For those who gave feedback about challenges designing hats, we heard you loud and clear.
Without further adieu, we’d like to officially introduce THE HAT STUDIO – Where creators can create and sell hats in minutes.
Just in time, too, because hats are the most in demand item on Spring, especially this time of year. Spring’s Hat Studio offers high-quality embroidered hats for creators, and each hat is made to order.
What led to this?
We realize that designing hats on Spring was a complicated journey, one that required considerable resources, making it difficult for most creators to successfully launch. So we took a slow and complicated tool and improved it. The previous hat-creation process is now gone! *applause*
Here’s how The Hat Studio works:
Find hats in the Launcher
Select the hat style you’d like to customize
Upload your design (simple works best) or choose from the free design library
Input other details (price, title, description)
Publish
Listing goes live
Voila! Hats are now in play and you are ready to promote.
What we improved
First off, there are no digitization fees, it’s mobile-friendly, and it’s available to all creators. There are new colorways and styles (with even more styles coming very soon). It’s an instant launch and it’s FREE!
Basically, the Hat Studio is the ultimate tool to make more money with higher quality hats.
Why hats make the perfect merch choice
As we said, hats are a top choice of shoppers on our platform. Besides being popular, there are a myriad of reasons to use hats to build your fan base. Here are a few fun ideas:
Use hats to foster team spirit (“team” logos are fun)
Autograph hats for personalization or exclusive giveaways
Design Holiday-themed PomPom beanies (perfect for gifting)
Test different concepts in front of your fans so they can vote for their favorite
Check out some of our Hat styles
Popular existing styles but with new color palettes:
Dad Hat
Snapback
Beanie
Trucker
Get excited for new styles Coming Soon:
PomPom Beanie
Otto 5 Panel
Bucket Hat
Tie Dye Dad Hat
We’re thrilled to offer this power tool for our creators. For some useful Hat Studio tips, check out our Embroidery Style Guide blog and happy hat selling!
Spring has always been committed to empowering creators with actionable data to make informed decisions about their brand. Today, we have taken another stride in that direction with SpringBoard.
What is SpringBoard?
SpringBoard is a new feature, available in each creator’s Dashboard, that helps the creator see how they rank among their peers on Spring based on their activity and performance on the platform.Â
How is it calculated?
Spring understands how complex it is to run a successful creator brand. Thus, a score is calculated for each creator based on a combination of multiple factors:
Activity: Does the creator stay current with the newest social media and eCommerce trends with regular product launches?
Quality: Has each new launch by the creator successfully found an engaged fan base?
Scale: With stories, posts, or tweets, how much store virality has the creator been able to drive to their store?
All the above factors are weighted and combined to create a score (between 0-100) for each creator. If a creator is in the “Top 10%” or 90th percentile, the creator has a higher cumulative score than 90% of creators on Spring.
How often is SpringBoard updated?
The score and percentile are computed daily based on the creator’s performance in the last 7 days on a rolling basis.
Eligibility, how do I participate i.e. see myself on the SpringBoard?
Creators who meet any of the criteria below are eligible to be a part of SpringBoard:
If you have signed up to the platform in the last 7 days
If you have launched a product in the last 7 days
If you have made a sale in a last 7 days
If you have purchased an Upgrade in the last 7 days
Note: If you satisfied any of the eligibility criteria today, you can expect to be present in the SpringBoard for a period of 7 days starting tomorrow.
Who can I contact if I have doubts or concerns about SpringBoard?
For any queries, please email us at creatorhelp@spri.ng.
Since November is about giving thanks, we’re giving away cash prizes with our first annual HOLIDAY CONTEST to reward our hard-working creators!
You read that right. We’re offering cash prizes to the Spring creators who make the most sales off of promo codes during Black Friday & Cyber Monday.
We’ve crafted a quick Q&A primer about the contest below, but be sure to check out our official Contest Rules HERE for all the specifics.
Spring’s Holiday Contest Q&A
Can I Enter?
Yes. In fact, you’re already entered because all current Spring creators are automatically eligible to participate! That’s right, you don’t have to enroll, opt in, or attend any Zooms. If you are a current Spring creator, you’re in.*
*Must be a legal resident of the United States, the District of Columbia, Canada (excluding residents of Quebec), the United Kingdom, or Australia, and are at least 18 years old at the beginning of the contest period.
Who Do I Compete Against?
You’ll compete against other similarly ranged creators. We decided to even the field and split participants into groups as follows:
Those who sold over 85 units in Q3 (GROUP 1)
Those who sold under 85 units in Q3 (GROUP 2)
When Does the Contest Take Place?
The contest is happening in 2 Rounds! That’s 2 chances to win! Please note that all times are Eastern Standard Time so you can take advantage of every minute.
ROUND 1 BLACK FRIDAY: Starts Midnight (EST) November 24, 2022 and ends 11:59 PM (EST) November 27, 2022
ROUND 2 CYBER MONDAY: Starts Midnight (EST) and ends 11:59 PM (EST) November 28, 2022
Whats the Prize Again?
Cash, baby! Here’s the breakdown:
ROUND 1/Group 1 winner gets $10,000!
ROUND 2/Group 1 winner gets $3,000!
ROUND 1/Group 2 winner gets $1,500!
ROUND 2/Group 2 winner gets $500!
How Does Spring Determine the Winner?
The creator who accumulates the most points within the Round will be the winner. So how do you get points? Each sale in your Spring store by a buyer off of a promo code = 1 POINT. The creator with the most points at the end wins.**
**Winners will be notified by email and may be required to confirm their Eligibility within 3 business days of the date on the notification or an alternate winner may be selected.
So What’s the Fine Print?
Here’s a bunch of other stuff you should know:
You must currently be a Spring Creator to be eligible.
Only product purchases made (and paid for) using an authorized promo code during the contest window, from listings within your Spring account, will count as promoted sales under this Contest.
Orders from buyers that are returned or canceled will not be counted for the purposes of this Contest.
You don’t need to buy anything yourself in order to enter or win. Your purchases will not increase your chances of winning. Winners are determined entirely by promoted sales to buyers, subject to the rules and conditions listed in the rules.
There is no limit to how many different promo codes you may implement. Keep in mind sales made under separate or multiple storefronts or user accounts will not be combined.
Be sure to sell products at or above any applicable minimum sale price requirement (including the promo code discount). Units sold below the minimum sale price (including discount) will not be counted for the purposes of this Contest.
For more specific rules and all the nitty-gritty click HERE.
GET THOSE PROMO CODES READY
Need a refresher on how to prepare promo codes and redeem them? You can instantly create different types of promo codes and offer discounts all within your Spring dashboard. Check out our How-To Video.
And if you’d like some guidance on a solid Black Friday Weekend strategy, promotional imagery, top holiday promo hacks, creating a calendar, and preparing promo codes, read our Black Friday Road Map blog.
Merchandise integration will provide OnlyFans Creators with an additional tool to build out their businesses and monetize to their fans.
London, UK (17 November 2022) – In keeping with its mission to empower creators from all genres to own their potential, OnlyFans has today announced that it has integrated Amaze Software, Inc’s Spring platform into its creator ecosystem, allowing creators to sell personalized merchandise to their fans on the platform for the first time.
From today, OnlyFans Creators will be able to connect their Spring stores directly to their profile pages. This integration allows OnlyFans Creators to create and sell physical and digital merchandise, such as T-shirts, calendars, and puzzles, directly to their fans on OnlyFans. Creators who open a Spring store can seamlessly integrate it within their OnlyFans profile, making it easier to connect fans to their products and further grow their business.
BKFC fighter and model Paige VanZant was one of the first OnlyFans creators to take advantage of the Spring store feature. Paige has designed a wide variety of custom merchandise–stickers, notebooks, backpacks, and apparel–which are now for sale direct to her fans through her OnlyFans profile.
This new e-commerce integration is part of OnlyFans’ commitment to adding features – like the recent Statistics page, which helps creators make informed business decisions and monetise their creative output.
OnlyFans CEO Ami Gan said, “Our creator community was looking for merchandise options to be able to share another side of their business with fans. As a creator-first organization, there are over 3 million creators on OnlyFans, meaning over 3 million small businesses now have access to a new monetisation tool.”
Aaron Day, CEO of Amaze, said: “Amaze cares about creator monetization, and by bringing new products and functionality, we put the power in the hands of the creator. This integration with OnlyFans enables a whole set of motivated creators with a new revenue stream and opportunity to connect with their fans in a new, innovative way.”
OnlyFans Chief Strategy & Operations Officer Keily Blair said, “Integrating a choice of e-commerce options for OnlyFans creators reflects the important role OnlyFans plays in the creator economy. By choosing to focus on integrations that support our creators’ businesses, we are ensuring a creator-first approach to strategic partnerships and platform growth.”
BKFC fighter and model Paige VanZant said, “I’m super excited to announce that I have a brand new Spring store merch collaboration coming out! I can’t wait to connect with you all through this amazing opportunity!”
It’s easy for OnlyFans creators to begin designing and selling their merchandise on their Spring store. To start, creators simply go to www.spri.ng to open an account, connect the OnlyFans integration, and upload their designs, which can be applied to over 120 available products–from apparel, to stickers and puzzles. Additionally, creators can use Spring to sell any other products they’ve produced outside of Spring’s print-to-order service.
Next, they can connect their Spring accounts to their OnlyFans profile using their unique Spring store URL. As a result, an embedded, scrollable storefront will automatically appear on their OnlyFans profiles. This way, fans won’t have to leave their favorite creator’s OnlyFans profile to peruse their merchandise. When they’re ready to make a purchase, fans will be directed to the creator’s storefront on Spring to complete the transaction.
About OnlyFans
OnlyFans is the subscription social platform revolutionising creator and fan connections. Inclusive of creators from all genres, OnlyFans provides creators the opportunity to control and monetise their content as they develop authentic connections with their fanbase. Since being founded in 2016, OnlyFans has paid out over $10 billion (USD) in creator earnings and established itself as the go-to platform for 220 million users and over three million creators worldwide.
About Amaze Software Inc.
Amaze Software, Inc. provides creator success solutions, including a merchandising platform, advanced commerce design application, and scalable managed services, to help anyone sell anything, anywhere.
We believe anyone can be a creator and everyone should be empowered to tell their unique story, cultivate deeper connections, and create authentic, shoppable experiences that allow them to monetize their passion.
Our mission is to unleash potential, making it easy to create, share, and sell products and services. Learn more and sign up for a free account at www.amaze.co and www.spri.ng.Press inquiries – info@amaze.co
SAN FRANCISCO, November 8, 2022 – Amaze Software Inc. is excited to announce the acquisition of Spring’s best-in-class merchandising platform.
We believe that anyone can be a creator and that creators play an important role in how we learn, connect, and find joy. We take our role to innovate on behalf of the creative economy seriously–enabling creators and creative entrepreneurs to unleash the potential of their content and connections with authentic, shoppable experiences that allow them to sell anything, anywhere.
Looking to the future, combined core capabilities will provide brands and creators with an expanded toolset that will help them drive success through unique opportunities to engage more authentically with customers, create products, and merchandise across social spheres.
Recent creator solutions launched include expansions of YouTube, TikTok, and Meta social commerce integrations, the Sam’s Club Photo and Customization platform, and SpringMark, which offers the ability to protect and manage creator’s designs. Launching soon is a simplified Amaze user experience streamlining page creation, access to expanded design services and the Spring Hat Studio, where creators can instantly create and merchandise embroidery.
Spearheading the acquisition is Aaron Day, Chief Executive Officer of Amaze Software Inc. Aaron has extensive experience successfully leading large corporations, most recently as an executive at Canva. His in-depth knowledge of the creator economy has helped Amaze step out as an industry leader by building better and more comprehensive solutions for creator commerce.
“This acquisition will accelerate Amaze’s ability to enable creator success and monetize their passions. Pairing Spring’s 5.5M new creator stores with the leadership team’s vast social commerce, merchandising, and marketing experience–hailing from the likes of Adobe, Meta, Roblox, and Walmart–Amaze now has the ability to bring even more value to the creator economy,” said Aaron Day, CEO.
Joining Aaron on the leadership team is Spring’s former CEO, Chris Lamontagne, who will take on the role of President and lead the Creator Community and Commerce Group, and Annelies Jansen, who will become the Chief Business Officer.
Continuing their leadership roles at Amaze are Laura Haines, Chief Product Officer, and Amelia Shepard, who will step into the Chief Marketing Officer role, managing marketing, eCommerce, and customer service teams.
About Amaze Software Inc.
Amaze Software, Inc. provides creator success solutions, including a merchandising platform, advanced commerce design application, and scalable managed services, to help anyone sell anything, anywhere.
We believe anyone can be a creator and everyone should be empowered to tell their unique story, cultivate deeper connections, and create authentic, shoppable experiences that allow them to monetize their passion.
Our mission is to unleash potential, making it easy to create, share, and sell products and services. Learn more and sign up for a free account at www.amaze.co and www.spri.ng.
The unofficial start to holiday shopping is the day after Thanksgiving, popularly known as Black Friday. But we like to think of it as Green Friday because some creators sell more during the holiday season than the entire year combined! Make this holiday season your most successful yet by planning your Black Friday promotions in advance so you can increase traffic and sales during this pivotal time.
From designing holiday products, to ordering samples and then setting up promo codes, the weeks leading up to Black Friday are vital. Don’t worry if it seems overwhelming—we’ve boiled it down to 3 Simple Steps to Prep for Black Friday!
Your first thought might be, “What is a content & sales calendar?”Seeing your different promotions outlined on a calendar will help you keep track of what you are offering and when. Especially as you might (and should) run multiple sales leading up to Black Friday. For example, you might do a huge sales push the week before, or offer several pre-sales in the weeks leading up—or both!
Here is a suggested timeline:
By November 1st – Create your promotions in your dashboard so that you can switch them on when the time comes.
Early November – Include hints in your social content about upcoming sales and promos.
Mid November – Build excitement & anticipation with pre-sale benefits (like giveaways).
The week before – run mini sales leading up to Black Friday to catch the early bird shoppers.
TIP – Run different promo types leading up to Black Friday, such as free shipping in the days leading up and then switch to percentage discounts for your day-of sales.
Black Friday – Announce your sale on socials! Offer a percentage discount promo (i.e. 15% off) through Cyber Monday to maximize sales. See how other creators do it here.
December 1st onwards – Start offering digital products as there are no logistics or shipping deadlines to worry about.
DID YOU KNOW THAT FANS WHO VISIT A STORE OFF A PROMO CODE LINK ARE 25% MORE LIKELY TO PURCHASE?
It’s an opportunity you can’t afford to pass up. When you choose to promote your products on social media, it’s good to have a promo code. As we said earlier, these can be planned in advance and switched on when you’re ready. Make sure to have different promo codes for different times – it helps with tracking, what is working, etc.
Don’t fret—making promo codes is super easy! You can create them within the Promotions section of your dashboard. Line up your promo codes in advance and follow your calendar as to when they will activate. Find out more about creating promotions here.
Promo codes can be applied to all of your products. Reminder: You’ll need to ensure there’s enough profit margin to support the promo—no matter what product is being purchased, so do that math ahead of time.
Why does your social content need to include your sales and promotions? It turns a fan into a shopper then into a customer. And there are a few proven tactics to maximize fans’ attention:
Create effective promotional content. Canva is a great tool for creating eye-catching images on social media. Choose from hundreds of templates—just don’t forget to include the promo code, the dates your sale will run, and the discount type. You can also sign up with 20% off using Spring’s partnership with Placeit to create sale announcements.
Feature samples. Crazy Stat Time! Creators who show off samples in promotional content earn as much as 200% more profit from their products! That’s a no brainer. Tag @springforcreators and use the hashtag #CreateShareEarn for the chance to be featured on Spring’s socials.
Use integrations. Make sure fans can easily find your store. Pair social content with a link straight to your listing. Use the YouTube Integration, which shows your products underneath the videos, or set up the Instagram Shopping Integration to tag your products in posts. For an easy start, Sprint’s Linktree Integration is available to all creators.
It’s time to stop reading and start promoting. Your Holiday Customers are waiting! As always, hit us up with any questions at creatorhelp@spri.ng. We’re here for you:-)
You will notice an updated look and feel to the store experience across mobile and desktop. These updates are already showing improved conversion rate results.
Whenever you drive traffic to a listing or make a bunch of sales, a cool widget will appear calling the increase in engagement. This will drive FOMO within your community and further boost sales.
This new product shelf encourages fans to buy something else when adding a product to the their cart. Just another way we are helping you drive more sales on the Spring platform.
Spring is constantly working to source the highest quality and most economically priced products for you and your fans.
Due to rising inflation and the ongoing global supply chain crisis, we need to increase some of our base prices in order to maintain quality products and services.
If you’re running any promotions, you must make sure your product is profitable at the discounted price.
If you do not take any action, Spring will automatically adjust the selling price up to the nearest $0.99 amount that ensures profitability (example below)
These changes will take effect September 27, 2022. You can see the example product and categories in the table below. You can also reference product pricing here.
What you can expect
As of September 27, 2022, cost changes will be applied to new product launches.
For affected products, the base cost will update once the product’s print cycle restarts (following a sale).Â
After the base cost is updated, if any products have a negative profit margin, we’ll automatically update the selling price up to the nearest amount ending in $0.99 that ensures profitability (for example, if your product has a selling price of $15.00 but has a negative profit margin because of the update to the base cost, we’ll change the selling price to $15.99 to ensure a positive profit margin).
You’ll receive an email notification indicating the products that have been updated so you can make further changes if you like.
These base cost increases will enable Spring to continue offering key features and services like order processing, production, shipping and handling, not to mention our in-house support teams who love to assist you and your fans as illustrated below.
We are heads down here at Spring making improvements to the platform, and so we wanted to share some of the recent updates.
We aren’t stopping here though, and are always listening to your feedback, so keep an eye out for more exciting updates over the coming weeks as we head into the holiday season.
You can now simply create and activate a promo code right after you’ve launched a new listing. Promote your products and drive more sales in a couple of clicks!
We’ve made it even easier to start selling on social platforms using our powerful integrations. You will find these cards pointing you in the right direction, on the dashboard and straight after you launch a new product listing.
We’ve added a bunch of new products for you to customize and have made it easier to access the best sellers and latest additions. More products coming soon!
Spring is thrilled to announce that Rodrigo Velloso has joined the company as our first ever Vice President of Creator Success – a new role established to cement Spring’s commitment to the creator community. With creators at the core of all business operations and strategy, his main focus will be to ensure Spring creators successfully engage, grow, activate, monetize and authentically connect with their communities by using the platform.
Rod’s experience and track record of success in establishing and sustaining relationships with strategic partners and content creators alike will be an asset to Spring’s leadership team. He has led teams across several multi-international corporations, including Google, YouTube, Redbubble, Roblox and Twitter, whereby his roles have largely focused on content and partnerships within the general creator economy space.
As VP of Creator Success, he will be responsible for the continued success of Spring’s users and the business in delivering its value proposition to creators and other strategic partners. Rodrigo will be instrumental in organising the Spring team and resources to make certain creators achieve their objectives, across areas of creator management, success, support and growth. As VP of Creator Success, Rodrigo will look to maintain and expand the distance between creators’ needs and the platform’s capabilities, where Spring is always one step ahead.
Here’s some more about him in his own words:
What led you to Spring? Rod: What brought me to Spring was the opportunity to take-on a creator-centric leadership role at a creator-centric, late-stage startup that has great traction, outstanding creator and platform partners, incredible potential to scale and a visionary leadership team. Chris Lamontagne has built an incredibly solid foundation for the business since I first worked with him in 2018 and brought in an accomplished commerce platform leader to take it to the next level in Annelies Jansen. I’m excited to join them on our mission to take Spring to the next level.
What will your new role as VP of Creators encompass? Rod: As VP of Creator Success, my primary role is to ensure that Spring creators accomplish their evolving fan community development objectives using the Spring platform. Creators today want to engage, retain, grow, activate, monetize, delight and authentically connect with their communities. The physical and digital products, services and content they provide are all key elements of those relationships. Creators want increasingly sophisticated capabilities to address those opportunities in ways that are innovative, differentiated, integrated, fan-friendly and sustainable. My role is to keep Spring’s finger on the pulse of creator needs and requirements and work with mine and other teams at the company to make sure that we are responding to creators to the best of our ability and staying ahead of their needs. A key part of that, for which I’m excited to take responsibility, are Springs creator platform integration partnerships with YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Twitch as well as creator tools and services partnerships we are developing and excited to announce soon.
What is your vision for Spring in the long-run? Rod: I believe that branded clothing, adornments and objects are the among most tangible and meaningful connections that can be forged between creators and their communities. They are also building blocks of the bonds formed among community members which, in turn, attract others to the community. We all want to belong and merch has always been a big part of our cultural symbolism of community (long before it was called merch). So, my vision for Spring is that we are building the world’s first and best creator community building and monetization platform. To me, that’s the natural evolution of creator commerce and the logical next step of Spring’s journey as a business.
