Latest update June 2017 HOW TO ORGANIZE THE FOR YOUR PROJECT If you have any questions relevant to the preparation and selection of rewards, please contact your personal Eppela advisor (if possible, after viewing the following manual)
An Introduction to rewards Eppela is a reward based platform, this means that the rewards are not in any way connected to percentages of profit made from a project, shares in companies or provisions for bonuses. It is highly discouraged the use of any forms of bonuses, coupons or advertising spaces. Each reward needs to be thought about carefully and given a true sense of creativity especially when it comes to describing them to your future supporters. They need to catch people s attention by being creative, attractive, personalized and one of its kind. By doing so it will help involve the supporter making them part of the project its self. One of the most important phases in creating your project is really the moment when you have to think about rewards. You need to really sit down and think about how you can make them worthy of your followers support. Take into consideration various reward categories and make them to suit all budgets, therefore creating a narrow margin between one reward and another. So going from 10 straight to 50 is not a good idea, have at least one intermediate amount between the two. The most commonly used are between 10 and 20. Your rewards can be used as a pre-order syste, whereby you send your supporter a copy of what your project is intended for. This can be useful, especially if you add to it discounts or other forms of advantages for your supporters. It is a way to show them you are truly dedicated to your project and hope to reach the final goal. There are also rewards that are less tangible offering the opportunity to create a relationship between the project creator and the supporter. It could be anything from watching a show behind the curtains, playing an active part in the project as an extra or having their name in the credits of your project. The creator needs to offer a unique and exclusive experience like a collaboration or arts and crafts workshop. Doing some market research on potential supporters could also help inspire the creation of efficient rewards.
Appealing rewards Such examples are those like Mammaiuto and Getalive, that were given a name recognition depending on the level of the reward. Donatore Narciso offered his supporters their portrait done by the comic strip artist Mammaiuto, as like Lettore Onnivoro. As for Getalive we can find Getathanks for the base reward and also Getaproud, Getafunder etc. This kind of initiative makes it easier to identify the rewards and promote them in a smart and creative way. A little bit of tact is needed when it comes to asking your community of supporters for big sums of money. The best way to do that is to make them feel like they have the leading role in the success of your project. This is an example taken from the biggest reward offered by Bandzilla: Hail to thee King of Bandzilla! Thy majesty is free to do all. Uncork the barrels and make a toast cause Bandzilla has found its true king! The Getalive project shows a perfect example of how images are used to show exactly what kind of rewards you are offering. If you find it difficult to add personalized images, no worries Eppela offers a wide range of standard images to choose from in the image gallery.
Convenient rewards Super Cane Magic Zero chose 10 as their minimum base offer, (on average 5 is the minimum base offer on Eppela) but which included a copy of their videogame. This created the opportunity for their supporters to have a preorder of their product and a discount as it s price would have been 15 once it was put in the shops. Another example of this kind of reward is that of Type, a spaghetti measurer with a typographic design which retailer price was much higher than the one proposed during their crowdfunding campaign. Grippine also used Eppela as a promoter for their new product before they put it on the market. One of the most popular rewards offered by the Italian dubbers of the third chapter of the game Addio Deponia, was the Trilogy box set limited edition. This was a perfect opportunity to promote the previous two chapters of the saga even if it wasn t directly connected to the project and it turned out to be a huge success. As strange as it may seem, Super Cane Magic Zero s 50 rewards tied with their 30 ones (100 supporters vs 98 supporters) and were preferred those of 20 (82 supporters). This success was due to the fact that their 50 reward included everything that was offered in the other 2 reward proposals. This way the potential supporter didn t need to choose any particular reward and simply invested in the best offer.
Intangible rewards With the right kind of approach even the base level rewards can have a strong effect on people. For example, Didie Caria (the artist behind the project Primo Tempo) offered to phone every one of the supporters and dedicate them a song. Instead, with a 35 offer the supporters got to take part in a mini concert held up in the air in a hot air balloon, and this was a hit! In the case of the video documentary called L anarchia è un vanto, (a collection of interviews based on the theme of Anarchy) the most popular reward was that of 50 which gave the supporter the possibility to send a short video that would in return be part of the extra DVD of the documentary when released to the public. What could be better than being part of the project you choose to support? The project team of Addio Deponia opted for inviting a limited number of their supporters to dub some of the secondary characters in their videogame.
Personalised rewards This kind of reward gives tribute to a number of talented and acclaimed artists and their zero cost creations and contributions to a project. Super Cane Magic Zero is an example of this kind of reward. Their high level rewards (those going from 100 to 777 ) included personalized songs and drawings for their supporters done by the artist Sio. To get their supporters involved they also offered them the chance to create a new character for their videogame. Another example of personalized rewards is given by Italia in punta di matita, they offered personalized comic strips and caricatures at home. The theatre company Atridi offered their high level supporters a theatre mask with their face on it. Magnolia, a famous cultural association in Milan, proposed writing their names on a wall dedicated to them within the building they owned. Moondina on the other hand, a swing and boogie festival, thought of sending one of their bands to sing a serenade to a person chosen by the supporter.