Delivering your rewards

Once your project has closed successfully and you have received your funding, any rewards that have been pledged on will need to be fulfilled. 

If you’ve planned ahead and considered the costs of your rewards, this can be a smooth and enjoyable part of the crowdfunding journey. This guide to delivering your crowdfunding rewards should help you along the way. 

Think about the costs early

When calculating your target, ensure you have not only factored in the cost of creating or purchasing any rewards, but also delivering them to their final destination. Make sure you have a firm idea of how much each reward will cost, depending on how many people pledge on each one. There may be a minimum order quantity to consider, or you may also receive bulk discounts if you purchase a larger number. Don’t forget to add in the cost of shipping any items from the supplier to your address. There’s also packaging and postage to consider!

Organisation is key

Once your project has finished, your supporter download will be available via your project dashboard. This contains all the information you’ll need to deliver your rewards. Make sure you keep track of everything and note down when each reward has been posted.

If you’re crowdfunding for an organisation or business, remember to keep your receipts somewhere safe. You might need them when it comes to doing your accounts. 

Plan how you’ll package

There’s nothing worse than receiving a broken, soggy or battered reward. So avoid disappointing your supporters by ensuring your packaging is fit for purpose. 

While packaging options are almost endless, many project owners stick with cardboard boxes or padded envelopes. You may also need ‘void filler’ such as shredded paper or bubble wrap to stop your items rattling around the box. If your rewards are breakable, make sure you draw attention to this with ‘FRAGILE’ stickers. 

Compare different shipping options

Depending on the size and weight of your rewards, there’s all sorts of different shipping options available to you. Prices can vary depending on the shape of your parcel, so make sure you’ve looked into this too. Many project owners choose to use Royal Mail to ship their rewards, as they’re familiar with the service and like being able to speak to someone at the Post Office counter. You can use their handy size and weight guide or online price finder to work out postage costs in advance. You’ll save a lot by shipping flat rewards (under 2.5cm thick) as a large letter, for example. 

You might also want to look into parcel delivery services that offer good rates on bulk parcel sending. Some of them will be able to collect from your location, which saves the hassle of carting your parcels around – but be aware this will come at a cost. 

Remember, you need to include all shipping costs in the overall price of your reward. 

Save time (and money!)

If you have lots of rewards to deliver, there are a few things you can do to streamline the delivery process.

Packing all your rewards in one go is a good way of minimising the time it takes to get everything ready to send. You could organise a ‘packing party’ with friends to speed things up. They lend their hands for an evening of packing, you provide the music! 

Buying and printing postage online in advance will save you plenty of precious time. Avoid the Post Office queues with services such as Click & Drop, parcel post boxes or Parcel Collect. Be aware that you may need a printer to access some of these services. 

Handwriting addresses can take forever – or at least feel like it. If you have access to a printer, use it! If you’re posting lots of rewards, it’s worth thinking about investing in a thermal label printer. They’re relatively inexpensive, don’t require ink cartridges and can be connected directly to many online services, like Royal Mail’s Click & Drop. You’ll need to decide if the cost is worth the time saved. 

Get yourself ready to rock

Think about where you are going to store and pack all the rewards. Do you have space to do this in your home? Or do you need to look at renting or borrowing somewhere with more room? 

You’ll also want to consider the time it’ll take you to receive, unpack, repack and post your rewards. When are you able to fit this into your schedule? Do you need to recruit a few friends to help? As we mentioned before, a ‘packing party’ can be a good way to get it all done with less stress.  

Finally, make sure you have thought about how you’re going to transport any rewards to the post office or drop off location. Do you have a vehicle that’ll do the job? Or will you need to hire one? Again, perhaps you might need to borrow a friend to help? 

Decide if you’ll ship internationally

While Crowdfunder is UK-based, we see support for projects coming from all over the world. If you think your project will have a global reach, you need to decide if you’re willing to ship rewards internationally. If you want to avoid the hassle of shipping rewards overseas, make sure you specify this on your project page. Digital rewards offer a great alternative to physical rewards for your global community. This could include online events, PDF downloads, access to video or audio content or even a simple shout out on social media.  

If you decide to post rewards overseas, make sure you have done your research on what options are available to you. You’ll also need to check that your reward does not contain items on the country’s restricted or prohibited list. Royal Mail offers a really useful guide to posting internationally for each country.  

Have a backup plan 

Parcels go missing. I’m sure most of us have experienced this annoying problem at some point. If this does happen, make sure you have a plan to replace that reward. This might mean purchasing or creating a few spares and, of course, factoring in the cost of that. If the worst happens and a parcel does get lost, you may be able to claim compensation depending on the shipping service you’ve used. 

Stay in touch

Let your supporters know when their reward is on the way so they can get excited about its arrival.  If you’re using a tracked shipping service, you can include the tracking number too. 

If there are delays or hitches along the way, make sure you keep your supporters in the loop. It’s important to be transparent and honest with them. 

Looking for more guidance on your crowdfunding project? Head over to our Knowledge Hub.