“Should I share my Kickstarter campaign on Facebook? Or make YouTube videos talking about my campaign? Or stand on a street corner screaming into a megaphone?”

It’s impossible to answer questions like these without accurate data. 

On the flip side, if you knew you weren’t receiving money from a certain channel, you wouldn’t have to waste your time or money on it.

Thankfully, Kickstarter includes built-in analytical functionality as part of your very own Project Dashboard.

But if you want to dive a little deeper, you’ve also got the option to integrate Google Analytics with your campaign, as well as tap into third-party tracking tools. So there’s something for all creators.

Here’s how you unlock the secrets of your Kickstarter campaign, use your data to optimize your approach, and hit your funding goals with Robin Hood style accuracy.

Let’s start with you Kickstarter Project Dashboard

If your Kickstarter campaign is a rocket heading to the moon, then the Project Dashboard is Mission Control, guiding you safely towards your destination.

Let’s have a quick look under the hood and see what you’ll find on your Project Dashboard:

Funding progress

There’s no feeling quite like seeing those pledges roll in. As your funding progresses you’ll see your graph trend up. The higher that sweet blue line goes, the closer you are to hitting your goal.

Ride it all the way to the top, baby.

Top referrers

Your Project Dashboard also includes a simple breakdown of where your backers are coming from. 

Are they finding you on Facebook? Twitter? Directly through Kickstarter? Or another channel entirely?

A quick glance at this data will answer that question in seconds. Accessing this data also lets you make campaign decisions in real time to improve your results.

Noticing a spike in people coming from Facebook? Take advantage of the situation by creating Facebook Ads to drive more interest and more pledges.

Project video stats

Kickstarter campaigns without a video are 85% less likely to hit their targets, so a video can make or break your campaign. If you’ve poured your heart into a kickass Kickstarter video, your Project Dashboard will keep you up to date with video playback insights.

You’ll be able to see:

• The total number of video plays
• The percentage of people who watched your entire video
• Whether people watched your video on Kickstarter or offsite

Don’t worry if your stats aren’t setting the world on fire. The whole point of unearthing this treasure trove of data is to use it to optimize and update your campaign. If your video is under performing, maybe it’s time to upgrade it?

Reward breakdowns

Find out which tier of reward your backers are choosing. Use this knowledge to push more of what your audience wants. Simple supply and demand.

Feed of project activity

See how your audience is interacting with your campaign – events, pledges, comments, updates and adjustments. They’re all here.

Let’s talk about referral stats

Where are your backers coming from?

It’s a simple question but if you can’t answer it, you could end up wasting your time and energy on the wrong channels.

As an All-or-Nothing (AoN) crowdfunding model, Kickstarter only receives their fees when your campaign succeeds, so it’s in their best interest to support you. 

With that support in mind, Kickstarter offers the ability to create custom referral tags to track which external sites your backers are coming from.

Knowing where your best backers are coming from gives you an unfair advantage.

Keep reading to find out why…

How to create custom referral tags (super simple)

You can create custom referral tags through your Project Dashboard once your campaign is live.

This process is as easy as 1,2.3.

Step One: Enter a label in the box and click ‘generate tag’

Step Two: Customize the name of your tags (e.g. ‘Facebook Campaign’)

Step Three: Use the unique URL provided to share your Kickstarter campaign

You can create up to 500 custom tags, so you’ll be able to know exactly which channels are delivering backers and which are wasting your time.

With hundreds of potential tags on offer, it’s a good idea to keep your naming conventions simple. If you’ve got more than a handful of custom tags, things can quickly get confusing. Acronyms can keep things simple and easy (think ‘FB’ for Facebook).

Don’t think you have to limit your tags either. With up to 500 custom tags to play around with, you can create a unique link for every single Facebook post or Ad. You can create tags for individual images, for different wordings, for the inclusion of a single extra emoji, for…you get the point. 

Custom tags let you go granular.

So dive in deep.

After you’ve set up your custom tags, you’ll be able to see your results displayed on your dashboard. This will include the number of pledges generated, the percentage of total funds accounted for, and your total amount pledged.

Why does this matter?

Kickstarter’s custom tags are a game-changer. 

With unique links you’re no longer promoting your campaign in the dark. By knowing which outreach channels are most effective you can pour your time and money into those for maximum ROI.

And on the flip side, you can reduce your spending on channels that aren’t working for you.

Knowledge is power, and Kickstarter’s intuitive hub of data puts that power directly in your hands. But what if you want more control, more insights, more power? 

Well you’re in luck. 

For a more advanced, laser-focused monitoring, Kickstarter now allows you to connect your Google Analytics account to your project. 

How to integrate Google Analytics with your Kickstarter campaign

Another analytical tool to set up?

But Kickstarter already has a built-in set of insights and a custom tag creator, do I really need more?

If you want to hit your funding target, absolutely.

To start with, integrating your Kickstarter campaign with Google Analytics is simple and doesn’t cost a cent. 

You’ll need to create a free Google Analytics account to get started, but from there it’s a matter of following some simple steps:

Step #1 – Log into Kickstarter

Step #2 – Head to your Creator Dashboard

Step #3 – Paste your tracking ID from Google Analytics into the ‘Google Analytics Tracking ID’ field

Step #4 – Sit back and get ready for some serious insights!

Here’s where you’ll need to tweak a few key settings to stop your data from being corrupted. 

No, we’re not talking about Russian hackers.

But you will want to exclude yourself from influencing the data collected. You’ll be spending a ton of time checking out your stats, looking at your campaign page, and watching those pledges roll in – so you’ll want to exclude your own IP address.

How to exclude your IP address 

• Make sure you’re using your own internet (you won’t want to do this in a cafe or on someone else’s IP address)
• Head to this website to find your IP address – https://www.whatismyip.com/
• Hit ‘New Filter’ on your Google Analytics profile
• Name the filter ‘Exclude IP’
• Select a predefined filter type
• Select ‘Exclude, traffic from the IP addresses, that are equal to’
• Paste your IP address into the ‘IP Address’ field

Congrats! 

You just plugged in the power to see where clicks and pledges are coming from.

But keep in mind, data is worthless unless you do something with it.

Looking for more ways to track your campaign progress?

Backers have pledged over $4.4 billion dollars towards Kickstarter campaigns over the last decade, so there’s a history of success.

But Google Analytics isn’t for everyone and if you’re looking for other third-party providers of campaign data, we’ve got you covered.

Here are 3 other ways to measure your insights and supercharge your success.

#1 – Bigger Cake

Self-declared software Geeks, the team at Bigger Cake have created a simple but highly intuitive all-in-one Kickstarter software to help you understand your backers like never before.

See how people find you on Kickstarter, understand your backer’s background, discover their device usage and more.

#2 – Hyperstarter

Just enter your Kickstarter URL and receive an instant analysis on your progress. Including actionable tips on how to improve your campaign, this data is quick and direct.

Best of all, it’s 100% free.

Who doesn’t love free?

#3 – Kicktraq

Before Google Analytics was integrated with Kickstarter (back in April, 2015), Kicktraq was the closest thing.

Able to provide project managers to gauge the trends behind their campaign, expect to see your data displayed in a simple, easy to understand way. Providing a high and low prediction, you’ll get a sense for whether you’re on track to succeed or not.

Let’s wrap things up

Gather data. Test findings. Repeat.

Success on Kickstarter can really be that simple.

Of course your project still needs to connect with people. But the most creative idea in the world will fall flat unless you can measure it and improve your marketing.

Is your data telling you the majority of your pledges are coming via Facebook? Start creating Facebook Ads to take advantage of that platform.

Not seeing many backers come through Twitter? Spend less of your time tweeting and more time meeting backers elsewhere.

Tracking your Kickstarter progress and understanding the insights may not be sexy.

But it does sell.

Ready to unlock the secrets of a $100,000 Kickstarter campaign? Learn how to use your insights to your advantage and smash your funding goals here.

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