Kickstarter video production for after the campaign: setup guides for backers

1Shipping week is support week

When backers open their boxes within the same few weeks, the same setup questions can arrive all at once in comments, messages and update threads, often in several languages.

Kickstarter's creator handbook calls worldwide shipping complex for first-time creators and suggests a fulfillment partner once you are past about 500 packages. The questions after delivery still come to you. A setup guide linked in your shipping update and on a card in the box answers the first ones before they reach your inbox, and it gives your support team one link to send instead of typing the same steps again.

2What backers get

• A 60–90 second quick start: what's in the box, the first charge or power-up and the first setup.
• Or a Full Guide with chapters for setup, daily use, care and fixes.
• Voice and on-screen text in your backers' main languages, with 3 languages included.
• A QR code for the box or the insert card that opens the guide in the phone's language.
• Captions and subtitle files for backers who watch without sound.
• Short vertical clips to post in backer updates and on social media.

3Timing it with production

Start when the manual is close to final and production units match what backers will receive.

1. Send the near-final manual Add photos of production samples, renders or CAD files, and your backers' main languages.
2. Approve the script You check every step against the production unit, not the prototype.
3. Animation and voice The first draft arrives about 5 business days after you approve the script, with two rounds of changes included.
4. Live before the first box ships Post the video in your shipping update and print the QR code on the insert.

4Pitch videos and platform rules

We make setup guides for funded products, not campaign pitch videos. If you want to use any of the animation on a campaign page, check the platform's rules first.

Kickstarter requires hardware and product design projects to show working prototypes and does not allow photorealistic renderings. Its rules also say prototype demonstrations should not use CGI or special effects to show functionality that doesn't exist yet. Indiegogo has its own rules, so check those too. This is general information, not legal advice.

5From backers to retail

After fulfillment, the same guide keeps working in your own store and on marketplaces, and late pledges and pre-orders get the same help as your first backers. See setup videos for Amazon listings, and keep the code on the box pointing to the latest version with a QR video manual.

6Prices

Quick Start: $490 with 3 languages, plus $49 per extra language. Full Guide: $1,490 with 3 languages. The QR video manual is free for the first year with any guide, then $19 per month or $190 per year per product; see all prices.

Founding clients get 40% off their first project in exchange for honest feedback and permission to show the work in our portfolio.

Questions