One link from pre-launch to shipping

What Kickstarter recommends

In its December 2024 guide to pre-launch sign-ups, Kickstarter suggests updating the link in your bio to your pre-launch page, so people can press Notify me on launch without hunting for it. Kickstarter then emails those followers when the project goes live.

There is a catch: according to Kickstarter's help center, you cannot message pre-launch followers directly. The same guide also tells creators to grow an email list of their own. So the link in your bio has two jobs before launch: get people to the pre-launch page, and get some of them onto a list you can write to.

Your page during the campaign

Put the campaign first. Make it a large card on your page, with the Kickstarter button on its project page, and mark it Coming soon during pre-launch. At the top of the page, a link to the campaign can be highlighted in your accent color, and a Kickstarter address gets the Kickstarter icon by itself.

Below it, turn on the email signup box with double opt-in: free up to 100 subscribers, unlimited on Pro. Those addresses are yours, for launch day, the last 48 hours and the next campaign. Read growing a newsletter from your link in bio for what to say in the box.

After the campaign

Campaigns end; the product goes on. Switch the project's status to Building while you manufacture and Active once it ships, and link the pledge manager or your store. The project page keeps the story: photos and video, the timeline and, as highlights, what the campaign achieved, in the numbers Kickstarter showed.

Hardware projects can also list their kits and boards, see the hardware makers page. Games heading to Steam after funding can follow the page for indie game studios.

Know which post sent the backers

Stats show visitors, sources and clicks on each link and project, without cookies, so you can tell whether the forum post or the video sent more people to the pre-launch page. Tag the links you share with UTM parameters using the free UTM builder.

Pledges cannot be verified on makerhandle. If you sell afterwards through Shopify or Stripe, those sales can be, with a check mark: see Shopify revenue. Free covers five projects; Pro is $20 a year.