Crowd Control uses discount and gift card code functionalities for reward redemption through your store. Both discount- and gift card-based surveys have strategic applications, the use of which is dependent on the needs of each business, project, and/or pledge level.
A pledge level/backer group can only be assigned a gift card or a discount for surveys, however, a project can use a mix of gift card or discount surveys.
Read on to see which survey type is best for you.
On this page:
Backer experience
Unique survey links are sent to a backer’s Kickstarter email via the Crowd Control app. The survey value for a discount or a gift card survey is automatically applied to a backer’s cart during checkout. However, there is a slight variation in how the application of survey codes are reflected in the cart.
Discounts
Discount codes are applied to the subtotal of a cart, i.e. the product cost only. (See image below)
Gift cards
Gift card codes are applied to the cart total, i.e. product + shipping. Gift cards can technically be applied to taxes, but since the shipping address is unknown beforehand Crowd Control cannot provide a backer with a survey credit for taxes. (See image below)
Note
A backer may be confused at checkout if the cost of shipping shown is different from what they paid on Kickstarter. If the question arises, explain that they received a shipping credit to cover the costs used for the store. Point out that the cart TOTAL is $0.00 and no shipping costs are owed (unless the add-on purchases increase the shipping costs, in which case the backer pays the difference).
Survey value
Discounts
The value of a backer’s survey is equal to the product cost on your store. Pledge overages can be added to a survey’s value. No shipping credit can be given. (See shipping for more details.)
Example
Backer Mike pledged $50 for one of Product A. Product A costs $55 on the store. Mike would receive a one-time use discount code for $55. Product A either needs to have free shipping on the store or Mike can pay the related shipping costs at checkout.
Gift cards
The value of a backer’s survey is equal to product costs plus associated shipping costs on your store. Pledge overages can be added to a survey’s value.
Example
Backer Mike pledged $50 for one of Product A. Product A costs $55 + $5 shipping on the store. Mike would receive a gift card code for $60 to cover the checkout costs on the store.
Pledge value
A pledge on Kickstarter is made up of three parts: a pledge minimum, shipping cost by country, and the pledge total. If the product and shipping costs on your store are equal to the costs used on Kickstarter then a survey value will be equal to the pledge value. A pledge overage (or exception) will be reflected in the pledge total.
Pledge value vs survey value
Crowd Control survey values are not necessarily equal to the amount pledged by a backer. Crowd Control uses your store’s product and shipping costs to provide a backer with the appropriate checkout experience for their survey. The pledge and survey values will only be equal if the associated costs on your store match those of your crowdfunding campaign.
Example
Backer Mike pledged $50 for Product A on Kickstarter but Product A has a cost of $55 on your store. Mike will be given a survey with a $55 value.
Shipping
The choice to use discounts or gift cards can largely depend on how shipping costs have been structured on Kickstarter and your store.
Discounts
Discount-based surveys either require a free shipping rate or the expectation that backers will pay for shipping through your store. If a backer has already paid for shipping and you would like to use discount-based surveys then you should create a free shipping rate on your store for $0.00 purchases for all relevant backer countries. (See image below)
If your store already offers free shipping for such purchases then creating a shipping rate like the one above is unnecessary.
Gift cards
A gift card-based survey will receive a credit equal to the cost of shipping required for the products for a survey based on your store’s settings. Note: a shipping credit can only be calculated when using flat-rate shipping on your store and cannot be calculated using real-time carrier rates (survey credits are created before we know where a reward is actually being sent).
Note
Any shipping credit given to a backer is a fixed value. If a backer was given a $10 credit for shipping and the purchase of add-ons changes the cost of shipping to $15 the backer will need to pay the $5 difference. Likewise, if the purchases of add-ons change the cost of shipping to $0, the backer still has a $10 credit that will be indiscriminately applied to their cart (i.e. towards add-ons).
Taxes
Some store owners may wish or be required to collect taxes for survey items. Other businesses may wish to have no tax information reported (usually those affected by VAT). See below to determine which survey method is best for you.
Discounts
Since discount surveys have a $0 subtotal (i.e. before taxes are calculated), taxes will not be collected/reported for survey items.
Gift cards
If enabled in a product’s settings on your store, taxes will be calculated for survey items with gift card-based surveys where applicable. If you do not wish to collect taxes for a survey product then you can disable taxes in the product’s settings.
Customs, duties, and VAT
The value of a product/purchase used for calculating customs, duties, and VAT are dependent on the shipping solution used and how such information is reported.
Reporting
The way an online order created from a Crowd Control survey is reported on your store varies depending on which survey method you choose.
Discounts
Survey orders are reported as $0 sales on your store (this will vary if any shipping costs are collected on your store). Any add-on purchases will be reported as regular sales.
Example 1
Backer Mike completes a survey for Product A on your store. Product A costs $55. Mike has a $55 discount for his survey and completes checkout with a cart total of $0. The order is recorded as a $0 sale on your store.
Example 2
Backer Mike completes a survey for Product A on your store. Product A costs $55. Mike has a $55 discount for his survey and but buys Product B as an add-on for $25. The order is recorded as a $25 sale on your store.
Gift cards
Survey orders are reported as the full value of the sale on your store.
Example
Backer Mike completes a survey for Product C on your store. Product C costs $580. Mike has a $580 gift card for his survey and completes checkout with a cart total of $580. The order is recorded as a $580 sale on your store.
Additional discounts
Discounts
Per Shopify functionality, additional discount codes cannot be combined with discount-based surveys.
Gift cards
Additional discount codes can be combined with gift card-based surveys.
IMPORTANT
If using gift card surveys and providing a discount code to backers, be sure that the discount DOES NOT APPLY to survey items.
Partial usage
Discounts
The partial usage of a discount’s value is not possible.
Example
Backer Mike has a discount-based survey with a $55 value. Mike decides to get a different product then he originally pledged for and it costs $45. Mike’s discount survey can only be used once and he cannot use the unredeemed $10 at a later date.
Gift cards
The partial usage of a gift card’s value is possible.
Example
Backer Mike has a gift card-based survey with a $55 value. Mike decides to get a different product then he originally pledged for and it costs $45. Mike’s gift card will have a $10 balance that he can use in the future.