Amazon Creator Connections: A Complete Guide for Brands

October 31, 2024
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Peter Nettesheim
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Amazon Creator Connections: A Complete Guide for Brands

Note: If you are a content creator/influencer make sure to check out our Amazon Creator Connections Guide for influencers here

Are you looking to partner with influencers to increase your sales for your Amazon store? New data suggests that Amazon is one of the leading platforms for influencer inspired purchases. 59% of social media users surveyed said they had purchased a product after seeing it used by an influencer and 94% of those consumers had made that purchase on Amazon. 

 Launched in 2023, Amazon’s new program called Amazon Creator Connections might be the ideal platform for you to increase your revenue through influencers on Amazon and capitalize on this growing trend. 

Amazon Creator Connections is a powerful platform that bridges the gap between brands and influential creators, enabling seamless collaborations to enhance visibility and drive sales. In this comprehensive guide for brands, you'll discover how to leverage Amazon’s tools and strategies to connect with the right influencers, create impactful marketing campaigns, and maximize your brand’s presence on one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms.

Whether you're new to influencer marketing or looking to refine your approach, this guide provides the essential insights and actionable steps to achieve your marketing goals.

What is Amazon Creator Connections?

Amazon Creator Connections is a specialized platform designed for brands to seamlessly connect and collaborate with influential content creators and influencers. It is the first platform which supports brands to actively work with influencers on the Amazon ecosystem. As an Amazon seller you can launch campaigns on Amazon brand connect through which influencers can apply to participate. You’ll have access to advanced tools that help you manage your partnerships, and track your campaign’s performance. 

How Does Amazon Creator Connections Work?

Amazon Creator Connections is essentially a marketplace matching brands with influencers who have an amazon influencer or associates account. 

Through Amazon Creator Connections brands can launch a campaign for which influencers can apply to join. Influencers can essentially see all the active campaigns and join the ones they find interesting. You can also browse influencer profiles, review their content, and initiate direct communication to negotiate partnerships and invite them to join your campaign.

Working with Amazon Influencers With and Without Creator Connections

Until 2023 the only way to work with influencers on Amazon is to ask influencers to include your products into their amazon storefront or link to your products using the associates / affiliate program. The only way for the influencer to earn commission was through the rates set and paid by Amazon. Because of this you as the merchant / brand wouldn’t be able to see or analyze any of the influencer performance metrics. 

Since the launch of Amazon Creator Connections brands can now offer affiliate commission directly to the influencers which will be paid out on top of the affiliate commission Amazon offers through their Amazon influencer / associates program. 

Traditional Way Of Working With Amazon Influencers

Below is an overview which shows how the traditional way of working with influencers on Amazon without using Amazon creator connections.

Working With Influencers Using Amazon Creator Connections

The overview below shows how the process works if brands work with influencers through Amazon Creator Connections. 

Benefits of Amazon Creator Connections For Amazon Sellers

Leveraging Amazon Creator Connections can significantly transform your selling strategy on Amazon. Here are the key benefits you can gain:

1. Track your Amazon Affiliate Performance

Probably the most important benefit is that you are now finally able to track your affiliate / influencer performance on Amazon

Until now the only way for brands to collaborate with influencers was through their storefront. Amazon did not provide any insights on how much each influencer sold as they were also responsible for paying the commission. 

With creator connections you can access advanced tools to track the performance of your influencer campaigns. You can monitor metrics such as reach, engagement, and sales, allowing you to optimize your strategies for better results. 

This will help you to identify your top performing influencers allowing you to invest more time and resources to nurture the relationships which contribute most to your overall revenue. 

2. Get Discovered and Included in Influencer Storefronts

A big advantage of launching a campaign on Amazon Creator Connections is that your brand can get discovered by influencers who are actively looking for partnerships. 

3. Affiliate Instead of Fixed Payments

A major advantage of Amazon creator connections is that the influencers are compensated based on performance. They only earn commission if they sell products. This removes the risk involved when working with fixed payments where sales aren’t guaranteed. 

4. More Incentive To Sell Due To Increased Commission 

As the influencers now earn commission both from you through the creator connections program as well as from Amazon through the influencer / associates program the influencer has more incentive to post converting content as their earning potential is higher. 

5. Increased Conversions Through Campaign Specific Offers 

When launching a campaign on Amazon Creator Connection there is a start and end date. The limited time offer often leads to an increase in conversions due to urgency. 

How Envision Horizons Used Creator Connections to Drive Brand Visibility and Sales on Amazon

Envision Horizons used Creator Connections to reach targeted audiences and collaborate with micro influencers. The campaign focused on featuring various best selling products, with the most popular being a lip product. 

For this they created a Creator Connections campaign highlighting the brand’s values and product benefits. Then they provided influencers with talking points and brand messaging to guide content creation, and monitored content distribution across channels like Instagram, Facebook and Amazon Live. 

When it came to the content productions, creators had the flexibility in how they integrated products, which allowed them to create more authentic content selection products based on what genuinely interested their audiences. Most of the content were try-ons with the direct link to the purchase or product roundups like “My Favorite Beauty Finds This Month”

The results? Out of 200 invited creators, 58 accepted the campaign invitation. 19 of those created content featuring the product, and received a 15% commission rate. 

The content drove strong engagement, reaching 148,760 clicks from creator audiences which translated into 7,500 orders placed - a 5.1% conversion rate from clicks to purchases. 

The campaign cost a total of $5,000, and received $108,770 in sales attributed that represents an exceptional return on ad spend of 2175%. 

How To Get Started on Amazon Creator Connections As A Seller

As Amazon launched Creator Connections in October 2023, it is still in its early beta program and not all brands have access. From our conversations with brands it seems like mainly large sellers have access compared to smaller sellers on Amazon. 

Amazon Creator Connections is only available in the US at the moment. Make sure to keep an eye on this as Amazon will most likely role out this program to other countries over time. 

Getting Started With Amazon Creator Connections

To get started with Amazon Creator Connections follow the steps below. 

  1. Login to your seller central account 
  2. Click on “Advertising” through the menu in the top left hand menu 
  3. In the dropdown the option “Creator Connections” should show. 

If the option Creator Connections doesn’t show here it means that you aren’t eligible. Reach out to your account manager or try to contact support to request access to Amazon Creator Connections. 

Once you click on Creator Connections the CC dashboard will open.

Submit Your Campaign on Amazon Creator Connections

The next step is to activate your campaign. Make sure to fill out the following information: 

  • Request Name
  • Products to Promote
  • Creator Interests
  • Campaign Start & End Date
  • Max Campaign Budget & Commission Rate
  • Additional Disclosures
  • Number of Creators You Want to Work With – you can work with up to 50
  • Message to the Creator

Once you have filled out all the details clicks on “Send request” to submit your campaign. 

In the requests tab you will be able to see all the influencers you have sent a request to. If you click on Creators you are able to filter and find new influencers to invite to your campaign.

Requirements to Join Amazon Creator Connections As a Seller

Below are some of the requirements Amazon has to join Creator Connections as a seller. 

1. Amazon Seller or Vendor Account

You must have an active Amazon Seller Central or Vendor Central account. This account serves as the foundation for managing your products and accessing Amazon’s suite of marketing tools, including Creator Connections.

2. Registered Brand with Amazon Brand Registry

Your brand should be enrolled in the Amazon Brand Registry. This registration protects your brand’s intellectual property and provides access to enhanced marketing features, ensuring that your collaborations are secure and officially recognized by Amazon.

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Best Practices to Maximise Sales on Amazon Creator Connections

1. Choose the Right Creators for Your Audience

Selecting influencers who resonate with your target audience is crucial. Use Amazon’s filtering tools to find creators aligned with your brand’s values, product category, and target demographics. This helps ensure that your message reaches the people most likely to engage with your products, boosting conversions. Read in detail how to find influencers on Amazon here

2. Set Clear Campaign Objectives and KPIs

Define your campaign goals before starting any collaborations. Whether you’re looking to increase brand awareness, drive sales, or promote a specific product, setting clear objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) helps you track success and allows influencers to tailor their content to meet these goals.

3. Create Attractive and Transparent Commission Rates

Influencers are more likely to promote your brand enthusiastically when they’re incentivized. Set competitive commission rates that align with your sales goals and budget, and make your commission structure transparent. Attractive incentives encourage influencers to create more engaging, authentic content that can drive sales effectively.

The default commission rate is 10% but if your margin allows for offering higher commission we always recommend doing this in order to attract more influencers. 

4. Submit a Detailed Campaign Brief

You have 3000 characters to submit your campaign description. Make sure to use every character wisely to provide clear and simple guides which will maximise your campaign result.  

5. Link Your Amazon Creator Connections Campaign To Seasonality Sale

To maximise conversions it is always important to give your prospective customers a reason to buy. To do this we recommend linking your Amazon creator connections campaign to a seasonality sale. Below are some examples for a seasonality promotion: 

  • Black Friday 
  • Christmas 
  • New Years 
  • Valentines day 
  • Mother’s day 
  • Easter sale 
  • Summer sale 

By linking your Amazon Creator Connections campaign to a seasonality promotion you are giving prospects a reason to buy which leads to increased conversions. 

Follow Up And Communicate Well With Your Influencers

With influencer marketing communication is key. Don’t just invite the influencer to your campaign but also actively communicate with them throughout the campaign in order to maximise sales. Your campaign success essentially is determined by the following KPIs: 

  • Number of influencers which join your campaign 
  • Number of posts each influencer makes 

These are the two things you want to optimise for throughout the campaign. Although Amazon Creator Connections offers the option to communicate with influencers within the platform the capabilities are limited. 

To optimize your communication we recommend using an influencer CRM. With Influencer Hero for example you can schedule automated follow up sequences and bulk outreach influencers.

Ask For a Final Post Before Your Campaign Expires

One way to maximise conversions is by leveraging the final days of your campaign. By leveraging urgency and fomo the posts at campaign closing often work extremely well to drive conversions. Use the template below to remind your influencers to your campaign is ending and to ask them for a final post.

Final Reminder Template

Hi {{ firstname|default(influencer_handle) }},

I just wanted to inform you that our campaign is ending on ENTER DATE. It would be awesome if you could give your followers one last chance to access the offer. 

In case you would like to give your fans one last chance to access the {{discount_code_perc}} offer (which ends on ENTER DAY) you can use your link below :) 

           - Link: {{custom_link}}

Let me know if you have any questions! 

Best,

ENTER YOUR NAME

Monitor Results And Build Long Term Relationships

Once the campaign has been completed make sure to analyse the results and build long lasting relationships with performing influencers. 

Amazon provides the tools to analyse clicks, orders and revenue per influencers which will help you to identify valuable influencers you should continue to nurture. 

Not all influencers will sell a lot of products but the ones which do should be nurtured and transformed into long term partnerships to maximise ROI.

Drawbacks of Amazon Creator Connections

Below are some of the most important drawbacks of the Amazon Creator Connections program. 

1. Limited Influencer Pool

Amazon Creator Connections primarily connects brands with creators already active on Amazon. This limits your access to the broader influencer market, meaning you might miss out on influential creators from other platforms who could drive more engagement and sales.

2. Limited Tools to Increase Influencers to Join Your Campaign

As a matching platform influencers can apply to join your campaign but this sometimes takes time and if your campaign isn’t optimised well there might be a very limited number of influencers which join your campaign. 

To solve this we recommend using 3rd party software like Influencer Hero to actively reach out to influencers to join your campaign. More details on this in the next section. 

3. Reduced Margin due to Additional Affiliate Fees

The commission you offer to the influencers will be on top of the regular Amazon fee. If you already have low margins on Amazon the additional affiliate commission you offer to the influencers will further reduce your margin which can cause problems if your product has low margins. 

4. Lack of Advanced Targeting Features

While Amazon provides some filtering options, the platform’s targeting capabilities are more limited compared to other influencer marketing platforms. This can make it harder to narrow down creators with specific audience demographics or niches, potentially impacting campaign effectiveness. We recommend using 3rd party influencers search tools

5. Complex Campaign Management for High Volumes

Brands working with multiple influencers (up to the 50 allowed) may find campaign management on Creator Connections challenging. Without more advanced project management features, coordinating, communicating, and tracking each partnership can become time-intensive.

6. Further Increasing Dependence on Amazon 

By investing into Amazon creator connections you are further increasing your dependence on Amazon as a sales channel. An alternative is to drive the traffic from influencers to your own website which leads to higher margin and reduces the your dependency on Amazon for your brand.  

7. Restricted Analytics and Insights

Amazon Creator Connections offers basic analytics but lacks more detailed data on audience demographics, engagement types, and conversion tracking beyond Amazon’s ecosystem. This can limit your ability to gain in-depth insights that could inform future marketing strategies outside of Amazon.

How To Use Influencer Hero to Boost Your Amazon Creator Connections Campaign

In order to accelerate the process and get more influencers to join your Amazon Creator Connections campaign we recommend to actively invite influencers to join. Below is a step by step explanation on how to do this using influencer marketing software Influencer Hero. 

1. Find Relevant Amazon Influencers In Your Niche

To identify the right influencers use Influencer Hero’s search and discovery tool. 

  1. ​​Utilize the lookalike filter to discover influencers within a specific category. In this example, we searched for influencers similar to crowded_kitchen, a US-based food and cooking influencer.
  2. Add influencer location (e.g., US) and refine your search further with filters like age, gender, engagement rate, and conversion-focused metrics. There are a lot more filters you can choose from. 
  3. be sure to include hashtags such as #amazon, #amazonstorefront, or #amazoninfluencer in your search criteria.
  4. Add your influencers to your campaign.

2. Set Up Your Outreach Flow

With Influencer Hero you can create automated drip campaigns which will automate the process of follow ups. The system will automatically send out the emails to the influencers you added to your campaign. 

Copy paste the outreach template below or access the template including follow ups in drive here.

Outreach Email Nr. 1

SUBJECT: {{ firstname|default(influencer_handle) }} – ENTER YOUR BRAND NAME Amazon Partnership

Hi {{ firstname|default(influencer_handle) }},

{{personalized_sentence}}

My name is ENTER YOUR NAME and I’m from ENTER YOUR COMPANY NAME. We are ADD ONE SENTENCE DESCRIPTION ABOUT YOUR BRAND

We are looking for potential partnerships for our Amazon Creator Connections campaign and we love the content on your account {{influencer_handle}}!

It would be awesome if you could test our ENTER YOUR PRODUCT.

HIGHLIGHT YOUR USP AND YOUR PRODUCT IN ONE SENTENCE

I’m happy to send you one ENTER YOUR PRODUCT for you to test. We also offer a 20% commission which you will earn on top of your regular Amazon affiliate. 

Please get back to me if you are interested in this opportunity.

Can I send you one of the ENTER YOUR PRODUCT?

Thanks!

Best,

ENTER YOUR NAME

3. Campaign Management

Once you activated your outreach campaign use the Influencer Hero CRM to manage your campaign. Negotiate or share certain details on how to join your Amazon Creator connections campaign by using the CRM.

4. Access all UGC from the Influencer Hero Content Library 

Most influencers will share about your Amazon campaign on their social media. The best way to do this is typically through story posts as the influencers can include a link to your Amazon creator connections campaign. 

Once the influencers posts the Influencer Hero system will automatically capture all the posts which you can conveniently access through the content library.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, Amazon Creator Connections offers a unique and powerful way for brands to leverage influencer marketing within the Amazon ecosystem. By connecting you directly with Amazon influencers, this platform provides tools to track performance, manage partnerships, and increase sales through commission-based collaborations. While there are some limitations, such as a smaller influencer pool and limited targeting options, Creator Connections can still be an effective strategy for brands looking to boost visibility and conversions. With the right approach and optimization, you can maximize its potential to grow your Amazon business.

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