Introducing the Pledgecamp Platform
We take a deep dive into Pledgecamp’s next generation crowdfunding platform, starting with the backers’ point of view.
Immediately, Pledgecamp differentiates itself visually from its main competitors, Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The bold title at the top describes what we’re all about:
We’ve redesigned crowdfunding and took the worry out.
The worry for many backers who contribute funds to these projects is, of course, “will I get what I’m promised for my money?” Addressing this longstanding issue in crowdfunding is the very reason Backer Protection exists, as well as numerous other security and accountability-focused features on the platform.
Scrolling down the page, you can see that the product images are vertical rather than horizontal. This is a superior orientation for feature product images and for users to easily browse through them (look at Amazon, for example). The move away from horizontal images that perhaps better suit film or art projects and towards a superior orientation for products hints at Pledgecamp’s focus.
The educational blurbs further describe what we’re about: a crowdfunding platform built for creators, by creators, which will ultimately deliver new products and value to all the backers on this site.
Potential backers can easily sort projects to find what they’re looking for: trending, recently launched, almost funded, recently funded, featured storefronts, etc. You can also dive further into individual categories: art & design, technology, fashion, games, music, miscellaneous, and more to come.
You can see previews of the project including the title, fundraising goal and current stats, any special badges, and a new element, the Backer Protection offered.
Backer Protection (formerly known as Backer Insurance) is the amount of campaign funds that will be held in the escrow smart contract and released according to the creator’s development timeline. The greater this number, the more protection is offered to backers.
Highlighting this number within the feature image itself shows Pledgecamp’s dedication to this feature and also incentivizes creators to offer more, which is favorable for marketing purposes. Like offering big sales in a store window, a creator will know that a greater Backer Protection number can be a strong way to get potential backers to click on the project and find out more, rather than take their chances with projects that expose them to greater risk.
The project page features many familiar elements to satisfy crowdfunding enthusiasts. This includes a feature image, video, funding stats, overview, etc.
A horizontal video now fits alongside the vertical feature image together to create a compelling visual banner across the top. Users can flip through alternate feature images or lifestyle product photos in horizontal format as well.
The rewards section represents another significant departure from the status quo. With a greater focus on featuring products, the Pledgecamp reward system introduces a cart system familiar to all E-commerce shoppers. This allows a user to easily add on variations of items (different sizes, colors, etc.), add on accessories, and mix and match quantities of items to meet their individual needs. Currently, this is not offered on Kickstarter and involves a significant amount of complication to up-sell items or offer any kind of customization to someone’s order.
Further down the page is the familiar overview where the bulk of the project marketing happens. This is the area that contains the main story of the project, details of the product, and information on the creator. This is where the creator makes their sales pitch.
Unlike other platforms, Pledgecamp does not feature the rewards on the side next to the overview section. Instead, we use this space to show the project timeline. This reflects our philosophy that the delivery plan is just as important as the marketing pitch, if not more important.
On our platform, the milestones are not there just for show. With our milestone system, creators are essentially entering into a financial contract where their money is at risk if they fail to meet their obligations. If the creator doesn’t hit these promised timelines later, the backers will become compelled to hit the “refund” button on the project, keeping project creators accountable.
Finally, near the bottom, you can also see the referral tool which is built in to our platform rather than sold as a third party option. This allows users to benefit from spreading campaigns they like through word of mouth and is the best way for creators to amplify their fundraising.
We also have a link for reporting projects that violate guidelines. This is an important part of the user-governance that happens on the platform, because if enough people report a project, Moderators are called in.
Once you’ve added your selections to the cart, the checkout experience will be a smooth E-commerce experience. You can also choose to use wallet funds here as well, specifically PLG, to back projects. Otherwise, credit card is the main option and will allow greater adoption from users who do not hold PLG yet.
Our system ensures that the escrow wallet is fully funded with PLG so that it remains democratic and decentralized. Consult our White Paper for more.
Clicking through the tabs on the project page will bring you through familiar-but-improved elements such as the Updates, FAQ, and Comments sections.
The updates can now be read and scrolled through in an infinite scrolling format, more like a cohesive story or blog, or news reel. The individual posts are accessible in a menu on the left, interspersed with key events from the project as well as the encoded Timeline elements. Any backer popping in for the recent updates can easily find it and understand it within the context of the overall roadmap and what the next important Milestone will be.
The comments section is revamped too, with an upvoting system and the ability to “nest” or reply directly to individual comments. This, combined with a revamped notification system, will allow users to converse more directly with each other and make sure the creator is receiving notifications for mentions and replies to important conversations.
When backing a crowdfunding project, orders are not placed until the goal is reached and the fundraising period is over. Until then, there is always the opportunity to update or cancel your pledge.
With the shopping cart system, we make it easy for you to add accessories or change quantities of items. There may even be cases where accessories or options can be “unlocked” during the course of a campaign if a creator meets new fundraising goals. On Pledgecamp, it will be easy to offer such upgrades and to add them to an existing pledge.
We also allow the user to store a profile in the project’s database that they can edit at any time. This makes editing an address or delivery details easy at any point, even when the campaign is over. This is much better than the system on Kickstarter where the backer can only fill out a fulfillment survey once, then email the creator every time they’d like to request an edit (if allowed).
Next is a brief look at the mechanism of voting. For a full explanation, see our White Paper.
Rather than offering individual refunds, the Backer Protection mechanism is a democratic endeavor where all the backers in the project receive voting power according to their contributions. At any point, you may switch your individual vote to cancel, but the project as a whole will only be cancelled if 51% of the voting power reaches consensus.
The neat thing is, the creator will be able to see in their dashboard the current total confidence level at all times, so they will know when they need to pick up the pace with production, provide better updates, or perhaps offer some other perk to improve the mood of their supporters.
In the end, the system creates an incentive structure where the creator must put their money where their mouth is, and only the backers themselves, not the platform, hold the keys to taking action. Thus, everyone’s personal interests are aligned — for the products to be delivered on time as promised — which is a much better way of doing business.
Pledgecamp storefronts allow creators to focus on the biggest priority after their campaigns — fulfillment. With a storefront, they can easily adapt their existing crowdfunding page to now accept product preorders, to support their business without having to go through the effort of setting up their own E-commerce system. Thus, storefronts are a way to capture and maintain in the most efficient way the momentum generated by a successful campaign.
Furthermore, once delivery has started, creators can transition from accepting preorders to operating a full featuredE-commerce store. It requires little more than hitting a button while keeping the same design — the only change is that the outdated Milestones section turns into a User Ratings section.
A platform wide search allows you to find projects by name or keywords. It even lets you narrow down creators, as repeat creators comprise the core of the most successful projects on these platforms.
We plan to make search even more intelligent to help you find projects based on keyword interests, similar items, or other aspects you might not have considered.
Now let’s go through some of the nuts and bolts. You can login with social credentials or just an email. In addition, Pledgecamp offers strong 2-factor authentication not offered on other platforms.
Your user profile is a place to show your unique personality. You can set up a profile to share your interests, promote your profiles or website, and show off your activity on the platform. In addition, a special Moderator badge is given if you are a member of this exclusive group.
A robust notifications system lacking on other platforms shows you important alerts and previews, especially with the new direct commenting system, and clicking on them brings you right to the relevant action. Notification types and frequency can be adjusted in user settings at any time.
The user settings menu allows you to set preferences, enable your 2FA credentials, link social accounts, change notification preferences, and more. You may also securely add credit cards or bank details to make checkout on the platform easier.
A unique feature is that we can encourage users to become KYC validated right on the platform. Being verified will allow you to acquire Camp Shares (currently not available to US Persons or residents) and show off your trustworthiness to the community, especially if you are a project creator looking to collect funds.
That’s it for this long post, and thank you for reading! The next post will be about creator-focused tools and features.
As a reminder, the demo site can be reached at demo.pledgecamp.com. Although the platform architecture and smart contract is complete, many features on the platform will be inaccessible or disabled to users until there are live projects on the platform. Creating a user account is encouraged of course, while trying the checkout process with a credit card will understandably not be enabled :)
Have a project you want to list? Contact us at hello@pledgecamp.com. For news and updates on when you can begin backing live projects, follow us on one of several options below.
Be sure to follow us here on Medium, as well as:
Twitter: twitter.com/pledgecamp
Telegram: t.me/pledgecamp
Facebook: facebook.com/pledgecamp
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pledgecamp_Official/
Instagram: instagram.com/pledgecamp
Telegram (한국어): t.me/pledgecampkorea
Telegram ANN: t.me/pledgecamp_announcements
For more details about the Pledgecamp platform, refer to our white paper accessible at https://pledgecamp.com/whitepaper.
This post may contain forward-looking statements about the future functionality of the platform. The platform is currently in development, and we reserve the right to make changes to the design, names, or functionality of features in the interests of making the platform successful. For full risk factors, see white paper.
