Tallyby Outpost

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For campaigns and pre-orders: which channels build the launch list and bring pre-orders.

A crowdfunded product builds a list before launch, runs a campaign on a platform, then takes late pledges and pre-orders on its own site until it ships. Tally counts the list sign-ups before launch and reads the pre-orders paid through your own checkout, so you can see which channels built the list and brought orders.

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01How they sell

  • One-offPre-orders and late pledges paid on your own site after the campaign, often in tiers with add-ons.
  • DonationsA support tier with no reward, for people who want the project to happen.

02Payments it reads

  • StripePre-orders through Stripe Checkout, charged at order; refunds for cancellations are read.
  • Lemon SqueezyDigital products like games, books or music pre-sold through Lemon Squeezy, with orders read.

What Tally can't read

  • Kickstarter and Indiegogo pledges aren't read; the platform takes the payment.
  • Pledge-manager surveys and add-ons paid on a platform's own checkout aren't read.
  • A card saved now and charged at shipping isn't revenue until it's charged, and then links only by email if your site identified the buyer.
  • A waitlist or launch list kept in your email tool isn't read; mark the sign-up as a goal to count it.

03Where buyers come from

  • Launch listSign-ups before the campaign are who you email on launch day; tag that email to see what it brings to your own pre-orders later.
  • Reddit and forumsCommunities around the product's niche send early interest that turns into sign-ups.
  • PressCoverage during the campaign sends readers who arrive after it ends and pre-order on your site.
  • Campaign pageBackers following an update to your site arrive with the platform as referrer.

04What Tally answers

  1. Which channels built our launch list?

    Mark the sign-up as a goal and the goals view gives completions by source and page, so you can see where the list came from before any money moved.

    Goals and funnels

  2. How long from first visit to pre-order?

    Path to purchase gives the median time and visits from first visit to pre-order, with a flow from first source to credited source, which can span the whole campaign.

    Path to purchase

  3. Do people who come from the campaign page pre-order?

    The referrer breakdown puts revenue beside the campaign platform and every other source, so its visitors' pre-orders can be counted.

    Sources with revenue

  4. When did pre-orders come in after the campaign?

    Peak hours shows sales by weekday and hour over the dates you choose, so the days after the campaign can be compared with later weeks.

    Peak hours

05Numbers worth watching

Goal conversion
List sign-ups over visitors, by source, the number to watch before launch.
Median time to buy
The median time from first visit to pre-order, which shows how long interest built.
Refunds and chargebacks
Refunds for cancelled pre-orders, by source, which can climb if shipping slips.
Revenue by source
Pre-order revenue by source, read knowing the campaign's own pledges aren't in it.

06An example

Example

Path to purchase

Last 30 days · 105 of 124 new sales, the ones linked to a visitor

Median time to buy

3days

from their first visit

Median visits

3visits

the one they paid in included

Bought on the first visit

12%

13 of 105

Pages before buying

11

median pages viewed

Where buyers came from, and who closed the sale

105 new sales: where each buyer first came from, and the source credited with the sale.

50% of new sales were credited to the source that first brought the buyer in. Hover or focus a flow for its numbers.

  1. Googlecredited toGoogle26
  2. x.comcredited tox.com10
  3. Other (3 sources)credited toOther (3 sources)10
  4. Directcredited toOther (3 sources)9
  5. ChatGPTcredited toChatGPT9
  6. Other (3 sources)credited toNewsletter9
  7. Redditcredited toReddit8
  8. Googlecredited toNewsletter6

6 smaller flows in the table below.

Show the flows as a table
105 new sales: where each buyer first came from, and the source credited with the sale.
Brought them inCredited with the saleNew salesShare
GoogleGoogle2625%
x.comx.com1010%
Other (3 sources)Other (3 sources)1010%
DirectOther (3 sources)99%
ChatGPTChatGPT99%
Other (3 sources)Newsletter99%
RedditReddit88%
GoogleNewsletter66%
DirectGoogle55%
x.comGoogle55%
RedditGoogle33%
DirectReddit22%
ChatGPTGoogle22%
Other (3 sources)ChatGPT1<1%

Time from first visit to purchase

  1. 13Same visit: 13 sales (12%), bought in their first visit
  2. 13Same day: 13 sales (12%), a later visit, under 24 hours after the first
  3. 301–3 days: 30 sales (29%), 1 to 3 days after the first visit
  4. 194–7 days: 19 sales (18%), 4 to 7 days after the first visit
  5. 151–2 weeks: 15 sales (14%), 8 to 14 days after the first visit
  6. 102–4 weeks: 10 sales (10%), 15 to 28 days after the first visit
  7. 51–3 months: 5 sales (5%), 29 to 90 days after the first visit
  8. 03+ months: 0 sales (0%), 91 days or more after the first visit

Pages buyers saw before paying

Share of the 105 buyers who viewed each page before paying

  1. /pricing96%, 101 of 105 buyers
  2. /71%, 75 of 105 buyers
  3. /signup63%, 67 of 105 buyers
  4. /docs38%, 40 of 105 buyers
  5. /blog/stripe-fees26%, 28 of 105 buyers
  6. /compare21%, 23 of 105 buyers
  7. /changelog8%, 9 of 105 buyers
  8. /blog/launch-week5%, 6 of 105 buyers

Only new sales count here. Renewals and upgrades belong to the visit that won the subscription, so counting them would count that journey again.

Fig. 1Path to purchase on the example site. For a crowdfunded product, read the flow from first source to credited source: interest often starts long before the order.

07Setting up

  1. Any HTML sitePut the tag on the pre-launch page, the pre-order page and the thank-you page.
  2. Call tally('identify', { email }) at the launch-list sign-up, so a pre-order or a card charged later links by email.
  3. StripePass the visitor's id in Checkout metadata from the pre-order page, so orders charged at checkout link with high confidence.

08Questions

  • Can Tally read my Kickstarter backers?

    No. Kickstarter takes the payment. It counts visits to your site and clicks to your campaign page, and reads pre-orders paid through your own checkout.

  • We charge pre-orders when we ship. When does revenue appear?

    When the card is charged; saving a card isn't a payment. The charge links by email if your site identified the buyer.

  • Can I count launch-list sign-ups as conversions?

    Yes, as a goal, with completions and conversion by source; they become revenue only when the person pays.

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