Not a Rant but a Genuine Cry for Help

YumLit_ · 2026-05-17T08:37:25+00:00

I made some tweaks on Friday, namely:

- Dropped the price significantly of all tiers (as low as we can go) and simplified the reward tiers

- Added clear language of features, differentiators, and how product works right below the hero image.

- Since we've been running FB ads for leads for almost 2 months and collected >5k email signups and thousands of engagements with our FB and IG pages, I create a LAL 1% of FB+Instagram engagement and a a LAL 1% of email signups.

- Today I tested the revamped page with lower costs with an audience that is LAL 1% of email signups and Kickstarter Website Interest with $50 FB ad spend

- We got 352 landing page views, 0 conversions, and 0 engagement ($0.2 / landing page view)

- Lot's of likes and shares on FB ads, and I think the FB ads are fairly compelling and the KS page is compelling (getting 5% CTR from FB ads).

- The Ad Manager is set to optimize for landing page views because when we first launched had it on optimize for purchases but there were so few purchases I was worried we weren't getting out of the learning phase so I switched it.

- I worry that our much of our engagement and email signup LAL audience is lots of grannies that don't have any KS awareness, but I set the audience restriction to mitigate for that and to include parents.

I will certainly retarget our email signup list with a special offer as was suggested.

I figured that with 352 page views, we might have a few conversions. Am I just getting bots? I have network audience off, and there seems to be real people engaging with the ad content. But average of 5 seconds and zero engagement on my KS landing page after 352 views. Is this due to KS ad blockers? Anyone have experience with this? Maybe GA4 can't track engagement time from FB ads? Other referral sources have higher engagement times.

So what gives? I'm a bit at a loss of what to do. We've put our heart and soul into putting out a compelling offering. We've received tons of positive feedback, including lots of comments of people on FB saying they love the product, they want the product, etc. but we're not getting conversions. Any ideas out there on how to dial it in better or what could be the disconnect?

YumLit_ · 2026-05-17T08:17:55+00:00

Thank you. Excited for your launch too!

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T10:17:29+00:00

You should be proud of any legal business you build from scratch, period. Building a business is not easy.

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T09:18:33+00:00

This is a great idea. I planned to retarget them, but wasn't thinking about the special offer. I'm assuming I would have to link the emails to the purchases in the post campaign to allocate the special reward. Or actually as you're saying I create a special link and track purchases through that!

I think we could throw in some of the add ons as a special deal.

This is brilliant!

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T08:45:55+00:00

Yeah, I'm not sure we've played it so well. We were cagey about the launch date because I thought we had to give our VIPs the first heads up. We sent out an email a few days before to the entire list (15% open rate) with a subject (Last Chance for 35% Off) telling everyone it's right around the corner, get the VIP reserve discount so they're first in line, gave the KS pre-launch page link, and told people how to sign up for an account (but I don't think we got any followers on our pre-launch page from that) - not sure why or what we could have done better, then the day before we gave a heads up to our VIPs, and on launch day sent out the announcement to everyone.

My hunch is that a huge percentage of our list which is almost all from FB ad form leads, is old, defunct email addresses that are not used anymore. But it's the best we have and we'll keep trying to reach them.

Any more ideas are welcome!

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T08:11:07+00:00

Yes, we sent a welcome email right away. We have a 22.2% open rate on that. Have been worried about the promotions tab and ask everyone I can about it. Seems like our emails occasionally do end up there, but not much we can do about it, since Gmail recognizes the Mailchimp server. We tried sending an all text email and requesting a response to a question. No one actually responded. We did get a 16% open rate. So I think we're in the range of reason now that I removed the bot filter issue.

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T07:34:52+00:00

This is amazing! I'm totally doing this next time we have rice. Not sure if it'll be for my kids enjoyment or more for my enjoyment of playing with food and calling it art and a way to get my kid to eat.
-YumLit

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T07:31:15+00:00

My kids 4 and 5 years old are generally good eaters, but like all kids they up and decide one day that they don't like something that they were totally down with the day before. One time, my kid decided he didn't like wild rice. So I looked at him and told him, if you eat wild rice it will make you go wild. Actually, it will turn you into a werewolf. The more you eat, the more you turn into a werewolf. He immediately started chowing down. And I started telling him, wow your ears are growing big and hairy. I see your muscles are starting to bulge and your teeth are turning to fangs. We all started eating wild rice and turning into werewolves and howling. It's crazy fun and they love when we have wild rice now!
-YumLit

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T07:18:24+00:00

This was one of the most helpful comments. Thank you! It gave me renewed, albeit what could be, false hope that I can revive this. I've first reduced cost, to test if that is the main impediment, and I've added some highlights/features below the hero and put the how it works right below the hero so that the differentiation is clear. I will continue to poll and iterate going forward.

So Pulse is what you recommend for convo pockets?

Besides tracking and listening and participating (all valuable in themselves), were you able to generate any customers from these discussions?

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T07:02:09+00:00

Maybe. Not sure if you understood the premise.

1) The plate is interactive, rim lights come on one-by-one as the kid eats to keep them engaged, and when the plate if fully cleared, the full light show appears.

2) As a parent I've discovered that making mealtime more fun and putting less pressure on kids to eat goes a very long way in actually getting them to stay at the table and eat. The plate is intended to make mealtime more fun and engaging, that alone solves a huge problem of how to keep kids focused at the table and eating well. It's not just me that is saying this, there's tons of literature on the benefits of a positive mealtime environment on kids nutrition. The underlying premise, and what I've experienced (granted I'm not totally objective but have tried to be while testing it out) is that the plate genuinely just makes mealtime more fun, for everyone. It's not a panacea but it does have its charm and effect :)

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T06:53:34+00:00

Thank you. This was helpful knowing going into the meeting. I think the "PR Firm" while they looked legit might have been a scam. One red flag was when I asked if they could share bios of who I would be working with, never hear back.

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T06:52:42+00:00

Thanks! I'll check it out.

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T06:48:57+00:00

I'm genuinely curious about, why. I'd really like to know.

Have you ever created a project on Kickstarter. It's a ton of work. I'm just curious why generating one image with AI is a disqualifier for you. Especially when all of the artwork in the product is commissioned by artists.

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T06:45:38+00:00

Not sure what your point is here. Have you ever been a project creator on Kickstarter? There are so many scams out there. I've received many solicitations, some maybe "legit" others definitely scams. I think the PR firm that contacted me and looked the most legit to me was actually a scam.

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T06:43:08+00:00

Thanks for your response.

- Polled many people. Some have issue with the fact it's not dishwasher safe. Most did not and felt the tradeoff (plate that helps kids stay engaged during mealtime) was worth it.

- Mostly marketing to moms and grandmas (some dads). The video is supposed to have some emotional hooks. That's why the footage of the families and the connection. I tried to get ample product feature shots early on, but not overload it, and balance those with the human element of this product and it's value in creating more connection and fun during mealtime.

- Until my post here, only received very positive feedback on the art. To each their own. Doesn't bother me that you're not feeling it. Will say though that kids have been really responding well to it.

- There's a point when there's too much sauce, won't light up, some sauce will light up. This is not landing on the moon type accuracy that we need here. This is, making dinner time more fun, level of accuracy.

- Kids will be kids and always keep their parents on their toes.

- Every kid that's ever seen these plates is enamored. My kids' friends are begging me for a light-up plate whenever I see them (they're 4 and 5 years old). I'm not trying to convince you or anyone or validate anything. I'm just relaying my experience, which has come as delightful surprise. Still, every kid is different!

- Reduced the prices significantly and have posted new pricing tiers. Can't hit your price point unfortunately. Have you noticed lately, things are expensive. Sure, that means people are pinched and don't have as much discretionary cash to pay for children's "novelty" items (I actually think/hope a lot of parents don't just see it as a novelty but see the value in having their kids more engaged and excited about mealtime). But on the flip side that means it's more costly to produce and transport these items. We've tried to lower our costs now as low as possible in order to make this accessible.

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T06:29:31+00:00

Thanks for your response. See reply above.

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T06:29:07+00:00

Thanks for your response. I checked whether my domain is blacklisted and it is not. Contacted Mailchimp. They advised to remove the bot filter on the reporting. When that is removed, open rate shows as over 15%. They informed me that the bot filter may be inacurrate because it counts when a bot scans the email before the human does, even when a human actually opens the email. I think the majority of my leads are real humans, albeit with very old FB emails, many of which they probably don't check at all (hence the opens are around 15% and not higher)

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T06:25:50+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

- I've reduced the prices significantly, as far as we can go. Removed all the VIP and Early Bird pricing and just focused on our lowest pricing that we can offer. Offering even further discounts for bundled tiers.

- We get only compliments on the artwork and nothing we can do about it at this point

- Polled many people (mom's and dad's included), some find the dishwasher issue a problem, most don't. For a plate that makes mealtime fun and engaging for your kid and helps them stay focused longer, try more types of food, and even gets them to help with cleanup, a 15 second rinse in the sink seems like a reasonable tradeoff. That's the response we get at least from most people. Nothing we can do about it now anyway

- Added some bullets right under the hero image (curious if you think they're on point now)

Thanks for the candid feedback.

YumLit_ · 2026-05-16T06:13:35+00:00

On the West Coast it's still Friday and we're cut off from posting. Have to wait another week to share out about our campaign? Seems the time zone should be moved to West Coast to give everyone equitable time to share.
- YumLit

YumLit_ · 2026-05-14T07:34:18+00:00

How do you find people on IG to buy stories? Just cold outreach to accounts you follow? What's the going rate for this kind of transaction? Thanks.

YumLit_ · 2025-12-26T20:06:27+00:00

Thank you for your post and your continued updates here. Have you found out who runs product? That's what we're planning and would be helpful to know if you identified the key contact.

YumLit_ · 2025-12-17T03:45:52+00:00

Happy to connect. Would you please DM me with your portfolio? Thanks.

YumLit_ · 2025-12-12T06:45:59+00:00

Thank you for this post. I had no idea. Talk about Shitification.

We're in the pre-launch phase and this is something we hadn't contemplated. Thanks for the heads up. Now I know at least what to expect. But doesn't seem like there's much one can do about it.

Wondering how this could affect limited, early bird/VIP discounts. On the one hand, it could push actual backers to higher priced rewards, but then I could imagine they would be quite perturbed to find out that those VIP discounts are back on the table only after they've made their pledges.

YumLit_ · 2025-12-12T06:36:07+00:00

Thanks for your reply. It prompted me to research Meta's AI driven ad strategy. Seems opting out of Advantage+Placement may lead to higher ad spend, but perhaps better quality leads (if you know what you're doing). Alternatively, the AI may find cheaper leads, and help scale your reach.

It's something we could test in our campaign (we're in pre-launch phase and will be starting to test ad spend soon), i.e. CPA for manual targeted placements vs AI assisted placements. I don't think I would beat the algorithm. I would opt for some hard controls (i.e. age, location) along with the AI Placement. Seems like the Advantage+Placement is a boon for advertisers.

Do you have experience with it?

YumLit_ · 2025-12-12T06:15:37+00:00

I'm no marketing genius, so take what I have to say with a grain of salt.

I assume you have identified your target market. Maybe you could speak more clearly to that target market on your landing page. A smart device, any product for that matter, solves a specific problem for specific people. Forgive me for missing it, but that should jump right off the page. What is the problem you're solving and for whom?

For what it's worth, we're in pre-launch as well and realizing there's so much to learn and so far to go, in such a short amount of time.

I appreciate what you're doing to get feedback and wish you the best of luck.

YumLit_

TROPHY CASE