Ready to start sell products on YouTube? It’s your turn. Creators with 1,000 subscribers can unlock the merch shelf, live shopping features, channel stores and more.
As of last week, you only need 1,000 subscribers+ (previously 10,000) can unlock YouTube’s suite of powerful selling features. This is HUGE; more creators than ever will be able to seamlessly engage fans and sell their Spring products on Youtube.
Head to the monetization tab of your YouTube Studio now to see if you’re eligible below.
This is an opportunity not to be missed. If you meet the criteria, waste no time in checking out the video below for a reminder on how to set up the merch shelf. Here’s a short refresher:
YouTube Merch Shelf
Use the merch shelf to showcase your brand and enable fans to browse and purchase your products directly below your videos.
YouTube Store
Create a store on your channel page that features your products, making them easily accessible to your community.
YouTube Live
Drive awareness and excitement around your products during live streams through pinned product announcements on YouTube live.
Learn more about YouTube’s eligibility requirements here.
Creators and their communities care about their impact on the environment—fact. Leading the change for responsible, eco packaging is also Spring’s top priority. That’s why we’ve partnered with EcoEnclose to introduce eco-friendly mailers for you and your fans.
From June 6th onwards, 75% of sample orders and fan packages will be shipped in new and improved recycled poly mailers. New eco poly bags are 91% recycled, 60% of which comes from post-consumer materials. The post consumer waste that we’ll be using comes directly from the blue bins, specifically in the form of a milk jug.
Each and every order will help to save resources, reduce water consumption, and release fewer greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. See the difference we’re making annually by switching our packaging below for all mailers.
EcoEnclose’s CEO explains:
“EcoEnclose is on a mission to make e-commerce a force for positive environmental change. Our partnership with Spring has been an incredible step forward towards that end vision. To us, Spring represents a really exciting new trend in the future of commerce – they have highly localized production, producing small and highly customized runs, all of which elevates the messages of some of the world’s most climate-conscious change makers. It has been amazing working with their team to transition them to more circular and sustainable packaging – packaging that reflects their ethos and the values of the influencers they work with”.
How can I use my sample to get more sales?
Creators who feature samples in promotional content on social media earn as much as 200% more profit from their products, plus, they’re 6x more likely to get a sale. This is your chance to show off your design and showcase the quality of your product.
Pair social content with a link straight to your listing. See if you’re eligible to start using Spring’s integrations, tag your products in your Instagram stories, or connect your store with Linktree here to present your products
Learn more about how to use samples in your content below.
We feel immensely proud to welcome Spring’s new President and COO—former Meta VP of Commerce Partnerships, Annelies Jansen.
With over 25 years of valuable experience in the industry, specifically at Meta (Facebook), Annelies has achieved some incredible things; like launching Instagram Checkout and building a global network of commerce partners across over 20 countries.
Annelies says: “I believe Spring is uniquely placed to be THE commerce platform for creators… Creators are the heart of Spring, and serving their business end to end is unique. My experience in creating, running and building international growth through smart scaling with an ecosystem of partners in a number of businesses, is a right fit for the Spring’s next phase of growth.”
In her new role, Annelies will focus on developing Spring’s partnerships strategy, to drive growth across the core areas of the platform; enhanced tools for creators, distribution and a leading network of global fulfillment partners.
CEO Chris Lamontagne adds; “We are thrilled to welcome Annelies to Spring and look forward to working collaboratively across all areas of the business’ commerce, partnerships and growth operations. Spring’s goal has always been to put the power in the hands of the creator, and with Annelies working by my side, we can continue to ensure this objective is being met.”
We can’t wait to see how Annelies leads and inspires the Spring team, catapulting us forward on our journey to becoming the #1 creator commerce platform.
The Boosted Network is a service that helps amplify creators’ sales by as much as 15% through enhanced promotional efforts. In 2022, we’re focused on harnessing the power of email marketing to help creators capture even more sales.
We originally launched the Boosted Network in 2017 with a heavy focus on advertising and marketplaces (like Amazon, Ebay, etc). However, in the last year, we removed the marketplace element to focus our efforts on unlocking more sales for creators through new advertising channels and effective email marketing tactics. The results? Creators are seeing their sales amplified by as much as 15% thanks to the Boosted Network.
How does it work?
Why is the Boosted Network so powerful? It requires no additional time, effort or upfront investment from you, and helps you generate extra sales. Spring’s marketing experts handle all retargeting efforts through advertisements and email, and you’ll earn a guaranteed profit amount for every sale made.
The Boosted Network works best when you drive fans to your listings and stores. If they don’t purchase your product, we’ll encourage them to come back to your store with curated retargeting efforts such as paid ads, cart abandonment emails, and more.
Email is front and center.
First, we’re expanding and optimizing cart abandonment emails. No carts will be left empty. Over the last weeks of testing, these emails saw an average open rate of 65%+ from fans, and creators are raking in an extra 7% in sales. The more you send fans to your listings, the more chances you’ll have to capitalize on cart abandonment sales.
Next, we’re expanding product recommendation emails for fans. We curate product suggestions based on your fans’ interests and past purchases to increase your repeat buyer rate. We’ll recommend your latest product launch, or other products you’ve created we think they’ll like, so it’s important to create fresh new products that can be featured.
Please note: For now, these new email marketing efforts will feature simple, Spring branded templates. The plan is to incorporate custom creator branding across all buyer marketing emails. We’ll also aim to begin testing buyer marketing SMS in summer 2022.
Optimizing paid promotional efforts
Along with adding email marketing to the mix, we’ve focused specifically on enhancing our paid ad performance. This is an ongoing effort, but recently we have focused on Google and Facebook:
Google: Firstly, we’ve added Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) which means all Spring creators opted into the Boosted Network will notice their products will appear in higher google search results. We’ve improved the feed for Google Shopping too, meaning your listings will appear above competing ads.
Facebook and Instagram: We’ll be paying close attention to the performance of paid ads on Facebook by optimizing the wording, while tweaking the target audience where necessary. Additional changes include updated tracking in light of new iOS14 updates, and we’ve implemented retargeting ads to make your products appear first before others.
Your guaranteed profit
Don’t forget, this service requires no upfront costs, and the fee is only applied if a sale is captured due to boosted marketing efforts. You can find the boosted payout structure below for each product category.
To ensure your products are eligible for the Boosted Network, they must have the minimum profit margin listed below. For example, a sticker with a profit of $1 would not be eligible to be sold on the Boosted Network; it needs to have a profit margin of at least $2 to be eligible.
Boosted profit payout structure for each product category
Now, watch the sales roll in
From May 2nd onwards, email marketing sales will be attributed to the Boosted Network within your account analytics—so expect to see a jump in boosted profit. Check out the screenshot below to see how boosted sales will appear.
Example of how boosted sales will appear in your Analytics
Don’t want to earn extra sales through this service or fancy opting back in? No problem. Just untick the “feature my listings in Spring’s Boosted Network” option within your Spring account settings here to opt-out.
High-quality, one-of-a-kind, custom products for all. Like the sound of that? Here’s what to look out for this spring and beyond.
Last year was one for the books; we rebranded to Spring, hit 8 million+ creators, launched new partnerships, and expanded our product offering. We also made a commitment to provide top quality products to our creators and their fans. One of the ways we plan to empower more creators is to tap into bespoke products like never before—with the help of our brand new Custom Products Team.
Expanding custom product access
In the past, creators have had profound success with bespoke products like board games, NFTs, toys, plushies, and puzzles. Moving forward, we want more creators to dream big; launching everything from their own makeup collections, to candles, coin trays, pin packs, perfumes, jewelry, and even food products like coffees and teas.
Our Custom Products Team is dedicated to building powerful partnerships and creating opportunities for creators to offer one-of-a-kind products to their fans. We’ve also ramped up our digital efforts, removing barriers to exciting new products like NFTs, Metaverse merch, and much more to come.
Base cost adjustments
In tandem with expanding our product line, we also need to make adjustments to our current product offering. Due to increased inflation rates and energy prices, the base cost of several products need to be updated accordingly. This increase enables us 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.
These changes will take effect on June 1st, 2022. You can see impacted product and categories in the table below. You can also reference all product pricing here.
Here’s what to expect:
If you’d like to make adjustments ahead of time, you can edit product prices for your listings within your dashboard. If you prefer to wait, no sweat, here’s how the pricing update will work:
As of June 1st, 2022, the specific cost changes listed in the section above will be applied to new product launches.
For existing products on the list, the base cost will update once the product’s print cycle restarts (following a sale).
After the base cost is updated, if any products have a negative profit margin, we’ll automatically round the selling price up to the nearest $0.99 amount that ensures profitability.
You’ll receive an email notification indicating the products that have been updated so you can make further changes if you like.
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 round up the selling price to the nearest profitable amount, for example $15.99, to ensure there is a positive profit margin.
Don’t forget, if you’re running any promotions make sure you’ve got enough profit margin to support the discount you’re offering. As always, if you have any questions our Creator Experience Team is standing by to help at creatorhelp@spri.ng.
We promised there was more to come for Mint-On-Demand™. While we roll out access to all Spring creators, we’re coming through with additional features. Here’s the latest.
Introducing the Card Template—version 1 of further enhancements to Spring’s NFT launcher. This new update provides a quick and easy way to make your NFT stand out.
Enjoy the ability to choose your background color and crop your artwork to fit the card shape provided. Create your digital collectibles using this optional tool and elevate the appearance of your NFT.
The more exclusive your NFT looks, the more likely it is to sell within minutes—look out for v2 of this enhancement coming soon.
Subscribe and sit back while SpringMark asset protection technology scans 34 popular marketplaces for your content.
Now, you’ve got a secret weapon to help ensure all search engine traffic (and profit) goes to you and your store. See a summary of the benefits below:
Earn what’s yours, avoid losing $10+ whenever a copy of your product is sold
Safeguard your brand and protect fans from low-quality, copycat products
Save time searching for copies of your designs across the internet
How SpringMark works
By signing up to SpringMark’s monthly subscription, you can protect all the listings on your store. We’ll send you weekly reports, as well as real time alerts as soon as we detect any potential copies. If we don’t find any problematic uses of your design, happy days. If we do, you’ll be able to review and report content using quick links provided.
Create with Spring, sell on the App Store. It’s all about connecting digitally—so we’re removing barriers for creators like you to expand the reach of your brand and tap into new products and platforms.
We’re excited to announce iMessage Stickers as the first digital product Spring creators can sell on Apple’s App Store. Since the initial beta release, many creators have seen fans go wild for this new product. One creator in particular even made it into the UK’s top trending app charts (more on that below).
Giving you the ability to share your digital content using innovative tools and channels means it’s easier than ever for you to stay current in the creator space. Spring’s CEO, Chris Lamontagne, says:
“By integrating with Apple’s App Store, we are able to build a brand new paradigm for creators, offering creatives a new way to interact with their community of fans and followers digitally. This addition has been created following Spring’s aim to start setting future digital trends within the creator economy.”
In a constantly evolving creator commerce world, iMessage Stickers mean you can expose your products in spaces you haven’t before—even off social media. First, they’re an affordable option for fans to engage with and support you. Second, they’re a fun way to create a network effect.
We’re rolling out access to iStickers on a case by case basis, once you’ve gained access we’ll notify you via email. Until then, let us know you’re interested in this exciting new product using the form below.
Comic book creator and illustrator @SiberianLizard is one of Spring’s most recent iMessage Sticker success stories. After adding her first sticker pack to the App Store, she immediately sold over 100 sticker packs in just 7 days. Her digital product reached No.1 in the UK charts, and ranked #14 on the Top Paid iMessage app list. How’s that for brand exposure? Following Siberian Lizard’s huge success, she’s currently working on her second Sticker Pack.
This is just the beginning. Soon, we’ll be inviting creators to try out this new way of selling, and we’re looking forward to seeing the impact it has on their brand and communities.
Sound good? Let us know if you’re interested below.
Harnessing the power of the Spring x Instagram integration, Matt Meagher sold close to 11,000 hoodies totaling $600,000 in sales. Here’s how he did it.
It all started with an accidental tweet. While adding his new, Spring hoodie to his Shop on Instagram, Matt mistakenly published a tweet linking to the product in his Spring store. He immediately deleted it, but within 24 hours had generated 187 orders. Energized by the reaction of his fans, he quickly added the product to his Shop on Instagram, tagged it in a post, and sold over 739 ($40,000 worth of hoodies) in just 24 hours.
Motivated by the success of his first launch, he decided to leverage the full suite of tools available through Shops on Instagram to supercharge his sales… generating a total of $600,000 and 10,855 purchases in just 2 drops.
Matt’s next launch featured the same product, but this time he offered two color options and came prepared with a solid content plan; using integration features like product tags, a scheduled launch, and promoted on Instagram live. These tools enabled him to smash his original sales record by more than 110%—his sales totaled $116,000 in the first 24 hours.
Clearly, leveraging the full power of the Spring x Instagram integration works.
Scheduling a product launch through his shop caused 8,000 fans to set reminders and catch the moment. Hyping up the hoodie on Instagram Live allowed Matt to connect directly with fans, show off the new hoodie, and pin a clickable product tag to his Live in real time. Live Shopping features meant fans got shouted out in-chat every time a hoodie was purchased.
Matt used all these features in perfect succession; product tagging, a scheduled live drop, and going Live on Instagram—see it in action below.
Fans dialed into both product drops by reposting his content, as well as showing off their new hoodies in their own posts. Matt reshared them all—encouraging more engagement, and even more sales coming through his Shop on Instagram.
This is an incredible example of just one creator harnessing the power of the Spring x Instagram Integration. Matt has set the highest record of Spring sales through selling on Instagram, but this is only the beginning. Get inspired by the full journey below and learn more about the integration.
It’s been a privilege to watch our exceptional creators and partners grow, evolve, and succeed in 2021. Let’s reflect on the best bits.
With over 8 million Spring creators, spread over 120 different countries, and a mindblowing 16+ billion fans—there’s a lot to celebrate this year. Thank you for your hustle, we’re glad to have supported and grown with you. Read on to see our top 10 moments of 2021 (and some 2022 sneak peaks).
The Spring brand
Teespring becomes Spring
The end of 2021 marks the end of our first chapter as Spring. Our evolution from Teespring to Spring in February 2021 solidified our pledge to supporting you, our creators. With 2,400 people joining our platform every day—this was an exciting time. Since then, together, Spring has been an unstoppable force in carving the way for future creator commerce.
8 million creators milestone
To finish 2021 on a celebratory note, we said a big thank you to you. Spring’s CEO, Chris Lamontagne, said:
“I am humbled to announce there are over 8,000,000 creators on the Spring platform. Together, we’ve created moments so magical, they go beyond followers and likes—thank you, for allowing us to share in the joy you bring fans all over the world”. Moving the party to Instagram stories, Spring creators shared their most memorable moments, using the “Add Yours” sticker.
Creator success
The Moriah x Rubik’s cube collab
Spring’s product offering continued to evolve in 2021. There’s one brand collaboration that specifically stands out: in March, creator Moriah Elizabeth announced a surprise, never-been-done-before product launch: a fully customized Rubik’s cube. It was the first-ever collaboration between a creator and Rubik’s, and generated an enormous response, becoming the most successful product Moriah has ever launched.
Matt Meagher—40K in a day
We saw unbelievable success over the holiday season when Instagram announced they would be giving creators 100% profits for all products sold through Instagram checkout. Matt Meagher: got the memo and gave it a try. After sharing one post on Instagram and tagging his new hoodie design, he made $40,000 in a single day—keeping every single cent.
Product feature updates
New creator tools
We brought you tools to help power your success and enhance your brand. As well as giving store customization a full revamp, we also added custom domains. Ever since, you’ve reaped the benefits. To name just a few; products featured in custom stores got 20% more views on average, conversion rates increased by up to 35%, and those with a custom domain sold 5x more.
This year, we focused our efforts on changing the look and feel of the Spring platform. Focusing on the overall design, we made the experience cleaner for you to navigate. You can now choose and order samples in one swoop, manage your payouts and subscriptions in one place, and continue to create products with ease. We also refreshed the checkout process, introduced brand new sample boxes, plus added Afterpay for fans at checkout. The best part: there’s much more to come in 2022, so keep an eye out.
Partnerships and integrations
The Instagram Integration
We’ve armed you with everything you need to engage your fans and promote your products natively within your creative content—but in June, we levelled up Instagram creators with long awaited Shops on Instagram. 13,000 creators now have access to the powerful product tagging features.
In June, we proudly partnered with Linktree, the leading link-in-bio platform. With this, you were able to give fans the ability to browse your products or head to your full Spring store—all from your Linktree in your social media bio. Seamless shopping for them, tons of new traffic for you. Since then, most Spring creators are still utilizing this powerful integration.
In August, Spring partnered with INFLCR to establish Spring stores for NCAA athletes. This was a huge moment: Empowering the next generation of sports stars to become creators in their own right, harnessing their direct relationship with fans and nurturing an entrepreneurial spirit. The innovative partnership gave athletes easy, compliant access to Spring’s platform, where they could build their own store and engage with fans.
Expanded products
Digital products take off
Spring is the #1 platform to sell digital products. With 600% sales growth since January, there’s now over 65,000 digital creators transforming their content into downloadable assets (88,000 digital products, to be specific). You’ve blown us away with your ingenuity; DIY creators have shown up with pop-up shed manuals, basketball champions have taught fans to jump higher with digital guides. We’ve seen meditation audios, 3D printing files, ferret feeding e-recipes and downloadable cheese making courses.
Alongside the unprecedented growth of digital products, in May, we added NFTs to the mix. Sapien Medicine became the most successful digital creator ever on Spring. In fact, they’ve seen a 38% increase in profits since expanding beyond just physical products. Sapien offered a range of digital art and audio file NFTs, and racked up $50,000 within two minutes of the exclusive drop, selling out. Keep posted for more—NFT’s will be available to more creators in 2022.
Tapping into accessories
This year, we aimed to give you a variety of trending new products, focusing on accessories. From bucket hats to wine tumblers, pint glasses to Airpod cases, and black mugs to backpacks—you’ve been busy creating all of them.
Along with the rebrand announcement in February, we came through with a product quality overhaul. Along came AS Colour, a roaring success with all Spring creators ever since. From material, feel, appearance, optimal surfaces for printing, and long lasting quality, AS Colour products have lived up to expectations.
There’s lots more to come. A few updates we’re looking forward to; rolling out a fresh new look for the platform, technology to protect your designs, expanding accessibility to NFT’s, and more. We’re excited to have a fully refreshed look next year. We’re excited to explore new ways to revolutionize creator commerce, our hope is that you will continue to grow alongside us in 2022.
