Kickstarter pre-launch page
and waitlist
LaunchList gives your Kickstarter campaign a pre-launch page and an email list of its own, with referrals, before the campaign goes live. On launch day, you send that list to Kickstarter.
Free for your first 100 contactsNo credit card needed
Luxe. Dark, quiet and invite-only: a warm near-black page, large serif headlines, small capitals, thin hairlines and ivory buttons, with the accent color as a small detail. Suits premium, members-only and limited-release products.
Vesper is a made-up product, so its invites, counts and leaderboard are examples. Starting from it, you get the same sections written about your project.
At a glance
Updated
- What it is
- Your own address and your own list of backers-to-be, from months before the campaign until the hour it opens.
- Starting page
- Vesper, the referral template: a waiting line beside the headline, then a live count, the steps to move up, the rewards and a leaderboard.
- Works with
- Kickstarter, by link only: LaunchList has no Kickstarter integration and never sees your campaign or its backers.
- Price
- A list of up to 100 contacts costs nothing; the launch-day email is on the Collect, Launch and Grow plans.
How a Kickstarter launch works, and where your own list fits.
Kickstarter gives you a page to follow before launch and a goal to reach after it. A list of your own covers the months before either.
Kickstarter's pre-launch page
People press "Notify me on launch", and Kickstarter emails them when the campaign goes live. You cannot message them directly, and a first-time creator gets the page once the project is approved.
Sources: Kickstarter Help Center, pre-launch page and Kickstarter blog, March 25, 2024.
Use it when
Your project is approved and launch is a week or more away, as Kickstarter suggests.
All-or-nothing funding
A campaign that falls short of its goal charges no one, so the first days decide a lot. Kickstarter's own handbook says first-day backing helps a project's chance of success.
Sources: Kickstarter Help Center, all-or-nothing and Kickstarter Creator Handbook.
Use it when
You are setting the goal and the launch date, and need people ready to back on day one.
An email list of your own
Kickstarter's own blog suggests a landing page of your own to collect email addresses before launch. Unlike followers, the people on it are yours: you can email them yourself, whenever you choose.
Use it when
The campaign is months away, or Kickstarter has not approved your project yet.
Where LaunchList fits
Your list opens first, the pre-launch page joins it once Kickstarter approves the project, and the campaign takes over on launch day.
Your own pre-launch list and Kickstarter's page: why use both.
A good fit when
- You are months from launch and want people waiting before your Kickstarter page exists.
- You want to email your backers-to-be, not only count them.
- You want early fans to bring friends before launch day.
- You want to know which reward or edition people want before you set your tiers.
Not the right fit when
- You want to take a deposit or a small paid reservation now: LaunchList takes no payments.
- Your campaign is live already: send people straight to Kickstarter.
A Kickstarter pre-launch list, from first signup to launch day.
Put up a page of your own
Start from the referral page, add your project's photos and video, and share the link while the campaign is still being built.On every planAsk what they would back
Put a "Single choice" question on the form for the edition or reward people want. The answers help you set your reward tiers, and each one is a filter on Signups.On every planSend the list to Kickstarter
Before launch, email the list your Kickstarter pre-launch page to follow. When the campaign goes live, email them the campaign link.From the Collect plan
In the docs: setting up your launch page, adding a reward question and emailing your list.
Funded in days, from a list built first.
What they did
Gabriel Wyner launched his first campaign on December 3, 2013 with a 500-person mailing list, built from one Lifehacker article. It funded in just over two days and ended with more than 1,850 backers.
Take from it
A small list that cares is enough to fund early. Start it with whatever you can show, long before the campaign page exists.
SELF Journal
2015, Kickstarter
What they did
Its founders built an email list of about 3,200 in the three months before launch, most of it from a giveaway. The campaign reached its goal in 28 hours and ended with 6,531 backers.
Take from it
Give the list three months and more than one way in. Then send it the campaign link the hour you launch.
Keeping backers-to-be warm until launch day.
Rewards before the rewards
Thank the people who bring 3 or 10 friends. A jump up the line is given automatically; a thank-you you make, like a name in the credits, waits for you to send it.From the Collect planA leaderboard on your site
Show the top referrers, or a live count of the people waiting, on your own site with a widget.On every planA share link for every signup
Everyone on the list has a status page to come back to, showing their spot and the link that moves them up.On every planA countdown to launch day
Pick the campaign's launch date and Launch Day counts the days, lists what to do and has posts ready to share.From the Launch planReminders on the way
An automation can remind the list three days before launch day, then again on the day.From the Launch planThe page on your domain
Point a domain of yours at the pre-launch page; the certificate is issued for you.From the Collect plan
What creators ask before a Kickstarter launch.
How do I build an email list before my Kickstarter launches?
Does LaunchList connect to Kickstarter?
Should I use Kickstarter's pre-launch page or my own?
Can I take deposits or reservations before my Kickstarter campaign?
What does a Kickstarter waitlist cost?
Launch to backers who were already waiting.
Day one goes to the people who joined your list months before the campaign existed.
Free for your first 100 contactsNo credit card needed