5,278 backers. 46× return on ad spend. A $21 cost-per-acquisition on a product with an $880 average order value. Here’s the full-funnel breakdown of one of the highest-performing collectible crowdfunding campaigns ever run.
In 2024, Russell Marketing ran the full-funnel launch for TOMY’s Star Trek USS Enterprise NCC-1701 Refit replica — a high-ticket, limited-edition collectible with an average order value of $880.
The campaign raised $4.65 million from 5,278 backers in 47 days, generating a 46× return on ad spend — roughly 15 times the standard e-commerce ROAS benchmark of 3×. The cost-per-acquisition during pre-launch was $21, representing just 2.3% of order value against an industry benchmark of 30%.
This post breaks down exactly how we did it: the pre-launch strategy, email sequencing, paid social approach, and the four principles that made this campaign work. If you’re planning a product crowdfunding campaign, especially for a premium or collectible product, the mechanics here apply directly to your launch.
The brief: what TOMY needed
TOMY engaged Russell Marketing to own the complete launch ecosystem for the Refit replica. This wasn’t a simple “run some ads” engagement — the scope included paid social advertising, email marketing, pre-launch funnel design, crowdfunding page design, and community management, all run on a $100,000 ad budget.
The product itself presented a real marketing challenge: at $880 average order value, it requires a buyer who has been nurtured, is genuinely passionate about Star Trek, and trusts that the product will be delivered to the quality promised. That’s not a cold traffic conversion, it’s a relationship-built sale.
The campaign also benefited from an existing backer community. TOMY had previously launched a Star Trek TOS (Original Series) replica, meaning there was a warm audience of proven buyers to re-engage. The question was how to maximize that existing equity while simultaneously expanding beyond the core fanbase.
Phase 1: pre-launch lead generation
The most important number in this campaign wasn’t the total raised. It was this: the pre-launch email list drove 42.7% of all revenue — nearly $2 million — before we spent a dollar on live campaign ads.
This is the core thesis of our approach to crowdfunding: the campaign begins weeks before the cart opens. Most brands treat launch day as day one. We treat it as the culmination of a months-long relationship-building process.
Pre-launch funnel performance vs. benchmark
| Metric | Our Result | Industry Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Ad Click-Through Rate | 2.0% | 2% |
| Landing Page Conversion Rate | 27% | 20% |
| High-Intent Lead Rate | 48% | 40% |
| Welcome Email Open Rate | 60% | 40% |
| Email → Purchase Conversion | 8.56% | 5% |
Every single pre-launch metric beat benchmark. The 60% welcome email open rate and 8.56% email-to-purchase conversion rate are particularly significant as they reflect the quality of the audience, not just the size of it.
Email performance: 11 campaigns, consistently extraordinary engagement
Across 11 email campaigns sent to 30,000+ subscribers, the campaign maintained open rates that most email marketers would consider impossible. Three staggered launch-day waves hit 70%+ open rates. The average across all 11 emails was well above 50% —well above e-commerce email benchmark of around 20%.
The open rate pattern across the 11 campaigns tells a useful story. Launch day waves hit 68–71%. Mid-campaign nurture emails settled into the 40–56% range. The final “Last Chance” email climbed back to 52%. The dip in the middle is normal and expected — what matters is that even the lowest-performing email in the sequence hit 33%, which would be an exceptional result for most brands’ best emails.
This performance comes from two things:
- the quality of the list (people who opted in specifically for this product)
- the content of the emails themselves — fandom-aware, authentic, and not purely promotional.
Treating a community of Star Trek collectors like a segmented advertising list is the fastest way to kill your open rates. We wrote to them like fans, not customers.
Live campaign ad strategy and audience insights
During the live 47-day campaign window, we ran paid social across multiple audience segments. The CPA data across segments reveals something counterintuitive about premium crowdfunding products:
The CPAs are nearly identical across retargeting and broad audiences — $51, $51, $52. This is unusual and significant. Typically, retargeting dramatically outperforms broad targeting because you’re reaching people who have already shown intent. The near-parity here suggests that the Star Trek Refit replica has genuine cross-demographic appeal beyond the core fandom — a product that sells itself when shown to the right person, even if they’ve never heard of it before.
The data confirmed this directionally: broad audience CPAs improved as the campaign matured. In most campaigns, broad targeting gets less efficient over time as you exhaust the easiest-to-convert users. Here, the opposite happened — the creative and social proof built momentum that made broad audiences convert better in week four than week one.
For context: the direct live campaign CPA averaged around $64. Against an $880 AOV, that’s still exceptional, but it reinforces why the pre-launch phase matters so much. The $21 pre-launch CPA produced 42.7% of revenue. The $64 live CPA produced a meaningful but smaller share. Investing in pre-launch list building isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s the highest-ROI allocation in a crowdfunding budget.
4 key takeaways for crowdfunding founders
These are direct lessons from the mechanics of this specific campaign, applicable to any high-ticket product launch.
1) Pre-launch is where campaigns are won or lost
The email list built before launch day drove 42.7% of total revenue, more than any paid channel during the live campaign. In crowdfunding, the campaign begins weeks before the cart opens. If you’re starting to build your audience on launch day, you’ve already fallen behind.
2) Community-first content converts better than promotional content
A 60% welcome email open rate and 8.56% purchase conversion rate came from writing for fans, not customers. Fandom-aware content that builds genuine trust dramatically outperforms generic promotional messaging — especially when the buyer is committing $880 to a pre-order.
3) Retargeting is essential at premium price points
High-ticket buyers rarely convert on first contact. Retargeting website visitors and email leads consistently yielded the lowest CPAs across the live campaign. Multiple touchpoints — ads, emails, community updates — are required to build the confidence needed for an $880 commitment.
4) Strong products eventually escape their niche
As the campaign progressed, broad targeting performance improved, confirming that the replica’s appeal extends well beyond the core Star Trek fandom. For TOMY, this means future launches have significant scaling potential into broader collector and gift-buyer demographics.
The bottom line
The TOMY Star Trek NCC-1701 Refit campaign is one of the most efficient high-ticket crowdfunding launches we’ve run: $4.65 million raised, 46× ROAS, $21 pre-launch CPA against an $880 AOV, and an email list that outperformed every other revenue channel combined.
The results aren’t accidental. They’re the product of a disciplined pre-launch strategy, community-first content, and a paid social approach tuned specifically for a premium-priced collectible audience. The same principles apply whether you’re launching a $200 product or an $880 one: start with your audience, build before you launch, and treat email as your primary revenue channel, not a support tool.
If you’re planning a crowdfunding or pre-order campaign and want to understand how this playbook applies to your product, reach out to the Russell Marketing team.
