden dice featuring metallic ink, and stash her winnings in a buildable wooden treasure chest!

7. How often does Panda manufacture crowdfunded games vs. mass market games?

Over the years the ratio of crowdfunded games to mass market games has ebbed and flowed. Early on we made almost exclusively crowdfunded games, including some of the early pioneers in the crowdfunding space – Eminent Domain, Alien Frontiers, and Viticulture. We now have a very good balance between crowdfunded and non-crowdfunded games. So you are about as likely to see the “Made by Panda” logo on a crowdfunding campaign page as you are on the back of a game box at Target or Barnes & Noble.

8. Have you ever manufactured a game that started as a small crowdfunding campaign, and then saw massive success later?

Absolutely! One of the biggest thrills we have in our line of work is watching clients grow into full-time board game publishers. We have a lot of creators that started off with a single crowdfunded project and then built on that over time until they have a fully-fledged board game business on their hands. Stonemaier Games is probably one of the biggest examples of this, but there are a ton of others like Keymaster Games (Parks) and Thunderworks Games (the Roll Player and Cartographers series).

9. What’s the most fun kind of game to manufacture?

Any game with a passionate publisher. We are fortunate to work in the business of fun, so every game we make is enjoyable in some way or another.  But when a creator is really jazzed about the design and puts their all into it, it gets us even more excited about the manufacturing work that goes into that game. We look at our client relationships as partnerships and it’s always good to have vision and enthusiasm!

10. How did life change at Panda Game Manufacturing during the COVID-19 pandemic?

As with so many in the industry, the pandemic has also been a challenging time for Panda. The early months of COVID were the most harrowing as we faced an extended, government-mandated shutdown in Asia coming out of the Chinese New Year. We focused very hard on additional safety protocols and procedures to ensure that everyone in our manufacturing facility felt comfortable in this new environment.

On the Western side of our business, we were a little ahead of the game. Panda has been a work-from-home company since it was formed, so remote work during the pandemic came naturally to us.  Eighteen months ago, we made one of the most difficult decisions in our company’s history: we temporarily shut down our website quote tool. We did that to focus our energy on existing clients and their projects, and to provide them with our 5-star service amid historic disruptions to the shipping and supply chains. We don’t regret that decision, but we do regret that we didn’t have the chance to work with more new creators during that time. Thankfully, we’re opening up more like so much of the world and we feel ready to work with new creators again.

As far as COVID goes, we know the world isn’t quite out of the woods yet, but we continue to monitor the global situation and try to make the best decisions we can when it comes to navigating this “new normal.” We are proud to say that we never experienced an outbreak in our factory and our employees have remained healthy and safe during these trying times.

11. Do your employees ever have game nights?

Oh for sure! In fact, our team in Asia has an annual board game competition in the office and our project management team in the US, Canada, and EU have many of their own game nights and regularly play online. Even though we all work remotely, when we get on calls together a lot of the “water cooler” chatter is about what games we have played lately and what we thought about them.

12. How do people find Panda Game Manufacturing?

We are excited to share our newly designed website at www.pandagm.com. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

13. I noticed that Panda is big on sustainability. In 2020, Panda created a sustainability team. What other actions can creators take that would make board game manufacturing more sustainable?

The biggest thing is to ask their manufacturer or publisher about sustainable options. Whether working with Panda or another manufacturer, the more creators ask for sustainable options, the more the whole industry will move in that direction, with more sustainable options and better pricing for them.

14. Why should a board game publisher choose to print with Panda?

You are testing our humility! First of all, we think creators should work with us because we love games and we will treat your special project with the attention and care that you do. When you work with Panda, you are working with one of the finest board game manufacturers in the world and your game will be created by dedicated production professionals, checked by our amazing quality control team, and shepherded by Project Managers that provide best-in-class customer service and can’t wait to play your game almost as much as you!

Want to know what Panda Game Manufacturing is up to? Follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to stay up to date with everything we’re up to! Also check out their newly designed website, which features a time-limited 15-year anniversary promotion, new quote estimator, and brand-new Shopify store.

You want to launch a Kickstarter.

And, maybe this goes without saying, but you actually want to fund, right?

Everybody’s telling you “build an audience” and “generate leads.”

But what if you don’t know how to do that? Or what to do when you’re live?

What if you want some more hand-holding than that?

That’s where Launchboom comes in. That’s why I’ve brought on Will Ford, President and Cofounder of Launchboom, a company that specializes in helping crowdfunding creators succeed through their accelerator program.

Transcript

This transcript was generated with AI and may contain occasional minor errors.

Brandon Rollins: You want to launch a Kickstarter, and maybe this goes without saying, but you actually want to fund, right? Everybody’s telling you to build an audience and generate leads. Eh, we do that too. But what if you don’t know how to do that? Or what do you do once you’re live? What if you want some more hand holding than just this general advice that you find on the internet?

That’s where Launchboom comes in. And that’s why I brought on Will Ford, the president and co founder of Launchboom, a company that specializes in helping crowdfunding creators. succeed through their accelerator program. Now, we’re going to cut to the interview in just a minute, but real quick, my name is Brandon.

This video is brought to you by Fulfillrite. We ship orders for e commerce and crowdfunding campaigns. Link below for more details. The quotes are free. Now, one last quick note. We edited with a light touch on this interview because we wanted to keep it simple, a little lo fi, and honest. Just like two professionals on a Zoom call.

All right, let’s cut to the interview. All right. So I just started the recording. We’re, uh, I guess about to begin on that. Um, so first of all, well, thank you very much for taking the time today to come onto our channel. I really appreciate it. Yeah,

Will Ford: man, I’m pumped to be here. And, uh, it’s been so much fun working with you like over like the last year.

And, um, when you told me about this, I was excited to be a part of it. So I appreciate you for having me on today. Thank you.

Brandon Rollins: Absolutely. We’re just starting. We’re just getting started out with these kinds of interviews and we’re excited to see where it goes.

Will Ford: No, I think, I think this is so cool that you’re providing all of, um, this information for your audience.

Um, there’s just so many experts in our industry and, um, it’s so cool that you’re inviting, you know, different experts in to kind of share their experiences and just help your community grow and thrive.

Brandon Rollins: Absolutely. Um, so I’ll just jump right into it, like, So, of course, I know what LaunchBoom does.

LaunchBoom is a, is a partner of Fulfill, right? I feel like that’s a necessary disclosure that I should probably just get out there. Um, but for the, you know, general viewing audience, can you explain what LaunchBoom does and how it’s changed over time?

What Launchboom Does

Will Ford: Yeah, yeah. So I founded Launch Boom back in 2015. And the reason I started Launch Boom was because I’ve always been very involved launching consumer products.

And before I learned about Kickstarter or Indiegogo, I was doing it the traditional way when it comes to launching new consumer products. So what that looked like was I’d come up with a really cool product idea. Um, I would have to. Place a significant investment of my own into that product idea to figure out manufacturing.

Uh, usually with most manufacturers, you’d have to pay for, you know, half the order up front, and then the other half of the order would have to, you know, get paid, you know, once they are ready to deliver the product. And, um, and so, you know, you’d have to make a significant investment because when it comes to manufacturing new consumer products, um, you’ve got to, Uh, place larger orders or the largest orders possible because with larger volume orders, you get much more, uh, competitive price breaks and that makes it easier for you to make a much better margin when you start selling your product in the, in the market.

And so, um, you know, before crowdfunding, I would have to come up with a lot of my own money. I would have to come up with a clever marketing strategy and then I’d better be right because if I wasn’t right, then I would be upside down before I even get. Right. Because I would have had all this product that I wouldn’t be able to move.

And I’ve been there before too. And it’s not, it’s, it’s a scary place to be in. Like it’s not fun. Um, it’s also kind of risky when you put a lot of your own money into a product before you’ve even validated that there’s demand. We’re people that want to buy the product. And that’s what really turned me on initially to Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

I couldn’t believe that I could take a prototype and I could pre sell that prototype to millions of people all over the world, and I can take their money up front. Before I have to make the product and deliver the product to the end user. Um, and you know, in the early years, you know, Kickstarter and Indiegogo, they’re, they’re fairly, uh, new platforms.

I mean, they both opened their doors like around 2009. So, you know. I couldn’t believe like having gone into those platforms back in like 2010, 2011, and just seeing like all these new product ideas, raising like millions of dollars in pre sales and, you know, being an entrepreneur, Brendan, I was like, wait a minute, if I could pre sell a million dollars with a product, I could place a much larger volume order with my manufacturer and get even better price breaks, right.

And get even better margins. And it was just a much. Safer way to validate demand and launch new consumer products. So when I sold my last company, which was called pep box, um, I had, uh, an advisor on my board, um, and he asked me as soon as we exited that deal, he said, Hey, well, since I helped you through that exit, could you help me in a Navy seal, launch a new consumer product?

Cause now I know you’re available, you know, you’ve sold your company, you’ve got some time, would you mind helping us? And I said, why don’t we take that product? To kickstarter and why don’t we pre sell that product so we can potentially place a larger volume order and help get this product in the market faster with less risk.

And he loved the idea. So he said, Hey, well, I’m a real estate guy. How about I just give you the capital you need and why don’t you just run this for me? So I basically took it into a Kickstarter campaign, but what I did was I really spent about three months before the Kickstarter building my own community.

And I did it through Facebook advertising, Instagram advertising. And I built out this like massive audience that was excited about the product. Before I went to Kickstarter. So when I went to Kickstarter, I set a very conservative goal. So on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, you’ve got to set a goal that you know you can hit, because if you don’t hit that goal, you won’t get any money off the platform.

So you’ve got to hit your funding goal. That’s like rule number one. And so what I would do is I would build this massive email list through Facebook and Instagram advertising. To build my own community of people excited, engaged, ready to buy. So when I go to Kickstarter, I would basically set my campaign goal at like 20 or 30 grand.

And it was a number that I knew I could definitely convert as soon as I’ve launched on Kickstarter. So by the time I turn on Kickstarter, I get my entire campaign funded. Within the first hour when I launched this first product, and when that happens, we became one of the most popular products on Kickstarter at that time.

So they start to promote the campaign to their millions of viewers on their platform by giving us better placement, featuring us in their newsletter. And when that happened, we got this massive organic lift from all the community members of backers that are there looking for really cool projects to back.

And so from there. We were able to raise, you know, huge amounts of money very, very quickly. So that’s kind of when the light bulb went off for me, Brendan, because I was actually looking for more support with doing that pre launch work. And I did a ton of research and there was no one in the world supporting entrepreneurs when it came To Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

And so that’s when I saw a bigger opportunity because I’m like, wait a minute. This is a much smarter way for entrepreneurs to launch new products and it’s less risky and it’s way more effective than the traditional way of doing it. The way I was doing it before Kickstarter. And so that’s when I realized that, you know, there was an opportunity to build an agency to support entrepreneurs all over the world and having what I call.

These launch boom effects, right? And that’s why I named my company launch boom. And I bought launch boom. com on GoDaddy. I’ll never forget it. I bought it for 9. 99. And, um, and that’s when launch boom was born. I, um, partnered up with some really, really sharp marketing marketers here in San Diego. And, uh, they, they, they shared the vision with me.

I was like, Hey guys, if all we do is focus on helping entrepreneurs maximize their crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. We can build the largest agency in the world and we can get there fast. And because no one was doing it, Brandon at the time. So I’ll never forget. So I start launching in 2015 and that first year, now I had to go find projects to launch.

Right. So fortunately I had a really, really. Great track record of launching other consumer products. So I knew a lot of consumer product creators out there. So I just reached out to my personal network in the, in the early year of starting the business. And I was able to sign 15 clients and, um, it was more of a white club service.

So I’d do everything for them. Um, I had basically charged 50 grand upfront. So they had to have some kind of funding in place. Uh, 25 would go into the marketing because we’d have to do like video production, we’d have to create ads for Facebook and Instagram. And then the other half of the budget would go into advertising so I could build that, you know, largest pre launch email as possible before we’d go to Kickstarter or into Yogo and more or less control that outcome.

And so that first year we learned a lot, you know, we had 15 launches. Um, all those launches did phenomenal. They all did like six or seven figures. And then finally I’m like, well, if I’m going to keep growing and scaling this agency, I need more projects. So the riskiest thing I did, Brandon, was I actually flew out to Brooklyn, New York, and I got a meeting somehow.

I don’t even remember how I got it, but I was able to get a meeting with the executive team at Kickstarter. I met with them. I said, Hey guys, this is why our campaigns are doing so well. It’s called pre launch and I actually educated them. As to how we do pre launch, because that was foreign to them at the time.

They just had the platform. They would just launch the products. They just had the backers. They weren’t really doing any support on the entrepreneur creator side. So once I showed them why the pre launch was able to control a better outcome, they loved it. They’re like, Hey, well, you know, we’re more focused right now on continuing to build our backer audience.

So how about we just send you any campaigners that aren’t quite ready to launch with us so we can have bigger, better campaigns on our platform. And as soon as that happened, I went out to San Francisco and I met with Indiegogo’s team and I, I had the same type of conversation with their executive team and they had the same reaction.

They’re like, Hey, will, we’re building our backers. We’re not really able to support the campaigners the way you are. Why don’t we make you a preferred partner on our platform? So by the time 2016 hits a year after we open launch, boom, I’ve got this like floodgates open from Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and they’re sending me all my business.

It was amazing. So 2016, I go from launching, you know, 15 products in 2015 to 2016. Now I’ve launched close to a hundred products. That’s how many new clients were coming in and our agency was growing fast. And at this time, mind you, now people are starting to copy my model, right? So now I have competitors, there’s other agencies starting to.

Kind of pop up in Europe and pop up here in the U S and, uh, which is the best compliment ever. It means, you know, I’m doing something right when people start copying your model. Um, but in the early years, to be honest, as an agency, we were just building an email list, right? And the only issue with just building an email list is that you’re going to get a low conversion rate.

Right. So when you have an email list and you email market back to that audience, we were getting on average, like 3 percent conversions, right? So we’d have to build a massive audience in order to hit those like six or seven figure outcomes. And so at the time, what I was doing was I wanted to create a more efficient process, I wanted to make it easier for my clients to have even.

Bigger, better campaign outcomes. And so we ended up creating something called the reservation funnel.

Reservation Funnels

Brandon Rollins: And this is one of your like big key, unique things that launch boom does. It’s a very specific Launchboom thing.

Will Ford: Yeah. So the reservation funnel, honestly, it was like the biggest game changer for us and the world.

And crowdfunding, because what we ended up doing was we took that email one step further and the idea was okay, great. Now that we’ve got the email interest and they submitted their email because they want us to notify them when we launch. The idea was, well, we’re What if we turn that into an actual reservation to create a more qualified audience?

So the idea was, it was honestly, I took it from Elon Musk when he launched a Cybertruck and he did those like a thousand dollar deposit reservations. And he ended up creating like huge amounts of revenue for Tesla on that one reservation funnel idea. I was like, Hey, I wonder if this would work for crowdfunding.

And sure enough, it did. And so the way it works is once we run a Facebook ad or Instagram ad and someone interested in the product clicks on the ad, what we do is we then pull them into an opportunity to give us a dollar reservation. And what we do is we create a call to action. We say, Hey, we’re launching soon on Kickstarter.

The first thousand backers are going to get a lower price and early delivery. So if you want the best deal before we go to Kickstarter. All you have to do today is place a 1 money back guarantee deposit, and we’re going to guarantee you, um, that you get the very best deal today before we go live. And so what was interesting was we didn’t really care about the dollar.

It was more the transaction because people don’t transact unless they’re serious about committing to a deal. So what ended up happening, yeah, as soon as we turned on this reservation system. We started getting massive conversions. So like I said earlier, when I had that original email list going into a Kickstarter, I’d get a 3 percent conversion, right?

When I took it to through the reservation funnel, if I had a thousand dollar reservations before a campaign, we’re getting 30 percent or greater conversions.

Measuring Purchase Intent

Brandon Rollins: So you’re like really measuring for, for purchase intent when you do that. And that’s one of the things that really helps you. Cause you’re like, you can just take that.

You know, make a lookalike audience out of it or do something else that like really measures for that kind of

Will Ford: thing. Exactly right. And, and, you know, I’ve been at it now for nine years, Brandon. That’s how long I’ve been working on LaunchBoom and we’ve honestly built the most effective product launch system in the world.

And what’s really interesting about what we’ve created is also the lowest cost solution, right? Because I want to be able to help every entrepreneur. I don’t want to just be able to help the funded ones. So when I, in my early years at LaunchBoom. I was really focused on building the world’s largest agency.

The only issue with that model was it only worked for funded startups. Like I said earlier, like I needed a minimum 50 grand investment in that product launch for me to do everything for the client and to be able to deliver a significant outcome of six or seven figures of pre sales, right? So the problem with that model was I could only work with funded startups.

And my agency grew super fast. So from 2015 up until about 2021, we had launched over a thousand successful product launches on Kickstarter on Indiegogo, right? So we were the world’s largest crowdfunding agency. You know, we rang that bell, you know, back in like 2018 is when we got there. And, um, and then the pandemic hit and we went through hyper growth and we exploded.

I went from like. 20 full time employees, uh, pre pandemic to close to a hundred employees by the end of 2021. It was massive growth and, um, it was an exciting time and we were doing incredibly well as an agency. Our clients were thriving. That’s really where we built our brand reputation as the leader in our space.

And then in 2022. Everything changed. And what I mean by that was I had this massive team that was ready to keep scaling the business, but what happened in 2022 was we stopped seeing qualified lead gen come through our lead gen efforts and we stopped seeing like these like funded deals. And what we realized were that creators needed a cheaper option.

They wanted a more affordable solution. And so. That’s when, as the lead gen started to decline in 2022, that’s when we saw a much greater opportunity to turn launch boom into something so much greater than it ever could have been as an agency. And that’s when we decided to kill, intentionally kill our agency and convert it into a crowdfunding community and platform where now we provide coaching, consulting, and we upgraded all of our software and technology.

So the idea was, how can we make it? Easier, more fun for anyone in the world out there with a really cool idea to actually validate demand, lower their risk and be able to successfully launch that product.

Brandon Rollins: It’s acts like an educational thing. Somebody gets involved in the program and they can learn like what they need to do to actually make sure they’re ready for the campaign.

Will Ford: And more than that, they can basically avoid all the headaches that we went through. Over the previous, you know, seven, eight years as an agency, you know, we learned what doesn’t work, what does work, um, we learned, you know, at what point to put cash into advertising or when to scale advertising, you know, there’s so many things we learned along the way.

And so what we decided to do in 2022 was we intentionally killed our agency. Brandon, it was crazy, man.

Brandon Rollins: Yeah, that’s, that’s gotta be a scary decision to make.

Agency to Accelerator

Will Ford: It was, it was probably the scariest pivot I’ve ever made professionally because we already had the most successful agency at the time. And the idea was like, Hey, what if we kill that and we create our own platform and we build crowdfunding tools that make it easier.

We make it way more affordable. So now anyone out there can use a credit card. If they’re bootstrapping and they can go through our proven system, but we can make it way more affordable for them to take that product idea into Kickstarter into Indiegogo and still have the same, if not better outcome that our agency was delivering.

And so we spent the, a lot of the year of 2022 building that out. And, uh, we had to shift some people around on our team into different seats to help support this new idea and model, but it was a huge game changer because now we can work with. Anyone out there that has a really cool product idea and maybe underfunded, or maybe they’re bootstrapping and they’re, they’re using their credit card to support these product ideas and these innovative products that they want to take to market, or maybe it’s someone who’s never done it before and they want to take that first idea from that napkin sketch and they want to turn it into a prototype and actually.

Launch it and turn it into a successful e commerce business, for example, which many of my clients do. And so we ended up creating what I call launch boom 2. 0. Um, the world knows it today as launch boom accelerator. And since we made that pivot, Brandon, we’ve been on, we’re onboarding more clients than I ever dreamed of.

We’re literally adding like a hundred plus new product creators every single month into our community. And the reason they’re coming in is because it is the most. Engaged active community of creators. They’re all supporting each other. They also have access to everyone on my team, myself included. So we have dedicated coaching calls every day.

So depending upon what part of the process they’re in, they can jump on a call with one of our experts. They can get their questions answered. So they get that handholding. Um, now they can do more on their own because we upgraded our technology. So that reservation funnel system I talked to you through a little earlier in this conversation, our clients can now actually build their own reservation funnels.

They can just like drag and drop imagery, messaging, uh, little teaser videos. Um, they can collect their own reservations. They can also. Price test, they can test different lead offers now. So the number one, I’d say pain point most of my clients have when they come to us and they want to launch a new product is they all have the same question.

Hey, Will, how much should I sell my product for? How much do you think I can get for this product? And I always answer that the same way. I have no idea. Let’s figure that out. Let’s use our system and let’s go test different lead offers to figure out what the market will support. So we are now able to do all of that during prelaunch.

So in addition to, you know, building a huge audience of those dollar reservations, we’re also able, before we scale that, we’re able to test different lead offers. And so the other huge advantage we have today, Brandon is. I have over 7 million backers in my database because I’ve retained a copy of every backer from every campaign I’ve ever launched from the beginning.

So what’s really cool is part of our platform allows our clients to access specific audiences that they think are their actual demographic. Uh, buyer, and what we can do is we can upload those audiences into their Facebook or Instagram accounts and do what’s called lookalike audience targeting. So now we can actually place their lead offers or their ads in the organic feeds of backers that have already had one or more successful experiences on Kickstarter IndieGoGo.

So they’re more likely to do it again. So this allows us to get a much, much bigger impact from that ad spend because we actually have data. That they can leverage to bring down that ad cost. So what’s really cool and unique about our system is what we’re really doing in essence, Brandon, is we’re helping all of our clients fail fast and fail cheap.

The Launchboom Method

Brandon Rollins: Yeah. And I think that’s like, that’s huge. Cause let me think about this, like. Just kind of recap, like the basic process you’ve got at the very top, you’ve got like lead offer testing, or I don’t know if that’s the right word, but like, let’s just say offer testing. Like you’re actually testing the pitch and the price, and then you get into the more granular stuff, which is like.

Add copy imagery and that kind of stuff. And like, as you go down, it’s like, is this the right offer? Are we making the right basic pitch? And then after that, I assume, and I haven’t like worked with you guys in this capacity yet, but it’s gotta be in there. You guys will help them put together that page, make sure that nothing on there loses the conversions, and then you just kind of go through this process.

And then once you get to that point, um, and somebody’s got enough leads. They’re selling the right thing. They’ve got enough leads, the campaign page looks good. Then it is, here’s how you run it. Here’s how you ship it. And here’s how you, you know, go to e comm and it gets like progressively easier because it’s like, I feel like the what is so much harder than the how.

Like you can find anything in the world on the how, but the what is a really hard thing and helping people figure out what is like probably one of the most valuable things that. People don’t really think about too much.

Will Ford: Yeah, no, I’d say today what’s really interesting about my business at Launchboom is we have thousands of active clients right now that are either preparing to launch, they’re live on Kickstarter, you know, so they’re Actively funding their projects right now, or pre selling their products.

And then we also have a group of clients that have finished crowdfunding. That we’re helping, uh, transition into e commerce, right. And we’re helping work through their manufacturing. So we also provide another program called source boom. And the idea is like, you know, once we get through crowdfunding.

Well, let’s help our clients source the best, you know, sourcing experts, manufacturing experts, and deliver the best possible experience to those backers. So now we truly set them up for success because now they will have great products landed and ready for e commerce or Amazon or retail. So it’s, I’d say the coolest thing about what we do at LaunchBoom is what we’ve pioneered.

Which is what I call pre launch. It’s all about figuring out how to maximize the product launch potential. But we do all the heavy lifting before we get to Kickstarter or Indiegogo. And so we start with messaging, positioning. How can we position that product to appeal to the greatest amount of people out there in the world?

But we also start with like market research. So we look at, okay. Who are your competitors in this landscape? What, what makes your product unique, superior, different to those competitors? And then we look at what are the price points of those competitors? What’s a realistic price that we can put on your product to help you maximize that average order value?

And that’s also how we help protect our client margins through this process. Now that we’ve done that messaging positioning work. Now let’s go test. Let’s go see if people will pay this much money for this product. So what we do is we create different reservation funnels. We create different lead offers, and then we basically point those advertisements on Facebook, on Instagram, and we look at the data.

We look at what’s converting. We look at, we look at what’s the cost to acquire that 1 reservation, right? So what’s really, really cool about what we’ve done is we’ve created a data driven process that literally will tell our clients before we get to Kickstarter, how much money they’re going to be able to raise, whether or not they’re going to have a big enough campaign to support the manufacturing requirement they need.

Cause every manufacturer is different. Everyone has different minimum orders that they have to place in order to successfully produce and deliver that. Experience to that backer. So the beauty of my system is today. I’ve got thousands of clients here at LaunchBoom. I’d say half of them are like super green.

They’re maybe launching their first or second product ever. The other half of my clients are very successful e commerce brands, and they love my system because they can validate. New product demand faster for lower cost. And if they get great data, great. Now they put more time and resources and we go hard into Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

And we generate thousands of new loyal backer customers through the experience. And we make it easier for them to produce, deliver, and move into that e commerce or Amazon or retail opportunity or all three. Just depends on the client that we’re working with. And so what’s so cool about what we’ve built that launch boom is we’ve got this data driven pre launch process that allows us to actually control the launch outcome.

So we’re not guessing anymore. And so I’d say that is. Probably the number one differentiator with launch boom and anyone else in the world right now is that if you’re out there and you’re interested in launching a physical tangible consumer product, if you come into launch boom, we can tell you within a matter of months, whether or not you should put more time and resources into it because we can find.

For a much lower budget, I’m talking like under 10 grand, we can find whether or not it’s worth putting more time, more resources into going big on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, because in some cases we might take a client through pre launch and the data isn’t positive, right? Or we can’t get people to, uh, you know, put a dollar reservation down because, you know.

For whatever reason, you know, there’s an issue with the product or, uh, the value prop isn’t there, or there could be a variety of reasons, which really cool is that we can actually, um, run surveys, uh, to the people that did show interest and we can ask them what they liked, what they didn’t like. And so it gives our clients an opportunity to potentially iterate and improve that product.

And then we’ll test it again.

Brandon Rollins: This is also key because I feel like people really sleep on the possibility of just starting work on a project and then doing the research and then quitting because it doesn’t actually make sense from a market perspective. There’s no shame in that. It’s like, I’ve got a lot of, um, board game, you know, general contacts that are out there and it is a running joke.

In every game designer’s life that they’ve got like 20 games that are sitting on a shelf somewhere and one of them makes it to market because it’s like you table that and some of them you just like you play them a few times and it’s just not worth continuing. And if you’re able to do that on like a market level, figure out if anybody’s actually going to buy the darn thing in the first place, you can potentially save somebody tens of thousands of dollars, probably more than the accelerator costs.

Program Cost

Let’s be honest. Uh, what, what’s the cost by the way to, to get in there? Like, is it a month a month

Will Ford: kind of thing? Yeah. So, so yeah. So right now, just to be direct, like Brandon, it’s. A one time cost, 9, 800 to take your product into my system that gives you access to my team members here at LaunchBoom. It gives you access to all the perks for being in the community.

So you’ll get access to like our partnerships, like Fulfillrite, right? So we can help you not only like have a successful crowdfunding campaign, but also what happens after crowdfunding. We can help actually set you up so you can actually start scaling and growing and building a profitable business. We have e commerce partners, we have Amazon partners.

So the beauty of our system is it’s a one time cost. Um, if someone out there, if 9, 800 is like a scary number, we have payment, we have payment plans now. So people can use credit cards and make like monthly, quarterly payments. If that helps them, you know, take their idea to market and do it within their financial means.

So we literally have like the lowest cost, but by far the best solution in our industry right now. And that’s why we’re having so much success because it’s a system. That basically controls the outcome for every single product that we turn on. So literally we only go live on Kickstarter or Indiegogo when we control the outcome.

When we know we can raise enough money to actually build, manufacture and deliver an awesome experience to that backer. And that’s the hardest part because at that point, now that you validated demand and now that you have happy customers, well, now you also have product. So now you can turn on your e commerce store.

Now you can turn on your Amazon channel, or now you can start shopping those, those retail connections to get your products into Walmart or, or target, or, you know, wherever you want to sell.

Pivoting to Retail

Brandon Rollins: And it’s like, it’s honestly on Amazon, if you’ve got the right product and then even in a somewhat decent looking page with all the A plus content and whatnot.

It can be like seven bucks to get a purchase. It’s not that hard to get big purchases on Amazon, especially not if you’ve already gone through a Facebook ad driven process, a Kickstarter driven process. It’s like by the time you get through that, you’re probably kind of a lock for Amazon success

Will Ford: as well.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. You know, at the end of the day, like when it comes to launch boom, the reason I still love what I’m doing here is because we truly have built the most effective product launch system that I know of. And we continue to iterate. We continue to improve it. The idea and goal for launch boom is we want to make it fun.

We want to make it easy and we want to make it as affordable as possible. So anyone. In any part of the world that has this idea of burning in their mind that they’re dreaming about, that they’re thinking about, that they want to launch, that they can actually launch it now, even if they’re underfunded.

Right. And they can actually take that idea, turn it into a real profitable business. And if we do this and continue doing this well, Brandon, my goal is I’m not going to stop doing what I’m doing until I’ve helped over a million entrepreneurs, uh, take their product ideas. And turn them into profitable businesses.

Once I’ve done that, I’ve truly made a positive impact on the world. And that’s what we’re doing here at Launch Boom. And that’s what makes it fun. It’s just seeing like all these campaigns do so well. So what’s cool about that pivot I told you about earlier, when we killed the agency and we pivoted over to this coaching consulting platform, we’re launching more products than we ever dreamed of launching.

So on average, we’re launching like eight to 10 products every single week. All year long and they’re all doing phenomenal, like they’re all doing super well.

Brandon Rollins: And the beautiful thing is like, you’re not trading your time for money anymore or having or paying someone else to do that. And at the same time, you’re able to give people something that is quite a bit less expensive.

Like I know, and I’ll be honest with you, if you’re like really scrappy starting up and you do this with like shoestring budget, the little bit of savings from a job, 9, 800 is a terrifying figure. Like I, I launched my first campaign when I was driving a 1, 500 car for comparison, but, but like, honestly, when you compare that to agency fees, like a good marketing agency, a mid range price is probably a hundred, hundred, 10, 120 an hour.

I mean, like we’re talking mid range, like probably low mid range, um, at this point, and that stuff adds up so, so, so unbelievably fast, especially when you’re talking market research, product validation. This isn’t even getting into advertising expenses. 9, 800 is actually like quite a bit lower than that, and it mitigates quite a bit of risk.

Access to Additional Funding

Will Ford: I mean, I mean, Brandon, what’s even cooler about kind of where we are today at LaunchBoom is like, I’d say another one of like the top number one pain points are funding, you know, a lot of my clients are like, Hey, well, can you invest in my company? Uh, well, can you help me fund my advertising budget? So I can go bigger on this campaign.

And what’s really cool is I’ve also. Uh, recently found a funding partner that will literally provide my clients with anywhere from like 100 to 200, 000 in interest free credit lines to support these launches, which is honestly more than enough capital, uh, to, to not only like maximize your campaign, but then to get the money out of the platform to easily repay that credit line.

Before any interest is ever due. So, I mean, literally like over the years, because I’ve worked with thousands and thousands of product raters, they all ask the same questions, right. At different parts of the process. So all I’ve done over the last decade is I’ve. Found the best solutions to those questions.

And I literally created a platform that makes it easier, way less risky, and honestly more fun because when you’re an entrepreneur going out alone, it’s lonely, you know, and now you don’t have to, if you come to launch boom, you have a whole community of like minded people that are doing the same thing that want to help.

everyone succeed. And so it’s way more fun when you have a community of other people that are energized and excited about the products are launching and they want to share their resources and they want to make sure like everyone in the community is thriving, which is really what’s happening right now at launch boom.

So, so again, whoever’s listening to this, if you have a product idea. You don’t have to do it alone. You’re not by yourself. There’s a whole group of people worldwide here at LaunchBoom, um, that want to help you, that want to see you succeed. And, um, again, you don’t have to go at it alone anymore.

Brandon Rollins: Absolutely.

Now, follow up question on the financing. Like, of course, getting low interest financing, a lot of folks, you know, they want to see bank documents they want to see or inventory or something like that. Oh, we actually just had an inventory financing guy on. I think that one’s going to be up by the time this is up on YouTube.

But, uh, so with this, it’s like, do they look at the advertising? Do they look at the results and kind of make a determination based on what they think the expected revenues are going to be?

Will Ford: No, honestly, it’s, uh, it’s really interesting. Uh, but the, uh, credit facility that we’re working with, um, for the most part, like if you’re a U S registered business, so if you have a U a U S.

Business entity, whether it’s an LLC, a C corp, an S corp, it really doesn’t matter as long as it has a EIN number and it’s a registered U. S. business, um, they can, they can, they can lend you money. That is good to know we don’t even have to show them add metrics or any data. Like that’s literally all they need to see.

Now, obviously, depending upon how long that business has been around, how long, you know, like, uh, we’ll determine how much money they can lend you. Right. So like, if you just opened it and you reach out to them a month later, they might not be able to give you a 200 grand. They might only be able to give you a 30 or 50 grand, but they can still provide that, that.

That credit line to make

Brandon Rollins: that can still be really useful. Like if you’ve got the metrics that are backing you up, at least like internally, if you look at this and you have a very good reason to think you’ll succeed, but you’re just like 15, 000 bucks short or something could be a good option.

Will Ford: Yeah, totally.

I mean, um, it’s amazing like what resources are available to entrepreneurs today. And, and I’d say that’s probably one of the things that, um, I, I’ve really focused on the last year is providing those resources to my community in my launch room. Uh, platform. And so everyone in my community has access to all these resources that, that I’ve continued to find.

I continue to add them if I think they’re going to add value to my client. And, um, it doesn’t have to be scary anymore. It’s actually the opposite. It’s actually a ton of fun. And, um, and it can be extremely lucrative if you’ve got a cool product idea.

Brandon Rollins: Absolutely. So, um, let me think. Actually, I do have a question after this, but I guess second to last question for now.

Future Plans

Um, so kind of on an unrelated note, what do you see? Um, where do you see launch room going in the next five years? You have any other initiatives in the pipeline that you’re ready to share? Yeah.

Will Ford: Yeah. I mean, like I said earlier, like, Okay. I love what I do here at launch boom. And so does the rest of my team members.

Like everyone is genuinely passionate about supporting these entrepreneurs and succeeding in succeeding with their product launches. And so honestly, the next five years, like I just want to continue to create the lowest cost solution to make it as fun as possible and to help as many entrepreneurs as possible.

And to answer your question directly. Five years from now, I’d like to be as close to that million dollar number as possible. Like I’d love to eventually help a million entrepreneurs, product creators, um, have successful launches. If, you know, and if it takes me 10 or 20 years to get there, so be it, but I’m not going to stop until we get there.

Brandon Rollins: That’s awesome. I think that’s a good goal. So, um, real last question. If there is one thing that you think potential Kickstarter creators need to focus on, just one piece of advice to give them, what would it be?

Parting Advice

Will Ford: Yeah, so, honestly, and I know this might sound a little cliche, but if anyone out there is considering launching a new product on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, you’re going to save a lot of time and a lot of money if you reach out to my team.

And you don’t even have to hire my team. Like, like we have experts that will talk to you. Uh, we’ll, we’ll tell you the ins and outs of crowdfunding. Maybe crowdfunding isn’t the right direction for you. And if that’s the case, we’ll tell you why, and we’ll point you in the right direction, but you can save a lot of time and a lot of headache and a lot of money.

If you talk to someone on my team and, and again, you don’t have to pay any money to do that.

Brandon Rollins: All right. And anybody who’s interested in learning more about Launch Boom, I’m going to include all the links down below in the description so you can easily find them. And from there, you’ll be able to just learn anything that you want to know about Launchboom.

A Cool Success Story

Will Ford: Yeah, yeah. And again, we love learning about new product ideas. We love helping entrepreneurs. So if you’re out there and you’ve got an awesome product idea and you’ve been thinking about crowdfunding, like we’d love to talk to you. Um, But other than that, yeah. I mean, like Brandon, there’s, there’s just been so many like success stories over the years.

Um, like, um, like I know before we had this, uh, you know, this call together today, um, I know, um, you know, you were like, Hey, will, you know, it’d be really cool if you could share like a cool success story, you know, what’s one of the coolest campaigns you’ve ever worked on? Right. And I want to take a minute and talk about that because, you know, there’s so many and a lot of people, they always think I’m going to like talk about like my multimillion dollar, you know, campaigns.

And honestly, a lot of those aren’t my best campaigns, believe it or not, because a lot of those big multimillion dollar campaigns, they spent a tremendous amount on advertising to get there, to be honest. Um, but I’d say like, probably like one of the coolest stories is this, uh, group of entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka.

Uh, they reached out to me and they had this really, really cool product. It’s called Spring. And what it is, it’s basically like these like wraps you put around your calves. And, uh, it actually massages your calves, which your calves have one of your major arteries in your body. And so they found that if you wear these, uh, leg wraps on like long, uh, travel or, you know, airplane trips that it totally eliminates like being jet lagged.

Or, or, you know, uh, basically jet lag, it eliminates it. And at a time I was flying all over the world, speaking at conferences about crowdfunding. So they sent me a demo and I would literally wear these leg wraps on their plans. And people looking at me like, what’s on your legs? And it was like this awesome massage the whole time I was.

Traveling on these 10 hour flights or 15 hour flights to Hong Kong or wherever I was going. And, uh, I literally had no jet lag. I’d like land and I’d feel fresh and ready to go. It was amazing. It’s also a really cool product for like people who work out a lot and just kind of like, you know, just really great rehab type tool, uh, for people who are like super into fitness or people who run a lot.

Um, so anyway, they brought the product to me and they’re like, Hey, well. And now that you’ve demoed the product, can you help us launch it? And I’m like, absolutely. It was, it’s a phenomenal product. It’s called Spring S P R Y N G. And, uh, and we ended up launching it on Indiegogo. But before we launched on Indiegogo, Brandon, I took them through my prelaunch reservation system and we couldn’t.

Get any decent conversions. So at the time they’re like, Hey, we’ll, our cost to produce this thing is 30. So eventually we want to sell for 150, but we’re willing to give a deal on Kickstarter at 99 to maximize orders. And I thought that was an incredible deal, right? But today, Brandon consumers are super sharp, right?

So when they saw this really cool looking product with all these like massage features that they thought it was like. Well, what I concluded was that they thought that it was a gimmick or it was a ripoff because it was like almost too good to be true. Like, how can I get this awesome massage device for both my cast for 99 bucks?

It must be, uh, you know, there’s gotta be something wrong here. Right. Like, like consumers just weren’t putting down reservations. They weren’t signing up to, you know, buy the product when we bought, we’re preparing to launch. So I basically did some more market research and I told the guys in Sri Lanka, I was like, guys, listen, you guys have an awesome product here, but your competitors are selling for like thousands of dollars.

And so there’s a huge gap here. I go, I know your cost is 30, but would you allow me to sell this for 189? And then you can go to retail at like 250 or 300. Because it’s a great product and, and you’re undervaluing, um, your, your price, in my opinion. So they said, Hey, well, at this point, we just want this to work.

So whatever you think we need to do, go ahead and test it. So I tested a lead offer at 189. And all of a sudden our reservations were like the lowest cost reservations we’ve ever seen come through. We ended up getting thousands of these dollar reservations. And then when we took it to Indiegogo, we ended up pre selling over a million dollars.

And now mind you, their cost didn’t change their cost is still 30 to produce that unit, but now I just basically like tripled their profit margins, right? Because now I’m selling for 189 versus 99, right? So. As you can imagine their team in Sri Lanka, they love me, right? Because not only did I help them pre sell a million dollars, over a million dollars on Indiegogo, but I made them a huge profit margin on that launch.

And they were able to reinvest that back into their e commerce. And now they’ve got a super successful business. So like, that’s the value of the pre launch. It’s figuring out how to maximize your average order value, how to get people to actually Pull the trigger and transact with you before you get to Kickstarter.

So that’s always a story I love sharing. Uh, just because it again goes back to like really what we’re doing at the end of the day, which is we’re mitigating the risk for all of our clients and we’re helping them position their products and maximize the price of every unit they move through the system.

Yeah,

Brandon Rollins: I think that’s a really good example of just the kind of things you can do because like that’s, that’s one of those things that only you only really figure out that you need to change pricing strategy just through testing it out and seeing what happens. And it’s amazing that that just occasionally happens where people actually perceive something as being a much better product when it has a higher price tag.

Will Ford: Yeah. Yeah. And again, there’s so many other stories like that, but I know you wanted me to talk about kind of a success, a success story. And that always is like top of mind because they were ready to like throw the rag in and call quits on it. And I convinced them to let me continue testing. And because we, we, we repositioned the pricing, we ended up having a major breakthrough.

Yeah,

Brandon Rollins: that’s a pretty amazing story. All right. So at this point, what I’m going to do, probably just between you and me is I’m going to like, probably edit around the order just a little bit. So it’s a little more fluid. So I’ve got my last question last. Then pop on intro and outro, but I think we’re good to go.

I think we’ve got a lot of good video here. All right. I’m going to go ahead and pause this recording. If you could thank you for watching this interview, I appreciate it. And I know that Will at Launch Boom does too. Details on both of our companies are going to be down there in the description. And just in case you missed the name earlier, my name is Brandon.

I’m here on behalf of Fulfillrite. If you need help shipping your orders, go to Fulfillrite. com and request a quote. We’ve shipped for thousands of crowdfunding campaigns, and we would be happy to ship for you as well. The quote doesn’t cost a thing, so if nothing else, you get some good information about pricing.

Link in the description. If you enjoyed this video, please take a moment to like and subscribe. Don’t forget to slap some postage on that bell so we can express ship new videos to you as soon as they drop. And last but not least, if you have any questions, leave a comment down below. I will personally answer as many of them as I can.

Thanks for watching.