How to Use Launch Party

Launch Party is a new feature from BackerKit to help creators raise more funds, reach more backers and have way more fun.

Traditionally, creators have thought of crowdfunding projects as 30 day affairs.  However, savvy creators know that a crowdfunding project starts WAY before launch day, and ends only after the last backer gets their package.

Launch Party is a new way to drum up support for your project BEFORE you even launch.  This lets you solve tons of scary problems that come before launching a campaign.

Things Like: Test Messaging, Solicit Feedback, and Drive Engagement making your launch day an event to remember.

There are only so many big moments in a project, and letting your backers be a part of them is the best way to get the most out of those moments. Launch Party provides a space to channel that big moment energy between the backer, the project creator, and other backers around a project launch.

What is Launch Party?

• It's a publicly accessible prelaunch page that backers can hang out in before launch.
• There's a countdown timer that let’s them know how close it is to launch.
• Embed a live stream to interact with fans before launch time to share exciting updates.
• Let backers get involved by highlighting polls, achievements, updates, and discussions.
• Followers can get themselves ready to pledge on day 1 by creating a BackerKit account.

Why you should consider hosting a Launch Party:

• You are planning on streaming before or through the launch
• You want to gather feedback pre-launch
• You want to keep your product offerings under wraps until launch
• You have highly coveted limited items

How does Launch Party help you test messaging?

The Launch Party page is a great place to drive your prelaunch marketing ads. Based on performance from a nominal ad spend budget, you can know what kinds of assets and messaging work to convert backers to follow along to your project. 

Our data has shown that capturing interest prelive has huge correlation with followers actually pledging on day 1.  Knowing which ads are effective to collect email addresses gives you an information edge so you can make sure your campaign page is optimized for day 1.

How does Launch Party help you get feedback?

Your Launch Party is a place you share all your information about your project before you go live.  Generally, creators ask all of their prior backers to follow the project before the campaign goes live. 

From there, you can push updates before the project goes live, use polls and other features to ask your backers which image they think is best, which features you should include, or point out anything that would prevent them from backing on day 1.

Coupled with BackerKit Launch, you can use the Launch Party to bring your backers into the experience of the project even earlier, which helps deepen the well and get them even more committed to back you on day 1.

How does Launch Party help you drive engagement?

In addition to the above, you can use the Launch Party page to jumpstart your community around this project.  Things like the Trivia Challenge, Follower Only Unlocks, Streams and more all give excited backers a chance to raise their hand early, and extend the crowdfunding good feels even before the project has launched. 

This way, even more folks feel invested in your launch, and are primed and ready to help spread the word throughout the rest of the campaign.  Set up teams to help create a sense of fun competition and community, and give folks rewards in the pledge manager for playing along.

Cap it all off with a Launch day stream, and you are ready to start your project with a huge bang.

How do I add to the Community Highlights?

From the lefthand side of your crowdfunding dashboard, under "Engagement" click "Highlights". You'll be able to highlight Poll Questions, Discussions and Project Updates. You can sort the order these elements will appear under Community Highlights.

Launch Party Image

The Launch Party Image is a different ratio from your Campaign Image or Teaser Page image.

• Images should have an aspect ratio of 3:1. (eg. 1020 x 340)
• PNG or JPG up to 10MB

When should I use Launch Party?

You can publish your Launch Party page whenever you are ready to share your upcoming project with your audience. You can even host live streams a few weeks before launch day if you want to run multiple streams before you launch. We recommend hosting a live stream on your on launch day to get your backers ready to pledge the moment your project goes live.

How do I enable the countdown timer?

In order to set a Scheduled Launch Date, you will need to have your project approved by our team. The countdown time will be enabled when that launch date and time are set.

How can I get my project to appear in the "Participate Before Launch" section on the homepage?

You will need to have your project approved by our team and have a countdown timer set.

What happens when the countdown timer reaches 0?

When the scheduled launch date/time is reached, the page will automatically redirect to your campaign page, and backers will be able to start pledging. Any future visits to the Launch Party page will be redirected to the project page. Your live stream will also continue on the project page.