Once a Kickstarter campaign ends, you need to turn to the creator’s own page to pre-order the products – that is, until now. Today, Kickstarter announced that it is (finally!) including pre-order functionality after the campaign is completed as part of its main platform. It calls the feature “Late Commitments,” and the platform says it plans to make it available to all creators “soon.” Those who follow the industry will likely greet this announcement with a look of surprise and a “welcome to the club,” as Indiegogo launched its equivalent – InDemand – almost a decade ago.
Late for the party aside, sSince its creation in 2009, Kickstarter was a pioneer in the field of crowdfunding. The introduction of Late Pledges is a welcome addition to its support for creative individuals. The feature not only opens up new avenues for backers who missed out on the initial campaign, but also simplifies the process of post-campaign contributions, making it a win-win situation for all parties involved – including Kickstarter, which so far has seen post-campaign pre-campaigns. -sales are happening off-site, meaning the platform has not been able to reduce its usual 5% platform fee. Which, of course, will also be the case for the Late Pledges.
It really is a no-brainer.
How it works
Once a project is successfully funded, creators can activate Late Pledges from their dashboard. This adds a dedicated “Late Pledges” section to their project page, where new backers can choose rewards and pledge their support at their convenience, just like during the initial phase of the campaign. A Kickstarter spokesperson assures us that Late Pledges is seamlessly integrated into the Kickstarter platform, ensuring a smooth and efficient experience for all users.
For founders, Late Pledges mean a lot. A product’s Kickstarter page often has huge influence on Google and will frequently appear in the top search results. Getting people to spend money is an obvious next step. This makes Late Pledges a great way to leverage the momentum of successful campaigns. Potential backers who learn about the project later will still be able to participate and get the rewards they want without waiting for a separate pre-order campaign. Creators can also offer exclusive rewards or limited-time incentives to attract additional support, maintaining excitement and visibility for their projects.
However, it’s not all rainbows and unicorns: crowdfunding campaigns can be extremely difficult to pull off in some cases, and there is often a post-campaign period where the real gets really real. and where manufacturing and design challenges begin to emerge. Continuing to accept pre-orders at this stage could pose a risk: handling an increased volume of backers, earning rewards, and potentially affecting the initial urgency that drives many crowdfunding campaigns. Additionally, creators may need to carefully consider the timing and length of the late engagement period to avoid diluting the impact of their initial campaign.
Despite the potential challenges, Late Pledges offer substantial benefits to Kickstarter creators. Backers benefit from more flexibility and the ability to support projects they might have missed initially. It’s also easy to imagine a world in which this feature could contribute to a more sustainable crowdfunding environment by allowing projects to generate ongoing support.
It will be interesting to see where Kickstarter takes this feature forward – it’s easy to imagine the platform introducing improvements such as time-limited contribution windows or integration with other platform features for improve the visibility and success of the project. The evolution of this feature could lead to broader changes in Kickstarter’s strategy, emphasizing long-term relationships between creators and backers and expanding support tools for creators.
If you want to see what it looks like, Kickstarter enabled the feature on the recently completed Master of Realms campaign.
techcrunch
