How Email Drove 83% of Chargeasap’s Backers
83%
of Indiegogo backers generated from email (Connect Pro)
27%
increase in eCommerce email revenue YoY
22%
of Indiegogo backers and revenue generated from email (Zeus)
When Chargeasap partnered with Chronos, they weren’t looking for a typical email marketing strategy. Their goal was far more specific: use email to reliably fuel their Kickstarter and Indiegogo launches — while keeping their eCommerce store strong between campaigns.
It worked. In some campaigns, email drove up to 83% of total backers.
The Story
Chargeasap creates fast-charging gear powered by graphene and GaN technology. Their audience is highly engaged, but crowdfunding isn’t a steady channel — it’s a sprint. Each campaign lasts a few weeks, and momentum can make or break the outcome.
They needed an email partner who understood the rhythm of Kickstarter and Indiegogo: warm the audience early, drive pledges fast, and activate past backers without overwhelming the rest of the list.
Over three years of partnership, that system became one of their most reliable engines for funding new products.
The Problem
Chargeasap wasn’t struggling with product demand — their launches always had interest. The real challenge was timing.
Crowdfunding behaves nothing like standard eCommerce. There are no evergreen flows, no buffer window, no second chances. A campaign has one shot to build momentum, and every hour counts.
Past backers, prospects, and everyday subscribers all behave differently. Sending the wrong message to the wrong group could stall momentum or burn out the list.
Chargeasap needed a partner who could turn email into a precise, time-sensitive conversion tool rather than a megaphone.
The Goal
Chargeasap wanted a repeatable system — not a one-off campaign plan — that would:
- Convert warm subscribers and past backers into early pledges
- Keep the momentum alive throughout each campaign window
- Protect the list from fatigue
- Maintain steady eCommerce revenue outside campaign periods
Every campaign needed predictable email-driven results.
The Framework / Strategy
The strategy began with understanding how Chargeasap’s audiences behaved. Past backers didn’t need persuasion — they needed clarity and timing.
Prospects needed social proof. And store subscribers needed space so they weren’t pulled into unrelated campaigns.
From there, every campaign followed a rhythm:
Warm-up → Launch → Mid-campaign push → Final deadline drive
But the heart of the strategy was segmentation.
Only subscribers who showed intent — past campaign backers, high click-engagement, and people browsing similar products — received deeper campaign messaging. This prevented list fatigue while focusing effort on the audiences most likely to pledge.
Urgency tools like countdown timers and deadline reminders weren’t added as gimmicks. They matched the natural pressure of crowdfunding. Mid-campaign giveaways and referral rewards (up to 10% incentives) added additional lift without diluting the campaign timeline.
Meanwhile, the Chronos team continuously A/B tested product blocks, discount framing, and messaging angles to understand what Chargeasap’s backers responded to. Each campaign improved the next.
The eCommerce side never went dark — evergreen flows kept running and campaigns were balanced so the store continued generating revenue between launches.
The Results
The system proved itself across multiple campaigns:
- Email contributed 7% of backers for the Connect Pro Kickstarter
- Email contributed 10% of backers for the Zeus Kickstarter
- Email contributed 83% of backers for the Connect Pro Indiegogo
- Email contributed 22% of backers and revenue for the Zeus Indiegogo
- Meanwhile, the eCommerce store saw a 27% YoY lift in email revenue (Oct 2023–Sep 2024)
Despite multiple campaign pushes per year, subscriber fatigue stayed low and conversions stayed high.
Why It Worked
Three ingredients made this strategy consistent and repeatable:
- Backers behave like insiders
They already trust the brand, so emails focused on what was new — not why the product mattered. - Crowdfunding urgency is real, not manufactured
Deadlines drove natural action. Email simply amplified them at the right time. - Segmentation protected the list
Only high-intent subscribers received the full campaign sequence, preserving engagement across years of launches.
The result: predictable crowdfunding performance and stronger eCommerce revenue at the same time.
FAQ
“How did you run multiple campaigns a year without burning out the list?”
By segmenting based on intent signals — past backers, clickers, and product-engaged subscribers — and suppressing everyone else during campaign windows.
“Did eCommerce revenue suffer during campaign periods?”
No. Evergreen flows and non-campaign segments kept the store performing consistently between launches.
“Would this system work for non-tech brands?”
Absolutely. Any brand with limited-time launches, drops, or preorder cycles can use this structure.
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