What Kind Of Crowdfunding Fulfillment Supplier To Choose

For most entrepreneurs, the crowdfunding process involves a great idea, a solid campaign strategy, and a well-thought-out manufacturing plan. But few of them think beyond their Indiegogo campaign, which becomes a huge stumbling block for their success. If you’re going to set up a crowdfunding campaign, it’s crucial to think about how you’ll deliver your products to backers.

An experienced crowdfunding fulfillment provider can turn a difficult process into a seamless one. Read on for the top three things the right crowdfunding 3PL should offer to ensure hassle-free reward fulfillment.

1. Transparency

Trust is a huge part of crowdfunding. Your backers trust that your product is going to be awesome. They also trust that they’ll receive the backer rewards promised to them on time. That trust should extend to the relationship between you and your fulfillment provider.

Many traditional 3PLs require that campaign creators send all rewards to the 3PL before a set time each day. With some, that’s the extent of the conversation. If you’re not receiving clear communication from your 3PL, how will you successfully communicate with your backers? Working with a retail fulfillment provider that offers real-time updates means you can pass shipping dates and tracking numbers on to your backers. No guesswork necessary.

2. Geographic footprint

It might seem that working with a 3PL with one centralized warehouse location might make the most sense for fulfilling backer rewards. However, working with a fulfillment provider with warehousing operations in several strategic metro locations can be even better.

3. Technology

Last but not least, working with a technology-first 3PL is vital for any e-commerce operation, and crowdfunding is no exception. A tech-first 3PL is a technology company that has developed streamlined shipping and fulfillment solutions for e-commerce businesses.

Tech-first 3PLs leverage data and automation to drive down costs, speed up shipping times, and give you valuable insights into your inventory, products, sales, and customers. These 3PLs bring siloed information — such as sales, inventory, and shipping data — together to offer an automated, data-driven view of the entire fulfillment process.

From a crowdfunding perspective, you’ll want to work with a 3PL that can easily import backer data, track inventory and shipping status, and manage orders. i Logistics USA software offers these features and much more — all from one dashboard.

But don’t take our word for it — request a pricing quote to connect with one of our dedicated fulfillment specialists.

With all of the excitement of launching a crowdfunding campaign, it can be tempting to procrastinate planning for fulfillment until it’s time to ship —  or even forget it entirely. One of the biggest mistakes first-time crowdfunders make is not thinking through packing and shipping their rewards from the very start of their campaign.

For more information about crowdfunding fulfillment supplier, please do not hesitate to contact us.