KickoffLabs platform help — viral marketing for pre-launch waitlists, bonus-entry giveaways, milestone-reward referral programs, and leaderboard giveaways with REST API v1 + v2, server-side webhooks (`__fraudulent`/`__referral`), AnyForm + KOL.js, and native ESP/Shopify/Zapier integrations. Use when viral campaigns aren't tracking referrers, deciding between Hobby (lead-capped, no A/B, no reward emails) vs Premium (A/B + reward emails) vs Business vs Enterprise tiers, the API key is rejected for being embedded client-side, webhook `__fraudulent` codes (`duplidate_email`/`duplicate_ip`/`bounced`) need a triage workflow, choosing v1 vs v2 endpoints, leaderboard capped at 50, lead-cap auto-upgrade inflating bills, or comparing to Viral Loops/UpViral/Prefinery. Do NOT use for newsletter audience growth (use /sales-audience-growth), merge-tag referrals (use /sales-referralkit), SparkLoop paid recommendations (use /sales-sparkloop), or multi-level Level 1/2/3 referrals (use /sales-referralhero).
Standardmäßig ist der Prompt ausgewählt, der zuerst die Quelle prüft. Sie können zu einem direkten Befehl wechseln oder eine lokale Kopie herunterladen.
Quelldateien prüfen
Lesen Sie SKILL.md und alle von SkillsMP angezeigten Begleitdateien, bevor Sie sich für eine Installation entscheiden.
Mit Codex oder Claude installieren Kopieren Sie diesen Prompt, fügen Sie ihn in Codex, Claude oder einen anderen Assistant ein und lassen Sie die Skill-Seite prüfen und installieren.
Ein direkter Befehl überspringt den Prüf-Prompt. Prüfen Sie die Quelle, bevor Sie ihn ausführen.
KickoffLabs platform help — viral marketing for pre-launch waitlists, bonus-entry giveaways, milestone-reward referral programs, and leaderboard giveaways with REST API v1 + v2, server-side webhooks (`__fraudulent`/`__referral`), AnyForm + KOL.js, and native ESP/Shopify/Zapier integrations. Use when viral campaigns aren't tracking referrers, deciding between Hobby (lead-capped, no A/B, no reward emails) vs Premium (A/B + reward emails) vs Business vs Enterprise tiers, the API key is rejected for being embedded client-side, webhook `__fraudulent` codes (`duplidate_email`/`duplicate_ip`/`bounced`) need a triage workflow, choosing v1 vs v2 endpoints, leaderboard capped at 50, lead-cap auto-upgrade inflating bills, or comparing to Viral Loops/UpViral/Prefinery. Do NOT use for newsletter audience growth (use /sales-audience-growth), merge-tag referrals (use /sales-referralkit), SparkLoop paid recommendations (use /sales-sparkloop), or multi-level Level 1/2/3 referrals (use /sales-referralhero).
If the question is KickoffLabs-specific, continue to Step 3.
Step 3 — KickoffLabs platform reference
Read references/platform-guide.md for the full reference — feature gating per tier, campaign type selection (waitlist / giveaway / milestone / leaderboard / opt-in), AnyForm vs direct-API, fraud detection signals, SMS verification, ESP integrations, and comparisons with Viral Loops / UpViral / Prefinery / ReferralCandy / Voucherify.
Read references/kickofflabs-api-reference.md for the REST API documentation — v1 (/subscribe, /info) + v2 (/v2/{CAMPAIGN_ID}/... for tags, leads, actions, leaderboard, approve, block, waitlist, verify, SMS, bulk-tags), authentication via api_key + CAMPAIGN_ID, webhook payload schemas (including __fraudulent, __referral, __reward_level, __score_change, __tagged), and rate limits by tier.
Answer the user's question using only the relevant section. Don't dump the full reference.
Step 4 — Actionable guidance
Focus on the user's specific situation:
Hobby tier excludes A/B testing, reward level emails, tracking pixels, and custom email templates — for any campaign that needs milestone rewards (the main referral mechanic), start at Premium ($48/mo annual).
API key must be server-side only. Don't embed in client-side JavaScript — KickoffLabs explicitly warns about this. Use AnyForm + KOL.js for browser-side, then have your backend call the API with the key.
v1 vs v2: v1 (/subscribe, /info) is form-encoded and still active for simple adds. v2 (/v2/{CAMPAIGN_ID}/...) is JSON and covers tags, approve/block, bulk operations, leaderboard, waitlist, SMS verification. Use v2 for new integrations.
AnyForm vs direct API: KickoffLabs' own guidance is "in most cases, use AnyForm for custom pages instead of adding leads directly via the API." AnyForm handles attribution (?kid= parsing), referrer cookies, and lead deduplication automatically. Reserve direct API for server-to-server flows your AnyForm can't capture.
SMS verification is Premium+ as a $50/mo add-on; Enterprise includes it. If your fraud risk requires SMS verification, budget Premium + add-on ($98/mo annual) or Enterprise ($202/mo annual).
Lead-cap auto-upgrade at $8 per 1,000 overage — if your campaign spikes (Product Hunt launch, press feature), expect auto-upgrade billing to kick in. Set a campaign-level cap if you want hard ceilings.
Fraud-detection flags in webhook: duplicate_ip (same IP signing up multiple times), bounced (email bounced on verify), duplidate_email (their typo — duplicate email). Treat them as advisory; combine with approve / block endpoints for manual review.
Leaderboard endpoint caps at 50 results — for larger top-N lists, paginate via leads endpoint and sort client-side.
If you discover a gotcha, workaround, or tip not covered in references/learnings.md, append it there.
Gotchas
Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about plan-gated features that may shift.
API key must be server-side. "Your API Key should never be used in client side JavaScript." Browser-embedded keys leak to any attacker who reads page source. Use AnyForm + KOL.js for browser-side; reserve the API key for backend.
duplidate_email is spelled with a typo in KickoffLabs's own webhook payload docs. When parsing the __fraudulent array, match against the literal string duplidate_email as well as duplicate_email if KickoffLabs ever fixes it. Don't "correct" the typo client-side.
v1 and v2 endpoints coexist. v1 /subscribe is form-encoded; v2 /v2/... is JSON-first. Mixing them in one integration confuses parameter parsing. Pick one path per campaign workflow.
Reward-level emails are Premium+. Hobby tier ($13/mo) supports the autoresponder but NOT reward-level emails — so milestone-reward programs need Premium minimum.
A/B testing is Premium+. Hobby cannot A/B test campaign variants. Limits iteration on signup conversion early.
Custom email templates + custom domains require Business+ ($99/mo). Premium ($48/mo) gives one custom domain but uses default email templates.
SMS Contests are Premium+ add-on at $50/mo extra (Enterprise includes). Don't promise SMS verification on Hobby.
Lead-cap auto-upgrade at $8 per 1,000 overage — viral campaigns spike, billing follows. Capterra reviews flag pricing concerns; set a campaign-level cap and configure billing alerts.
Leaderboard endpoint capped at 50 leads. No pagination on /leaderboard itself — pull more via the leads endpoints and rank client-side.
Rate limits scale with plan: ~10/min on Hobby up to ~100/min on Enterprise. Use bulk endpoints (Bulk Tags, bulk Approve up to 200 emails) for batch operations.
Webhook signing is undocumented in public material. No HMAC/signature scheme published. Verify caller IP or use a shared-secret query param if signing matters; or contact support to confirm current behavior.
AnyForm is preferred over direct API for custom pages. KickoffLabs's own docs say so. Direct API is for server-to-server attribution flows AnyForm can't reach.
Capterra reviewers complain about design customization limits ("section mechanic requires more options") and a learning curve. If pixel-perfect landing pages matter, pair KickoffLabs with a standalone landing-page tool (Unbounce, Leadpages, Framer) and post results via AnyForm.
Related skills
/sales-audience-growth — Newsletter audience growth strategy (referrals + cross-promotion + lead magnets across all platforms)
/sales-newsletter — Newsletter monetization (paid subs, sponsorships, ad networks)
/sales-referralkit — ReferralKit (no-code merge-tag-driven newsletter referrals, free up to 10K leads)
/sales-referralhero — ReferralHero (full-stack referral/affiliate/waitlist/contest with multi-level Level 1/2/3 + coupon groups + REST API + webhooks + Zapier)
/sales-affiliate-program — General affiliate program strategy and platform selection
/sales-klaviyo — Klaviyo platform help (native ESP integration)
/sales-mailchimp — Mailchimp platform help (native ESP integration)
/sales-activecampaign — ActiveCampaign platform help (native ESP integration)
/sales-brevo — Brevo platform help (native ESP integration)
/sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do -a claude-code
Examples
Example 1: Tier picking for a Product Hunt launch waitlist
User says: "I'm launching on Product Hunt next month and want a viral waitlist with milestone rewards. Hobby or Premium?"
Skill does: Recommends Premium ($48/mo annual, 2,500 leads/mo) because reward-level emails are Premium+, A/B testing is Premium+, and a Product Hunt feature can spike well past Hobby's 500-leads cap. Warns about $8-per-1,000 auto-upgrade billing on spike and suggests setting a campaign cap if budget is tight. Mentions SMS Verification add-on ($50/mo extra) if fraud risk is high. Recommends Business ($99/mo) only if custom email templates/domains matter from day one.
Result: User picks Premium with annual billing, sets a 10K-lead campaign cap, plans SMS verification only if first 1K signups show fraud signals.
Example 2: Webhook payload __fraudulent interpretation
User says: "I'm getting webhooks with __fraudulent arrays containing duplidate_email and bounced — what do these mean and what should I do?"
Skill does: Confirms duplidate_email is verbatim from KickoffLabs docs (yes, with the typo — match the literal string). duplicate_ip means another lead signed up from the same IP recently. bounced means the verification email bounced. Suggests a triage workflow: auto-block on bounced, manual-review on duplicate_ip/duplidate_email, and use POST /v2/{CAMPAIGN_ID}/approve (supports up to 200 emails per bulk call) to override after review.
Result: User builds a webhook handler that routes by fraud reason and queues borderline cases for human review with batch approve.
Example 3: v1 cURL to add a lead with referrer attribution
User says: "Give me a cURL example to add a subscriber via the API with referrer attribution. I'm on Premium."
Skill does: Provides POST https://api.kickofflabs.com/v1/{CAMPAIGN_ID}/subscribe with email, api_key, social_id (the referrer's social_id, found in ?kid= query param), ip, __url, and __ref. Notes the key must be server-side. Mentions v2 /tags/{TAG_ID}/lead as the JSON-based alternative for tag-based workflows. Reminds user to consider AnyForm + KOL.js if the signup happens in browser instead.
Result: User has a working server-side subscribe call with proper attribution and knows when to switch to AnyForm.
Troubleshooting
API returns "invalid api_key" even though the key is correct
Symptom: Calls fail with auth errors despite copying the key from Setup > Advanced Settings > API Access
Cause: Either the key was embedded in client-side JavaScript (which KickoffLabs explicitly disallows and may rotate-invalidate on detection), or the request is hitting a different campaign's API endpoint, or v1/v2 path mismatch
Solution: Verify the request comes from your server, not browser. Confirm the CAMPAIGN_ID in the URL matches the campaign whose key you copied. If you suspect key compromise, rotate it in Setup > Advanced Settings > API Access and update your backend env vars. Don't mix v1 and v2 in one call (v1 wants form-encoded, v2 wants JSON).
Webhooks fire but the __fraudulent field is empty when I expected fraud
Symptom: A lead clearly looks fraudulent (same IP repeating, disposable email) but the webhook arrives without a __fraudulent array
Cause: KickoffLabs's fraud detection runs heuristics — duplicate_ip only fires if signups come from the same IP within KickoffLabs's window; bounced requires a verification bounce, which only happens if double-opt-in / verify is configured; duplidate_email catches exact duplicates, not lookalikes
Solution: Enable email verification / double-opt-in on the campaign for bounced flags. Use the POST /v2/{CAMPAIGN_ID}/leads/verify endpoint as a programmatic verification trigger. For weaker fraud signals (disposable domains, lookalike emails), add a server-side check before forwarding to KickoffLabs.
Leaderboard endpoint only returns 50 leads — how do I get the top 100?
Symptom: GET /v2/{CAMPAIGN_ID}/leaderboard caps at 50 results
Cause: The endpoint enforces limit ≤ 50 by design — pagination is not supported on /leaderboardSolution: Pull more leads via GET /v2/{CAMPAIGN_ID}/leads/... (or use the leaderboard 50, then call individual leads beyond rank 50 via lead-by-ID endpoints), and rank client-side by contest_score. For most campaigns, top 50 is the meaningful slice — verify whether you actually need 100+.
Lead-cap auto-upgrade billed me unexpectedly after a viral spike
Symptom: Monthly bill jumped after a Product Hunt feature pushed leads above the plan cap
Cause: KickoffLabs auto-upgrades plans at $8 per 1,000 overage leads — by default this is silent
Solution: Set a campaign-level lead cap in dashboard settings (where supported per plan). Configure billing alerts via your payment processor. Upgrade to the next plan tier proactively if you're consistently within 20% of the cap — annual billing at the higher tier is often cheaper than per-overage charges.
