Credibility is an important asset in life. People don’t want risk, they want to make sure they are paying for something that solves their problem. That involves all aspects of life, from investment to consumer products to services.
Building credibility in platforms like eBay, though not straightforward, is not a hard task. All you should do is deliver your products on time without hassle, something you can achieve by properly establishing channels. As you deliver your reputation grows and more people start to trust you, which leads to increased sales.
In crowdfunding, establishing credibility, however, is harder. You won’t likely launch many projects. Most of the time, you’ll launch one per year, at most. So there is no background history to your profile or your projects. Even worse: as the time goes by, it’ll be even more and more important to build credibility, given the high rates of products that ship late, failed projects and scams.
That does not mean, however, that it is impossible to build credibility. The keyword here is disclosure. The more details you disclose in your campaign, the more reliable it will sound to anyone considering to back your campaign.
You should start by stating who you are. You should disclose your background: your abilities, your academic achievements, your professional achievements, awards you have won and so on. Think like someone who is visiting your page and consider what they would consider as credible. Put that in your bios.
Then you should record a video. The video must show you, facing straight to the camera. Now you have a bios and there is a real person behind the project, which builds trust. Always communicate, both in text and in video, in second person.
Then focus on your product: have a prototype or a clean plan to build your project. Again, after making sure your intellectual property is protected, disclose as many details as possible. Tell them who will be your suppliers (make sure you sign contracts prior to conducting the campaign), how you’ll handle the manufacturing process. Prove that you can build it, but consider business secrets as well. You don’t want to tell the path to a copycat.
Build strong social media profiles and communicate with key people in your area. Hire a good PR company to attract media attention.
Facebook pages with thousands of followers, many shares and comments and articles featured on the press are credible. They reveal a real business behind it, a clear intention to deliver. Attract as many signals as you can to build credibility around your project. Feature them on your project page.