THIS IS AN ARCHIVE POST FROM 2015
Until fairly recently, even just two years ago, Indiegogo didn’t really seem like a serious alternative to Kickstarter among crowdfunding platforms. Today, however, the two platforms seem much more evenly matched.
One of the main reasons is probably Kickstarter’s strict country restrictions. Only residents of certain countries can launch Kickstarter campaigns. Kickstarter recognizes this limitation and is gradually opening the platform to more countries, but its slow expansion has given Indiegogo and several smaller crowdfunding platforms an opportunity to establish themselves in places where Kickstarter simply isn’t directly available.
This is particularly important if you live in a country where you cannot launch a Kickstarter campaign yourself.
Indiegogo has so far tried to gain market share by being more flexible. You can launch a campaign from many more countries, you can choose between fixed and flexible funding, and you have more freedom when choosing the campaign currency. These advantages can make Indiegogo a better choice than Kickstarter, especially for creators who are outside Kickstarter’s supported countries.
Currency can also make a difference
Kickstarter has a rule that the campaign currency has to match the currency of the country where the campaign is launched. A campaign launched in the US uses USD, one launched in the UK uses GBP, one launched in the Netherlands uses euros, one launched in Australia uses AUD, and so on. This can be quite a serious limitation for some projects.
Here in Europe, we are used to dealing with different currencies. It is completely normal for us to shop online in another currency and convert prices in our heads. In larger countries, especially in the US, this may be less familiar to some people.
A campaign’s success might even be affected by a small percentage of potential backers hesitating because the price is shown in a foreign currency and they are not immediately sure what that amount means in their own currency.
Of course, people who are seriously interested in a project are unlikely to be discouraged by this. But how many crowdfunding supporters are spontaneous supporters who simply see something they like and decide to back it? I don’t think there is any good way to know. It is still worth keeping this group in mind when planning a campaign.
For that reason, if possible, I would launch the campaign in a currency that is familiar to the target market, or at least to the largest country within that market.
This is where Indiegogo’s choice of currency becomes particularly useful. For example, if I launch a campaign from Hungary but my main target market is the US, I can choose USD as the campaign currency.
So which one should you choose?
In my opinion, by now the Kickstarter vs Indiegogo question is mainly determined by three things: the target audience, the target market, and how much media support we can get for the campaign.
Kickstarter’s biggest strength is its large audience and high level of traffic. Because of this, a project can potentially get more support there even without a large amount of external media coverage.
However, I think this advantage works best when the country where the campaign is launched and the target market are roughly the same.
For example, if we launch a Kickstarter campaign in the US and the US is also our target market, or if we launch in the UK and the UK is our target market, the situation is quite straightforward. The same applies if we launch in the Netherlands and our target market is Europe. The campaign is displayed in a currency that the target audience is familiar with, so potential backers can understand the prices without having to think about currency conversion.
But this is exactly where the situation becomes more complicated for creators who cannot launch Kickstarter directly from their own country.
If we need to launch from another country, the advantages of Kickstarter can become less significant. The campaign may be displayed in a currency that is unfamiliar to the target audience, and the whole setup can become more complicated.
What about media support?
If we can support the campaign with substantial media coverage, Kickstarter loses some of its advantage. In that case, Indiegogo can even be the better alternative.
In July, Indiegogo changes the fee for both fixed and flexible campaigns to 5%, bringing it in line with Kickstarter’s fee. This makes the difference between the two platforms even smaller.
So if we cannot launch the campaign in our target market through Kickstarter, but we can generate our own media attention and drive potential backers to the campaign, Indiegogo starts to look like the more attractive option.
And for projects where the target audience is easy to reach and easy to activate, I think the platform itself matters much less.
The real question is not simply Kickstarter or Indiegogo? It is: Where can I launch the campaign, where are my potential backers, what currency will they see, and how much traffic can I generate myself?