Indiegogo, a leading name in the crowdfunding domain, has impressively garnered over $1.6 billion in funds by 2019, drawing support from 235 countries worldwide. With projections indicating a near approach to the $3 billion threshold by 2023, the platform’s expansive influence is evident.
After a successful Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, the journey doesn’t conclude. It’s essential to uphold your commitment to the crowdfunding backers.
Indiegogo fulfillment, especially for physical products, can become complex and exhausting for those unfamiliar with e-commerce fulfillment processes.
For Indiegogo users, you need an Indiegogo fulfillment that works well with your products specification to meet your crowdfunding backers’ promise.
In this article, you learn all you need to know about Indiegogo reward fulfillment solutions available with NextSmartShip.
Let’s dive in together.
Table of Contents
- What is Indiegogo?
- How does Indiegogo work?
- What do you need to know about Indiegogo fulfillment?
- How do you choose an Indiegogo fulfillment partner?
What is Indiegogo?
Indiegogo is a crowdfunding platform launched in 2007, and as of 2020, it has 9 million strong backers.
Indiegogo platform boasts of having supported over 800,000 creative projects. Here are some of the main factors that set Indiegogo apart;
- You get a variety of crowdfunding services suit for your project.
- You can launch campaigns for any type of project, although retail ventures are the most common.
- The platform doesn’t charge any fees for non-profit campaigns.
- It doesn’t pre-screen campaigns before they launch like the other platforms.
- It has excellent customer support.
How does Indiegogo work?
If it’s your first time planning to launch an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, then you need to understand how it works.
First, you set up an Indiegogo campaign page, tell your story, and introduce the project to potential backers. The aim is to raise enough to fund the idea or project.
Some of the categories where major crowdfunding campaigns have succeed include;
- Home
- Tech and innovation
- Energy and green tech
- Animal rights
- Community rights
- Transportation
- Healthcare and fitness.
An example of an Indiegogo top crowdfunding campaign is an eyewear company, Stoggles, that raised $1.8 million and continues with Indiegogo’s InDemand feature.
InDemand feature makes it possible for you to continue raising funds even after the period for the initial campaign has elapsed.
Also, the Indiegogo platform has Marketplace where creators can create online stores to sell their products. However, due to the pandemic, the service is currently suspended.
When you compare Indiegogo vs. Kickstarter or any other crowdfunding alternatives, Indiegogo has more flexibility than almost all of them.
For terms on fees after your campaign finishes (probably after 60 days), you are expected to pay in the following percentages;
- Payment processing fees is 2.9% + $ 0.30 / pledge
- Basic platform usage fees; 5% of funds raised
- InDemand campaigns are 5% of the funds raised.
For you to qualify to do an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, you must be eligible to these rules;
- No funding for illegal projects on the platform.
- Zero tolerance to scam campaigns.
- The age limit starts at 13 years, but those below 17 years must have a guardian who is over 18 years.
- No crowdfunding for products that might harm others.
Before you start your campaign, you need to understand how to plan your Indiegogo campaign effectively.
After a successful Indiegogo campaign, you need to fulfill your promise to your backers by shipping the product to them.
What do you need to know about Indiegogo fulfillment?
Shipping a crowdfunded product to your backers can cost between 10-15% of the funds.
But with a strategic plan before launching on how you will fulfill orders from the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform, the percentage gets reduced.
Here are some key factors to consider;
a. Your target market.
Where do you want the majority of your backers to come from?
However, keep in mind that 38% of backers come from the U.S, while Canada and the United Kingdom have 7%, only followed by Australia with 6%.
b. Product packaging
Let’s assume you are new to shipping.
What happens in shipping packages is that they are charged according to actual weight, often size and volume will be taken into account too, which is called the package’s dimensional weight.
If you know the package your product will fit and can reduce it, it will save you a lot from the shipping fees. Also, with the right shipping package, you can secure your product from damage.
c. Duties and taxes
This depends on the products because each country has its own tax rules that customers who buy the product into that country must adhere to.
You need to know if additional charges as tax and duties levied to customers who buy your product. Your order fulfillment partner will help with this.
How do you choose an Indiegogo fulfillment partner?
Outsourcing your Indiegogo order fulfillment to a third-party(3PL) fulfillment NextSmartShip has significant benefits;
- You get you Indiegogo order professionally packaged and shipped for you.
- You get the opportunity to ship your product from multiple warehouse centers in major crowdfunding backers regions in the world.
- You don’t need to learn the complexity of the order fulfillment and delivery process.
A reliable 3PL fulfilllment partner must have; the right technology to seamlessly integrate with your Indiegogo order fulfillment, the ability to manage bulky shipments, the right warehousing management system( WMS), and global warehousing centers for fast delivery.
