The Effects of Multimodal Elements on Success in Kickstarter Crowdfunding Campaigns

Stephen Carradini ; Carolin Fleischmann Rosenheim Technical University of Applied Sciences

Abstract

This article investigates multimodal elements—images, links, gifs, videos, and galleries—of crowdfunding campaigns on the platform Kickstarter to develop an understanding of characteristics of successful campaigns. The authors scraped 327,586 campaign pages, analyzing the multimodal elements of successful and unsuccessful campaigns. They found that successful campaigns featured more images, links, and gifs and more frequently included a project video than did unsuccessful campaigns. Images, links, and the presence of a project video had a positive impact on success while gifs and project galleries did not. These findings give business communicators practical guidance, develop theoretical aspects of Kickstarter research, and validate previous findings with a larger data set.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2023-01-01
DOI
10.1177/10506519221121699
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Journal of Business and Technical Communication

References (56) · 5 in this index

  1. 10.1111/jems.12093
     ↗
  2. 10.1111/etap.12157
     ↗
  3. 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2017.09.002
     ↗
  4. 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2018.03.003
     ↗
  5. 10.1080/13691066.2013.785151
     ↗
Show all 56 →
  1. CESifo DICE Report
  2. 10.1007/s11187-017-9876-4
     ↗
  3. Securities Regulation Law Journal
  4. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  5. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  6. Carradini S. (2022). Data sets and tools . https://stephencarradi…
  7. 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.872
     ↗
  8. 10.1111/etap.12267
     ↗
  9. 10.1177/1461444814558916
     ↗
  10. 10.1016/j.jbvi.2018.e00100
     ↗
  11. 10.17265/2159-5313/2016.09.003
     ↗
  12. Fowler G. (2020). Pushrod v-twin [Gif]. GARETHWASHERE . https://g…
  13. Fundly (2020). Crowdfunding statistics [updated for 2020!] . http…
  14. 10.1002/sej.1293
     ↗
  15. 10.17265/2159-5313/2016.09.003
     ↗
  16. Garber S. (2021). Edmont’s harrowing horrors . https://www.kickst…
  17. 10.1145/2530540
     ↗
  18. Communication Design Quarterly
  19. International Journal of Communication
  20. Harmon D. (2012). [Gif of Troy and Abed being surprised from the episode Urban matrimony and the sandwich art…
  21. 10.1080/13691066.2013.852331
     ↗
  22. Hou J.R., Zhang J. J., Zhang K. (2019). Can title images predict the emotions and the p…
     ↗
  23. 10.1177/1461444814558915
     ↗
  24. 10.1007/s11187-019-00218-w
     ↗
  25. Kickstarter (2018). How to create a Kickstarter project video . h…
  26. Kickstarter PBC (2019). Terms of use . https://www.kickstarter.co…
  27. Kickstarter PBC (2021). Kickstarter stats . https://www.kickstart…
  28. Koch J.A., Siering M. (2015). Crowdfunding success factors: The characteristics of succ…
  29. 10.1016/j.emj.2021.01.001
     ↗
  30. 10.4324/9780203164754
     ↗
  31. 10.1016/j.iheduc.2011.12.003
     ↗
  32. 10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.05.031
     ↗
  33. 10.1002/9781119013563
     ↗
  34. 10.1016/j.jebo.2014.04.010
     ↗
  35. Mindset (2017). Mindset: Smart headphones that improve your concentration …
  36. 10.1145/2531602.2531656
     ↗
  37. 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2013.06.005
     ↗
  38. 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2016.11.001
     ↗
  39. 10.1177/1042258720976370
     ↗
  40. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  41. [Reversed gif of Captain America rolling through a window into a building] (2013). A bl…
  42. 10.1016/j.frl.2018.11.005
     ↗
  43. 10.1007/s10107-016-1030-6
     ↗
  44. Schork J. (n.d.). Predictive mean matching imputation (theory and example in R). Statis…
  45. Shuttleworth Foundation (2014). Quickscrape (Version 0.4.1) [Comp…
  46. Singh J. (2021). 4×4×4 Pico LED cube for Raspberry Pi Pico . http…
  47. Stonemaier J. (2013). Kickstarter lesson #49: To cancel or finish …
  48. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (2021). Regulation crowdfunding …
  49. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  50. 10.1145/2556288.2557045
     ↗
  51. 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.008
     ↗