How We Run Email for Crowdfunding Campaigns

A crowdfunding campaign is a single timed event, not an always-open shop. Most of the money arrives in two short windows: the opening days and the closing days. Email is the main lever you have over both.

Three facts about these platforms shape every decision that follows.

Some people have given you nothing but an email address. Others have already paid to reserve a discount. Sending both the same message wastes the first group's attention and undersells the second group's commitment.

Neither Kickstarter nor Indiegogo has a coupon field. Any price below the public reward tier can only be reached through a private link. That single constraint determines how every offer email is written.

Funding totals and deadlines are visible to everyone. A campaign that stalls looks stalled, which is why sends are scheduled around momentum rather than a fixed weekly cadence.
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We call these segments. A segment is a group of subscribers who receive their own version of each email. Every scheduled send exists as parallel versions, one per segment, going out at the same moment with different wording, price, and link.

The loyalty tier sits between the two extremes: better than the public price, short of full VIP. It rewards a past backer for returning without devaluing the deposit that VIPs actually paid.

The entire purpose of the prelaunch phase is to move people from the Lead segment into the VIP segment. The diagram shows what happens when they do.

Two rules follow from this, and both are applied to every single send.

They are not simply shown a different version of the same email. They leave the Lead sequence entirely and stop receiving it.

Leads are never sent messaging about a VIP price they have not reserved, which would only advertise a discount they cannot access.

● TYPICALLY 1–2 WEEKS BEFORE LAUNCH

This is the only stage built as an automated flow. A flow is a sequence that triggers on a delay or a date, so once it is configured in Klaviyo, nobody presses send.

Leads receive the deposit pitch. VIPs receive a WhatsApp invitation with no upsell, because they have already converted. Anyone who converts partway through the sequence receives a third version of their own: a thank-you confirming what they have reserved, rather than another pitch.
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Incentivised product feedback, usually in exchange for a gift or an extended warranty. It sharpens the messaging for launch and gives quieter subscribers a low-commitment reason to engage.

A single send outside the main flow, reintroducing the new product to people who already know the creator.

Confirms the launch date, previews the opening-window bonus, and pushes whichever launch reminder the campaign is using.
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Three separate reminders make sure people know the moment the campaign opens. Which ones we use depends on the campaign; often it is two of the three.

● GO-LIVE DAY THROUGH THE FINAL DEADLINE
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One send per segment, timed to the moment the campaign opens. Leads receive a link to the public reward tier. VIPs and loyalty-tier backers receive their own private link with the discount already applied.
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The job here is re-engaging people who saw the launch email and did not act, without repeating the same pitch at them. The segment split stays the same; only the angle changes. Anything about the product that credibly moves someone closer to backing can carry a send.
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Those are the angles that recur most often, not a closed list. A feature that has not landed yet, a fresh photo set, or an answer to a question that keeps coming up will each justify a send of its own.

A three-day notice followed by a twenty-four hour push, using the same segment split and the same private links as launch day. This is usually where a second bonus is stacked on top of the existing discount.
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Once the campaign is live, part of the audience has already bought. Continuing to send them launch offers wastes reach and irritates the people who supported you earliest. Two mechanisms remove them.

From the third live send onward, every email carries a short opt-out form at the bottom. It is separate from the standard unsubscribe: it lets someone who has already backed step out of the campaign sequence without leaving your list altogether. The first two live sends run without it, so the opening push still reaches everyone.

At points during the campaign we send a short survey asking whether the recipient has backed yet. Anyone who answers yes is excluded from the sends that follow, so they are not asked again to do something they have already done.
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There is a deliverability argument for this as well as a courtesy one. Mailboxes read low engagement as a signal, so a list that keeps sending offers to people who have already converted gradually damages the inbox placement of the sends that still matter. Removing converted backers keeps open rates honest and protects the final countdown, which is when placement counts most.

Because neither platform supports discount codes, a reserved price is not something the backer enters. It exists only behind a private link that we create and track.

The practical effect is that the copy stays simple. A VIP email never walks someone through changing a pledge amount or applying anything at checkout. It points at their link, and the price is already there.

Emails come from the founder by name for most of the sequence. The title shifts with the phase, from "Creator of X" before launch to "Founder, X" once live, but it stays one identifiable person rather than a company.
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A team sign-off is equally normal and is not reserved for any particular moment. It tends to suit operational messages, production updates, and occasionally a straight deadline reminder.

Subject lines stay short and lead with the benefit, typically with one emoji. Preview text is treated as a second line rather than a repeat of the first: it adds the hook the subject line had no room for.

Every segment carries its own tracked link on every send, not only at launch. That means performance is separable by segment for the life of the campaign: which groups are converting, which have gone quiet, and where an extra push is worth sending. At the close, you have attribution by segment rather than a single blended number, which is what makes the next campaign easier to plan.