The campaign video is an important part of any successful Kickstarter campaign. How can you make an amazing video? And how long should it be? Read on for tips and tricks to catch your audience from the opening frame.
First Impressions Matter
The Kickstarter campaign video is your first opportunity to introduce yourself – and your product – to potential backers. It’s your chance to connect with people and get them excited about your project. Crowdfunding backers are interested in not JUST the product, but the story. They want to feel like part of the process, and your video can show them how.
People think they have to hire Steven Spielberg to direct their Kickstarter video in order to achieve success. Nothing could be further from the truth. Low-budget videos that are well shot and edited can be just as successful as videos that cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Whether you hire an outside production firm or shoot video and edit together yourself, authenticity matters. You want the video to look good AND feel authentic. There are many ways to achieve that.
Campaign Video Best Practices
The creative direction for your video is ultimately best decided by your team. You understand your product and the tone with which you wish to speak to your backers. The two most common types of Kickstarter videos are the “use-case” and the “storyline” videos. Use-case videos are direct and emphasize features of the product where storyline videos involve more acting and narrative storytelling. Regardless of the direction you choose, you’ll want to keep the following best practices in mind.
1. Start Strong:
The first few seconds of your video are the most important. You’ll need to hook the viewer right away.
2. Introduce Your Product:
You think this would be obvious, but too many creators get caught up in trying to be fancy and flashy that they forget the basics. Make sure your footage relays what your product does and what backers will get out of it within the first 30 seconds.
3. Show Your Product Working:
No matter what category your product falls under, your video must show it in use. Technical products need to be fully functional in the video, too.
4. Emphasize the Unique Selling Points:
What makes your product different from anything else? Highlight it clearly. Remember that clarity matters more than creativity when describing your product. Your
5. Use On-screen Text and Voiceovers.
You don’t know how your potential backer might be interacting with your video, so it’s important to have on-screen callouts in addition to audio cues.
6. Be Authentic
Remember that you’re talking to normal people who want to join you on your journey. Speak to the needs your product will fill and ask them to help you.
7. Export Your File as an MP4.
The MP4 file will be easily uploaded to your campaign page and any other platforms, like YouTube, that you may wish to share it on.
How Long Should Your Video Be?
Kickstarter backers don’t have the longest attention spans when it comes to campaign videos. In fact, two minutes is the “sweet spot” for campaign videos. We’ve found it’s long enough to tell backers about your product but short enough to hold their attention. That said, many videos are shorter or longer than that ideal length.
We analyzed 148 successful campaigns to see what the data would tell us about campaign videos. This isn’t an exhaustive study, but the campaigns we looked at fell into nearly every category and ranged in funding from just over $2,000 to $4,500,000.
Of the videos we analyzed, the average length was 2:10.
The average percentage of traffic that watched an entire campaign video was just 14%. No other metrics showed correlation. In fact, a campaign with a video that was just 39 seconds raised more than $135,000 where the longest video we analyzed, at 5 minutes and 3 seconds, only raised slightly more than $40,000.
One major outlier in our data was that of OYO NOVA. This campaign raised more than $4,400,000 and had a video that was 4:15. This wasn’t their first campaign, so they spent time re-introducing their brand, then sharing the product and its backstory. It’s worth noting that only 4% of their traffic made it all the way to the end of the video.
What Kind of Photography and Video is Needed?
Be sure to get a variety of lifestyle, studio and product shots. While shooting video, think about the still images you’ll use on your page and capture them at the same time. Be sure that the talent used in your video matches your target audience so that backers can see themselves using your product. You’ll also want to make sure that every feature you wish to highlight is captured in video and still imagery.
What’s the Secret Sauce?
Connect emotionally with your audience. This can be done with humor, statistics or personal creator stories. If you connect on a human level with your backers, and are sure to highlight your product in the first 30 seconds, you’ll be on-track for a winning video.
Intimidated?
We know the creative assets for a Kickstarter campaign can be intimidating. Whether you’re looking for a photography shot list, feedback on the assets you already have or need a little more assistance, Enventys Partners can make sure your video captures the attention of backers and convinces them to support your project. Reach out to us to get started!
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