How NOT to Get Stretched by Kickstarter Stretch Goals

[Tyler_James]

From the mailbag:

Hey Tyler, I just wanted to say that you're Kickstarter articles have been an invaluable resource as I ever-so-slowly plot out my campaign. I have a question concerning stretch goals in particular and can't seem to find anything on the issue I'm facing. I have a 3-issue mini that I'm looking to Kickstart. The cost to me as the creator is somewhere between 2.5k - 3k per, so to get all 3 issues paid for I'm basically looking at a 10k goal. My preference is to keep the goal around 3k, mostly b/c it's my first campaign, but also to increase the chance of at least walking away with a funded first issue. So, my idea was to make issues 2 and 3 available as Stretch Goals, unlockable at 6k and 9k, respectively. My conundrum is how to best implement the 2nd/3rd issues into the reward tiers. Unless I smash my goal there's no way I could give the issues away for free, but having backed my fair share of campaigns, I'm very turned off at the prospect of having to ask Backers to contribute additional money to receive the unlocked issues.

-Scott

Having recently wrapped up another successful Kickstarter campaign in the last few weeks (note, I said "campaign" not project...a project isn't complete or a success until all your backers are happy), I've been getting a fair number of new crowdfunding related questions from people like Scott. His question above, focused specifically on stretch goals, is a good one. And though I shared some insight in my most recent Kickstarter article on the subject, I think stretch goals is a topic certainly worth a deep dive.

The two things that are most likely to completely @#$! up otherwise excellent Kickstarters are:

1. Improperly accounting for the cost of international shipping.

2. Poorly planned stretch goals.

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