Crowdfunding Campaigns (Kickstarter and Indiegogo) and Influencer Marketing: A Different Kind of Affiliate Program

Crowdfunding affiliate programs: the short version

Neither Kickstarter nor Indiegogo has its own built-in affiliate program that pays commission to outside promoters. Campaign creators set one up themselves through a third-party tool such as Kickbooster or Krowdster (named here as unranked category examples, not a recommendation) and pay influencers and other affiliates a commission for every validated pledge they bring in. The mechanic differs from ordinary ecommerce affiliate marketing in three ways: commission is paid on a pledge, not a completed purchase in an ongoing store; the campaign has a fixed start and end date; and on Kickstarter — and, since 16 October 2025, on Indiegogo too — nothing is paid out at all if the campaign fails to reach its funding goal, no matter how many validated pledges an affiliate brought in.

Why crowdfunding needs a different kind of affiliate program

Ordinary affiliate influencer marketing — covered in affiliate influencer marketing: how the model works — assumes an ongoing store with a permanent tracking setup: an affiliate sets up a link once, and it keeps generating commission for as long as the store exists. A crowdfunding campaign is a different thing entirely: it's time-boxed (typically 30-60 days), it lives only on Kickstarter's or Indiegogo's own platform rather than the brand's own setup, and the product being sold usually doesn't exist yet — it's a promise of delivery, not stock shipped on the spot.

That's why neither Kickstarter nor Indiegogo has built general affiliate infrastructure into the platform itself. Indiegogo does offer a built-in dashboard that shows which backers are themselves bringing in new backers, and campaign creators can set up simple manual cashback rewards for backers who refer others — but that's not the same as an automated, trackable commission program for outside influencers and affiliates. That gap is exactly why tools like Kickbooster and Krowdster (again, named as unranked examples, not a ranked recommendation) became the default for campaigns that want a real affiliate program.

How a crowdfunding affiliate program actually works

A tool like Kickbooster sits as a layer on top of the Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign itself:

• The campaign creator sets the commission — either a percentage of the pledge an affiliate brings in, or a flat dollar amount per validated order. There's no fixed standard rate; per Kickbooster's own documentation, it's agreed program by program.
• The campaign creator sets the cookie window — how long an affiliate's link "holds" a visit before it counts as their referral if the visitor comes back and completes a pledge later.
• Kickbooster charges its own fee on top of the commission — 3% of the referred pledge value, paid by the campaign, not deducted from the affiliate's commission. That fee comes on top of whatever commission rate the campaign itself has set.
• Payouts typically run on the 1st and 15th of the month, and if the campaign is successfully funded, the invoice for total affiliate fees is issued roughly 7 days after the campaign ends.
• Kickbooster maintains its own marketplace of enrolled affiliates, so a campaign can also reach promoters it never recruited itself — still on a pure pay-for-results basis.

One comparison source (not Kickbooster's own site) puts typical successful crowdfunding referral commissions somewhere between 10% and 25%, depending on the product's margin — that's an industry observation, not a rate Kickstarter, Indiegogo or Kickbooster itself prescribes.

Crowdfunding affiliate program vs. a standard ecommerce affiliate network

A comparison of the four standard ecommerce networks is in choosing an affiliate tracking network: Awin, Impact.com, Everflow and Refersion compared, and another native affiliate option — Shopify's own Collabs app — is covered in Shopify Collabs: how Shopify's native affiliate tool works. A third, marketplace-driven variant is Etsy's Creator Collective, covered in Etsy's Creator Collective and Affiliate Program — also not tied to a single campaign or store, but to an entire marketplace.

Kickstarter's and Indiegogo's own rules

Kickstarter doesn't forbid third-party tools like Kickbooster, but it does set expectations for how a campaign and its promoters behave: marketing has to be accurate, and a campaign can't be used to funnel traffic away from Kickstarter itself in a way that circumvents the platform's own rules. An affiliate who's paid to actively recommend a campaign carries the same duty to disclose that commercial relationship as in any other paid collaboration — see influencer marketing disclosure rules in Denmark and the EU for the full walkthrough, which applies unchanged whether the commission comes from a pledge or an ordinary purchase.

Indiegogo has also changed significantly and recently: the platform moved to an entirely new setup on 16 October 2025, rebuilt on infrastructure from Gamefound (following Indiegogo's acquisition by/merger with Gamefound), and standardized every campaign on Fixed Funding at the same time — per Indiegogo's own support documentation, "Flexible Funding," which let a campaign keep whatever it raised even if it missed its goal, is no longer available for new campaigns. Live flexible-funding campaigns were automatically converted to fixed funding during the migration. That means Indiegogo now works like Kickstarter on this specific point: if a campaign doesn't hit its funding goal, it pays out nothing at all — not to the creator, and not to the affiliates who brought in validated pledges.

Worked example: what does an influencer-driven pledge actually cost?

The figures below are hypothetical and for illustration only — not data from a Make Influence customer or a named brand.

Assume a Danish hardware brand runs a Kickstarter campaign for a new product with an average pledge value of DKK 450, and sets the commission in its Kickbooster program at 15% of the referred pledge value:

• An influencer brings in 200 validated pledges through their unique link, totaling 200 × DKK 450 = DKK 90,000 in referred pledges.
• Affiliate commission to the influencer (15%) = DKK 13,500.
• Kickbooster's platform fee (3% of the referred pledge value) = DKK 2,700.
• Total cost to the campaign for this one influencer's traffic = DKK 13,500 + DKK 2,700 = DKK 16,200, equal to 18% of the referred pledge value.

If the campaign misses its funding goal, none of this gets paid out — not to the influencer, not to Kickbooster — no matter how many validated pledges were actually recorded. That's the central difference from a standard ecommerce affiliate program, where every purchase counts independently.

Danish brands that have used crowdfunding before retail

Several Danish brands have used Kickstarter and/or Indiegogo to test and fund a product before moving into ordinary retail. One of the clearest, publicly documented examples is Copenhagen-based LastObject (founded 2016 by Isabel Aagaard, Nicolas Aagaard and Kåre Frandsen): per the company's own Wikipedia entry, LastObject raised over $700,000 from more than 19,000 backers on Kickstarter in May 2019 for its LastSwab product, and has since raised over €1 million from more than 30,000 backers on Indiegogo, plus further campaigns for LastTissue (January 2020) and LastRound (September 2020). Other Danish brands, such as shoe label Roccamore and watch brand Nordgreen, have per press coverage also used a Kickstarter campaign to establish themselves before expanding into their own webshop and retail.

These are publicly documented examples cited only as known, named cases from press coverage and the companies' own sources — not Make Influence customers. For the broader picture of how affiliate influencer marketing works in the Danish market outside crowdfunding, see affiliate influencer marketing in Denmark: networks, tax and VAT.

Decision framework: affiliate program, curated influencer deal, or both?

IF you need to fund a product launch and want to pay for results rather than exposure → a Kickbooster- or Krowdster-based affiliate program fits well, because you only pay once a pledge is actually secured.

IF you need control over messaging and timing around the campaign launch itself → a curated influencer deal (see upfront vs commission) with a smaller number of briefed creators gives tighter control than an open affiliate program that anyone can join.

IF the campaign gets fully funded and the product then needs to sell on an ongoing basis in your own store → a standard ecommerce affiliate network (see the Awin, Impact.com, Everflow and Refersion comparison) or a built-in option like Shopify Collabs is the natural next step — the crowdfunding affiliate program closes down with the campaign.

Common mistakes

• Assuming Kickstarter or Indiegogo runs an affiliate program itself — both platforms require a third-party tool for automated, trackable commission to outside affiliates.
• Expecting affiliates to get paid even if the campaign misses its goal — on both Kickstarter and (since 16 October 2025) Indiegogo, nothing is paid out at all if the funding goal isn't reached.
• Forgetting the platform fee on top of the commission — Kickbooster's 3% is an added cost to the campaign, not something deducted from the affiliate's own commission.
• Assuming "flexible funding" is still available on Indiegogo — it was, but it was retired for new campaigns as of 16 October 2025, per Indiegogo's own documentation.
• Skipping disclosure because the commission comes from a pledge, not an "ordinary" purchase — the disclosure duty applies unchanged.

Make Influence's perspective

In our experience, a crowdfunding affiliate program is strongest in the first, most intense weeks of a campaign, when a brand needs broad reach and can't get in front of enough relevant creators on its own. It typically doesn't replace a curated influencer push around the launch itself — the two work best together: a smaller number of briefed creators sets the tone and creates the initial momentum, while an open affiliate program lets more, smaller promoters contribute on a pure performance basis, without the brand having to brief or pay each one individually up front.

FAQ

Does Kickstarter have its own affiliate program?

No. Kickstarter has no built-in affiliate or referral system that automatically tracks and pays commission to outside promoters. Campaign creators who want that need a third-party tool such as Kickbooster.

How much commission do crowdfunding affiliate programs typically pay?

The commission is set by the individual campaign creator, not by Kickstarter, Indiegogo or Kickbooster itself. One comparison source puts 10-25% as a common range depending on the product's margin — an industry observation, not a fixed rate.

Does an influencer need to disclose that they're paid commission to promote a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign?

Yes. Commission for recommending a campaign is a paid benefit the same way as in any other influencer collaboration, and needs to be disclosed under the same rules — see influencer marketing disclosure rules in Denmark and the EU.

What happens to affiliate commission if a Kickstarter campaign doesn't reach its goal?

Nothing gets paid out — not to the campaign creator, and not to the affiliates who brought in validated pledges — because Kickstarter only charges backers if the campaign reaches its full goal. Since 16 October 2025, the same is true on Indiegogo, after the platform retired "flexible funding."

Can a brand use ordinary ecommerce affiliate marketing after a crowdfunding campaign ends?

Yes — once the product moves into an ongoing store, the natural next step is a standard affiliate network like the ones compared in Awin, Impact.com, Everflow and Refersion compared, or a built-in option like Shopify Collabs, depending on which platform the store runs on.