In this week’s article we’ll continue examining a project’s
Kicktraq page, this time concentrating on the middle third of the page.
The Kicktraq Project Page Middle Third
The middle third of a Kicktraq project page contains five
different tabs that contain more granular information about a particular
Kickstarter project.
The information in these tabs is useful for both project
backers and creators.
Let’s look at each of the tabs in a little more detail.
The Funding Progress Tab
The funding progress tab tracks a Kickstarter project’s
progress toward its funding goal from the beginning date of the project to the
ending date.
The Y access of the chart shows the pledged amount starting
at zero. The amount shown on the Y axis increases in increments of 5k.
Along the X axis are the dates of the project is active.
The chart shows a blue dotted line across the graph for the
funding goal. It will also show a green dotted line that adjusts for the
project funding trend.
Kicktraq will plot a point at each day for the project’s
funding.
Daily Data
The Daily Data tab contains three separate charts – Pledges
Per Day, Backers Per Day, and Comments Per Day.
Pledges Per Day
This chart tracks the amount pledged by backers for each day
of the Kickstarter project campaign. This chart shows a purple dotted line for the
average amount pledged per day. This is summarized in the upper right of the
chart.
Backers Per Day
This chart mimics the Pledges Per Day chart replacing pledge
amount with the average amount of backers per day. Averages are shown as per
the Pledges Per Day chart.
Comments Per Day
This charts the average comments per day on the Kickstarter
project like the above two charts.
Projection (Experimental Build)
The Projection tab displays the current funding data for the
project and gives a projection of the end funding.
Currently this project is called the “Project Cone”. Be aware
that the way this tab displays as Kicktraq experiments with how to display and
predict data will change.
The project’s goal is shown as a straight dashed horizontal blue
line across the graph.
This projection is expressed as a high and low dollar range
and summarized in the upper right of the chart and shown as a purple line.
However, Kicktraq gets about a 70-92% average correct
prediction on many projects.
You should expect this to be a work in progress and while the
projection is not a 100% guarantee, it never-the less is an important tool to
use when adjusting your Kickstarter campaigns and pledges.
Trend (Beta)
While the X and Y axis are familiar – dollar amount on the x
axis and date on they axis - the data presented on this tab can look confusing.
At the very top of the chart there is a dashed gray line
indicating the initial funding trend. From the very top a green line with
plotted points slopes down to meet the dashed green trending line.
Just below the trending line is the dashed blue goal line
and beneath that the actual funding plotted over the days of the campaign.
Why is that green line curving down to meet the blue one and
why did it start so high?
Well, the trend is based on daily data and a variety of
different weighted metrics. If the project owner did a lot of pre-launch work
and built anticipation a project and then launched with a huge surge the
numbers will be high.
This huge surge can be very important to build momentum and
drive toward funding and beyond. This is one of the keys to success to Kickstarter
campaigns that we will discuss in future articles.
The green line should eventually begin to move in concert with
the actual funding numbers
Mini-Chart
This tab provides a nice summary of the project stats as
well as a chart of the last ten days of campaign funding (a subset of the
projection), a “battery meter” chart as well of summaries of the total pledged
amount, average pledges per day, the current daily pledge and time left in the campaign.
On the right-hand side of this tab you can find ways to
embed the chart to share on websites, forums and Reddit.
This data is dynamic and updates from the Kicktraq site.
Using Middle Tier Information for Research
While an in-depth discussion of how to use Kicktraq’s middle
third for working your Kickstarter campaign – or following one if you are a
backer- is out of the scope of this article, I will cover this topic in further
posts.
For now, here are a few suggestions on how to use the data on the Kicktraq project middle third to work a campaign or help promote it as a
backer.
Research Successful and Failed Campaigns
Search for and research past projects that are similar to
your campaign and go over the day by day funding and backer trends.
Then look at the Kickstarter campaign itself and correlate
the data to the numbers.
Learn from the successes and failures.
Kickstarter Engagement
Use the data on the tabs to find out where the lulls are in
your campaign.
You will want to encourage your backers and fans to share
the Kicktraq page, suggest tags and post to forums and websites.
The more engagement you generate the better your numbers
will be.
Social Media
Take screen caps of tabs and share across your social media
networks. People love to see charts and summaries.
Not only will this build buzz on your project but it’s a great
way to add content to social media feeds which in turn drives more organic traffic
to project pages and your website.
Kicktraq’s Middle Page – Summary
The middle third of the Kicktraq project page is chock full
of information that will help you adjust your Kickstarter campaigns in mid-flight.
You can also use the information in the tabs to help
generate interest on forums and social media.
As a backer, you can track projects you are interested in
and use the data to adjust your level of involvement.
In our next article we will talk about the final section of
the Kicktraq project page.
Until then – Game On!
About the Author
Michael Harrington is a cybersecurity course designer and instructor by trade and an self-diagnosed RPG addict. He first started playing TTRPGs with the original TSR Dungeons and Dragons back in elementary school.
He does freelance writing on the side and is the author of a book on using
Google Earth in digital forensics. His Twitter account is @voidmarked and he’s working on a new website - www.rpgbruh.com.
