"How long should a campaign be?" Topic

So, most campaigns last 30 days or so, some even 60 days.. It seems like they do the best on the first few and last few days, campaigns always have a really long "middle period" where very few new backers join in.. the campaign just drags and drags till the last few days.

Just wondering what some of your opinions are on campaign length? Should they be around 30 days because they all are? Or would a short campaign of maybe 15 days be better?

From the point of view of the person/company running the campaign I think the rule of thumb should be about 35 days, which optimally should encompass two 'pay days' for backers(starting on 28th/29th of one month and ending on the 1st/2nd of the next but one month). Of course there are still plenty of people who get paid mid-month as well, so the same could be applied to such.

The problem with running a longer campaign is that there is more chance other campaigns may start which could either detract from your campaign, entice funds away from your campaign, or indeed just be better run and have a larger base that unlocks more so-called rewards and thereby making it more 'investible' to a backer.

Short campaigns do have many drawbacks, high amongst them being that: 1) Backers do not have the ready cash to invest at such short notice; 2) The campaign may not get the publicity in time to make potential backers aware of the campaign; and 3) The 'rewards' unlocked may be insufficient to entice heavy backing and therefore actually reduce further 'rewards' eventually unlocked. It is for these reasons that I would think that rarely would a short campaign be advantageous to the creator. (I recently supported the 'Russian Trucks of World War Two' kickstarter which only ran for 15 days, the most popular vehicles did not get unlocked which had a detrimental effect on the overall success of the campaign.)

Even though campaigns usually have a quiet period in the middle I think this occurs whatever the length of the campaign, however, shorter campaigns can seem to have a reduced impetus in the final few days.

Here are two examples of very of successful campaigns:

Dwarven Forge's Caverns: Mar 12 2014 – Apr 8 2014 (27 Days)
Reaper Bones II: Oct 1 2013 – Oct 26 2013 (25 days)

Of the two above, I think Dwarven Forge chose better timing (precisely because of the point made above--making sure to hit as many paydays as possible). 35 days makes a great deal of sense to me too. Shorter can work, but I think a fair about of buzz beforehand is needed to meet goals.

The current Forgotten King has had solid steady growth throughout it's 30 days. And with mid/late term boosts with exposure at 2 conventions bringing in new backers – Adepticon and Pax East.
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Yes, it's sort of a tough call; the longer it runs the more word of mouth plays in your favor as well. I'd lean towards 25-35 days.

-Will

Randall, Reaper and Dwarven Force are companies that do huge amounts of business both on and off Kickstarter. They are running campaigns that gross over a million dollars. They can run campaigns as long as they want and meet their goals. Us small fry are in a different boat.