Strategy for Improving Crowdfunding Investments in Startup Business

Abstract

Purpose: This research was conducted to analyze the extent to which online customer reviews (OCRs) can stimulate investment backers as a strategy to increase crowdfunding investment. Design / Method / Approach: This research is quantitative. Natural language processing (NLP) processes review text documents based on linguistic study, a lexicon-based method is used for sentiment analysis classification based on polarity score (pros and cons), while Multiple linear regression forms a model or relationship between online customer reviews and crowdfunding investments. OCRs consisting of numeric and text features were collected from one hundred technology products (3D printing, drones, cameras, wearables) on Kickstarter.com. Findings: The study results show that, in addition to positive reviews, the number of comments and the number of sentiment reviews can increase consumer interest in investing in technology products on the crowdfunding platform. Moreover, positive reviews have the most positive effect on crowdfunding investments. Practical Implications: The study results are expected to be used for startup business, especially technology products as a strategy to increase funding investment on a reward-based crowdfunding platform. Startups can take advantage of online customer reviews as one of important factors in stimulating potential backers and backers to invest. Social implications: The strategy of utilizing online customer reviews can be used especially for technology product-based startup business to get funding support as a resource in completing a product development stage. Originality / Value: The novelty of this research is that it focuses on a technological product development stage, product campaigns on a reward-based crowdfunding platform, considering online customer reviews through sentimental (online reviews) and numerical characteristics (number of comments, number of sentiment reviews) simultaneously as a strategy to increase investment. Research Limitations / Future Research: This study has some limitations as it used only online customer reviews as an attribute that affects crowdfunding investment. Future research is expected to explore online customer reviews to determine important attributes (unique words) as consideration for strategies to increase crowdfunding investment. Paper type: Empirical