Mr Beam 2 Laser Demonstrates Need for Pre-Sale Technical Support

Mr Beam 2 is a desktop laser and engraver that can use a photo from your computer or smartphone and engrave it onto a piece of wood, clothing or other material.  Inside it looks a lot like a desktop printer you might buy today from an electronics retailer like Best Buy or Walmart.  It can cut with high precision into materials like balsa wood, plywood, or cardboard so it would be useful for model builders like architects and artists.  Mr Beam 2, by Mr Beam Lasers, is currently running a Kickstarter campaign that has been fully funded at over $300 thousand and is significantly over of its $91 thousand goal.

If you are going to run a crowdfunding campaign for a tech oriented product like Mr Beam, then you should expect to get a lot of technical questions both during the campaign and after it has launched.  If you read through some of the comments posted on the Kickstarter website, you’ll note the variety of technical questions being asked even before the product has launched. There are relatively simple questions about whether you can stand it up as opposed to having it lie flat, to more complicated questions about whether the wavelength of the laser can be changed.

In addition to the time it takes to answer the questions, you may also get questions that require additional research before you can respond.  For example you’ll note that whoever is posting the Mr Beam responses has had to provide updates as some of the previous answers were incorrect.  In order to avoid this type of back and forth, you will need to make someone available who has a good technical understanding of the product to answer questions.

One benefit of getting all of these technical questions prior to launching the product is that you are well prepared once it actually launches.  You can create a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page and post it on your website.  Also, you can use these questions as input for your next iteration of the product.  For instance, if someone asks you about a feature or functionality that won’t be available with your initial launch, maybe you consider adding it for the next iteration of the product.