How to Create Profitable Amazon Creator Connections Campaigns (2024 Guide)

With the rise of affiliate marketing as an alternative customer acquisition channel for brands, Amazon released its take on an expanded affiliate network in the form of Amazon Creator Connections.

Affiliate marketing is not new to Amazon.

They’ve had it in place for nearly two decades with the Amazon Associates program.

However, Amazon Associates has a lot of limiting factors, such as:

• Commission rates are low and set in stone by category
• No interface for communication between brands and affiliates

In an attempt to get around these limitations, Amazon released Creator Connections.

However, many Amazon Sellers know little about this program, so they don't use it at all. 

So, in this article, we'll cover everything there is to know about Creator Connections from the perspective of a brand or Amazon Seller.

‍Stay tuned for an article covering Amazon Creator Connections from a creator's perspective.

What is Amazon Creator Connections?

Amazon Creator Connections is designed to help facilitate collaborations between brands and influencers within the Amazon ecosystem.

Brands can create Campaigns in which they select a collection of their products, a commission rate, a start and end date, and more.

On the influencer side, they can filter Campaigns by category, keyword, and others to find products that are right for their audience. Taking a look at an influencer's profile can give you an idea of whether they are the right fit.

Brands can manage campaigns, track performance, and pay influencers based on sales generated, providing a clear return on investment.

How to Access Amazon Creator Connections

To access Creator Connections as a brand, head to Amazon Seller Central, click the hamburger menu, select "Advertising," and then click Creator Connections.

You can also access it via a direct link here.

Select "Creator Connections" and you'll be taken to the portal.

If you'd like to start using Creator Connections, click "Create Request" to the right of brand you'd like to make the campaign for.

You also have the option to "View Requests" and see the progress and status of existing campaign requests here, although if this is your first time, it will be empty.

How to Create a Creator Connections Campaign Request

In this next section, we'll show you how to create a Creator Connections Campaign from scratch. We'll go over each field, best practices on what to enter, and more.

Campaign Name

First, you'll need to come up with a name for your Creator Connections Campaign. Campaign Name is a public field and not only for internal use. Creators will see this field and its contents and be influenced by the title.

Be sure to name your campaign something that would catch the eye of your ideal creator. I hopped over to my Creator account just to show you what it looks like from their end. I've put two campaigns side by side.

Simply looking at the Campaign Name, which do you think is more intriguing for an AFFILIATE to join?

Message to the creator

Moving on is the section to provide a message to creators, where you can brief potential affiliates on the campaign.

In this section, you’ll want to provide details like:

• Product Description
• Ideal Clients/Customer Avatars
• Language that resonates with them
• Brand Background

If you’d like the script I have my clients use, you can claim it here.

Additional disclosure

There is an optional field in which you can force creators to include additional disclosures to your audience to please the FTC. Amazon already requires Creators to disclose this, so I recommend just clicking "No" here.

Start Date - End Date

Next up, you’ll be asked to select a start and an end date for the campaign. The maximum duration for the campaign is one year.

Creators

In the Creators section, you get to tag the categories under which your Creator Connections Campaign will appear.

There's no sense tagging categories that aren't directly related to your offer, as you'll just be shown to low quality and unrelated Creators. Keep this as specific and targeted as possible.

Budget and Commission Rate

Now it's time to set the budget and commission rate for your Campaign. As you can see from this screenshot, Amazon Creator Connections has a $5,000 minimum spend with a 10% minimum commission rate.

Budget can always be increased post launch if you're happy with the content submissions, but commissions are set in stone.

Keep in mind that Creators will be earning this listed commission rate, in addition to the base Amazon Associates commission for the product category.

Add Products

Creator Connections will then allow you to select the products you'd like to be part of this campaign.

These can be a single product, a category of products, or even the entirety of your catalog, although this is not recommended.

After filling out the above fields, it's time to publish your Creator Connections Campaign!

Managing a Creator Connections Campaign

After completing the steps mentioned above, assuming that you've created an attractive Creator Connections Request, you'll start to notice Creators applying to your campaign.

If we had back to the first menu, and instead click View Request on an active campaign, we can monitor our progress.

Clicking into a campaign, we'll see a list of all of the Creators who applied to join.

Creators will be listed and if they ended up fulfilling their end of the deal and submitting content, it will be linked to their profile along with a link. For Creators who join a Campaign and do not post, their account is granted a strike. Three strikes in a year can lead to a ban.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are There Alternatives to Creator Connections?

Absolutely! While Creator Connections can be a tool in any Amazon Sellers toolkit, it's not the only one. The rise of Amazon Seller Networks have allowed Amazon Attribution based affiliate networks to pop up such as Levanta and ArcherAffiliates.

Will I Earn Brand Referral Bonus from Creator Connections?

Amazon Creator Connections is entirely Associates based, so there is no Brand Referral bonus granted. The Brand Referral bonus is something exclusive to the Amazon Attribution program as a reward for bringing off Amazon traffic.

Can I Increase My Campaign Budget After Publishing?

Budgets can be increased after publishing a campaign, however nearly every other aspect of a Creator Connections campaign is unchangeable after publishing.

What's the Maximum Number of Creators Per Campaign?

There's a maximum of 200 creators per campaign.

When Does Creator Connections Budget Leave My Account?

Surprisingly, campaign budget does not leave your bank account upon Campaign Creation. Creator Connections is truly risk free from that perspective. The $5,000 minimum budget is certainly scary to some, but again, this is only paid out fractionally in the event a creator drives a sale.