Kickstarter yesterday announced an update voted the most important tool by project creators in a recent poll: the option to add images to reward levels.
In their own words, Kickstarter details how the update will help backers on the popular crowdfunding platform choose the right pledge level for them:
“Communicating what rewards are all about can sometimes be challenging with words alone… [the new update] saves backers from having to scroll back and forth between a project’s story and rewards sections trying to understand what they will be getting.”
Creators will now be able to add an image to each reward tier within the project build tab, which will appear at the top of each pledge level. The green box on hover over a pledge level has also been removed to make reward selection much easier for backers.
The images you use are shown in a 3:2 ratio (348 x 232 pixels). This means the image comprises 3 equal units for width and 2 units for height, so it's wider rather than taller.
This is a great size for phones, so it will be also be shown nicely on the Kickstarter app.
What to show in your image?
The most important thing is to make sure you show the differences between your pledge levels through these images.
Bear in mind that a lot of potential backers will just be scrolling across the page and they should be able to understand the difference between the different rewards at a glance. This makes it more important to show the amount of different material between rewards rather than showing them everything that is included in each box.
If you have different versions, one with meeples and one with miniatures for example, it would be good to show a mini or a meeple outside the box to highlight that. We recommend using product photography rather than a digital render, where possible for still images.
Kickstarter even allows you to use GIFs in place of still images in this update and we highly recommend using them. If you have more than one item in the reward, you can highlight them all in a GIF instead of a crowded still image. For example, if you have a standard and a deluxe version of your game, you can show the additional material of the deluxe edition in an animated GIF next to the core box in their reward image. Be mindful of the file size, though, since the maximum is 200MB!
As a side note, we recommend using GIFs on your page wherever you can: they make your page more dynamic and interesting to backers and are a great way to show off gameplay and other information for your game. You can draw on our expertise to ensure you have the best possible campaign page and overall strategy for your project by using our Crowdfunding Strategy Review, where we will develop a bespoke plan and specific recommendations for your project in order to maximise the potential of your campaign.
In the article, Kickstarter also stated there will be more updates to come and we can’t wait to see how this renowned crowdfunding platform is going to evolve!