Which products work for a creator campaign that pays per sale?

All thresholds are assumed examples, not industry benchmarks. Set your own, for instance from the contribution margin you work out for your range. The second row is the creator’s view: if a kept sale earns them only a few cents, a dedicated post is hardly worth it, even if your margin is fine. The eight weeks of stock assume, for example, a four-week campaign plus four weeks afterwards in which posts and storefronts can keep bringing clicks.

One possible rule: red on margin takes the product out of the campaign, red on stock takes out the variant concerned. Any other red means: resolve it first, then include the product. The last row only matters if links may also go to other shops. If retailers stock the same variant, clicks still find a shop when your own stock runs low. If every link goes to your own shop, skip that row.

Red for “relies on claims about results” doesn’t mean the product can’t be in the campaign. It means agreeing beforehand what creators may say about it. Under § 5(2) no. 1 UWG (German Unfair Competition Act), a commercial practice is misleading if it contains untrue or otherwise deceptive claims, including about the results to be expected from using a product. Medicines and medical devices are also covered by the Heilmittelwerbegesetz (German Act on Advertising in the Healthcare System), and cosmetics are too when a claim refers to detecting, eliminating or relieving illnesses, ailments, physical injuries or pathological complaints (§ 1(1) and (2) HWG). Under that act, for example, it is misleading to attribute effects to a product that it does not have (§ 3 sentence 2 no. 1 HWG). Products whose benefit you can see, such as colour, fit or handling, can be shown without promising anything.

Product: [brand, name]
Variants in the campaign: [colours, sizes, shades]
GTIN for every variant: [yes/no]

Price incl. VAT: [€]  net: [€]
Return rate in your own shop, last 12 months: [%]
Net revenue after returns per order: [€]
Cost of goods, shipping, payment and returns per order: [€]
Contribution margin before commission: [€]
Commission: [%] = [€] per order, [€] per kept sale
Contribution margin after commission: [€]  Light: [green/amber/red]

Stock per variant today: [units]  needed until campaign end: [units]
Restock by: [date]
Other shops with the same variant: [names or none]
What viewers see in 15 seconds of video: [keywords]
What creators shouldn’t promise: [keywords]

Decision: [include / resolve first / leave out], reason: [one sentence]

The example assumes cost of goods of 30% (shirt) and 35% (candle) of the net price, €6 for shipping, packaging and payment per order, €8 for return shipping and handling per return, and a 15% commission on the net value after returns. Prices are converted to net at the standard German VAT rate of 19% (§ 12(1) UStG). Returned goods go back on sale.

In the example, 40% of shirt orders come back and the shirt can still afford the commission: €7.41 is left per order, green on the traffic light. On returns it shows red, so resolve that first, for example the size chart and fit notes, then include it. The candle hardly ever comes back, but the €6 for shipping, packaging and payment eats up most of what is left after the cost of goods. After commission it is below zero, so red, even though the creator’s €1.88 per kept sale sits in the amber band.

If the community buys several items in one order, shipping and packaging are spread across them and the candle looks better. So use the average basket that comes through creator links if you know it, not just the single price. How to work out the contribution margin for your whole range is covered in the guide on cost per sale.

In a pay-per-sale campaign, a lot depends on the individual variant. If the size, colour or shade people want is sold out, they click, can’t find their variant and often don’t buy at all. When you pay per sale, nobody earns anything from that, neither you nor the creator. The law matters here too: anyone offering goods to consumers at a specific price who has good reason to expect they cannot supply those or equivalent goods in reasonable quantities for a reasonable period at that price has to say so. Otherwise the offer is prohibited under no. 5 of the annex to § 3(3) UWG. If stock lasts less than two days, the trader has to prove that the quantity was still reasonable.

Someone who orders two sizes to compare usually sends one back. If you only pay commission on goods that are kept, there is none for that item. Here is how to check the variants before launch:

1. Check stock per variant, not per product. A dress with 200 units in stock can already be sold out in size 38.
2. Plan for the whole run: the campaign weeks and the time afterwards, when videos and storefronts can keep bringing clicks. Base quantities on sales per variant in your own shop, not on the average.
3. Take scarce variants off the list or tell creators in advance which ones not to show.
4. Check the size chart and fit notes on the product page. According to Bitkom, a size that doesn’t fit is the most common reason for returns.
5. Agree what happens when something sells out: who tells the creators, which variant, replacement product or other shop gets linked instead, and at what stock level a product is paused.

Creators link a specific variant: the lipstick in one shade, the jeans in one wash. According to GS1 Germany, every item, in the sense of a variant by model, colour or size, needs its own GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), the number under the barcode.

If several colours share one number or the variant is missing from the product title, people may land on the wrong colour or not find the item in other shops at all. Check this for every variant on your campaign list. Which details your feed needs for this is covered in the guide on product data.

When you pay per sale, creators carry part of the risk: if a post sells nothing, they get nothing. So the product is part of their decision to join. Instead of assigning one product, give them a checked shortlist and let them pick what they actually use.

Someone who uses a product can show how it looks or fits instead of repeating promises. The list helps you too: every product on it has already passed the traffic-light check, whichever one a creator picks. For each product, the list should include:

• the product with brand, name and variant, plus the GTIN
• which variants are in stock, and until when
• price and commission, as a percentage and as an amount per kept sale
• the shop or link where people buy
• samples: available or not, and how creators request them
• what creators shouldn’t promise, for example effects on skin, health or well-being

Creators being able to pick your products in an affiliate programme or on a platform doesn’t mean they will feature them. Many partners in a programme never become active, and the very creators you want for your campaign rarely post just because a suitable product is on a list.

The real work starts after the list: getting many creators to take part at the same time, then seeing who sells. That means contacting far more creators than you need, giving them all the same period and a reason to post, such as a product launch, samples, a bonus or a campaign budget, and then looking at clicks and sales per creator. With those who sell, you plan the next round. How to see who features and sells your products is covered in a separate guide.

With wyrld Boost, you put your budget behind creators who feature your products, starting right away. You provide a campaign budget and set the products, time frame and KPIs, the measures by which the pool is paid out to creators. Your traffic-light shortlist becomes the campaign list. Many creators take part at the same time and show the products in their own videos and storefronts. If you want to pay per sale, you choose sales as the KPI, counted where the shops report them. Clicks, watch time or reach are possible too.

You decide in which shops people buy, and creators label campaign videos as advertising. Each creator decides for themselves if they take part, so neither the number of participants nor the number of sales is fixed beforehand. With the brand and shop subscription, you see every day which creators feature your products, who brings clicks and who actually sells, with sales where the shop reports them. That way you set your next list with real figures, and wyrld can set up your own terms with individual creators. Prices for the subscription and Boost are available on request.

When a creator adds your product, wyrld identifies it by brand, name and variant, for example a particular perfume in 50 ml, and looks for the same item across more than 90,000 partner shops. If several shops carry your product, the community sees the offers found, with prices side by side, and buys directly from the shop at no extra cost. For Boost, you decide if the price comparison runs. You are connected through an existing affiliate programme, through which creators can usually already pick your products, or directly with wyrld, and you pay on your own terms, per click, per sale or both. In a meeting, wyrld is happy to work out which route fits you first.