Categories
Digital Insights

Your go-to guide for the holidays

Some creators sell more during the holiday season than the entire year combined. Make this holiday season your most successful yet. 

It may seem a little overwhelming at first—but we’ve got you. Below, we’ve laid out key dates you can follow to put yourself in the best position possible. Here’s how.

1) Create a holiday product collection

We’ve found certain products sell especially well during the holidays. Here’s what’s been proven to sell the best (based on current trends and recent years):

  • Hoodies (and matching kids hoodies)
  • Premium Tees
  • Mugs
  • Stickers
  • All-Over Print Sweatshirts
  • Leggings
  • All-Over Print Unisex Joggers
  • Stainless Tumblers
  • Tote Bags 
  • Long Sleeve Tees
  • Bucket hats

Design your holiday collection

Spring’s Instagram grid is packed with design inspo, so head over to check it out. Also, don’t forget about all the free design resources available to you.

Aim to create your holiday product collection by October 1st. This will give you enough time to order samples, prepare your content schedule, and maximize sales over the next 3 months. Take note of the Christmas delivery cutoff dates for fans too, so no one misses out. Add new products to your collection just in time for the holidays, and add limited edition holiday designs.  

2) Order samples and x3 your sales 

Once you’ve finished creating, it’s time to promote. Best way: Ordering product samples. Creators who do so sell 3x more than those who don’t. 

That said, we’d recommend ordering your product samples by October 10. This gives you enough time for shipping, then for you to create your promo content. Flick through the samples guide to find out the best ways to use samples to promote your products.

Tag us (@springforcreators)in social content featuring your samples, and don’t forget to use the hashtag #createshareearn for the chance to be featured in our 2021 holiday campaign on Instagram and get more eyes on your brand ✨

Order samples

3) Prepare for Black Friday weekend

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the biggest online shopping days of the year. Creators who offer discounts during this weekend can double their sales. We suggest running sales during those days—creators who’ve done so in the past have doubled their sales. In that, you’ll want to schedule your sales by November 1st, so you’re ready to switch your promotions on in your dashboard when the time comes.

Ready to get started? Check out these tried and true tips for the Cyber weekend. Plus, check out our guide to running a successful sale.   

Prepare promo codes

4) Prepare your store for peak seasonal selling

We’ve got three quick ways to optimize your store for the season: 

  • Feature products in your store: these can get 20% more views on average.
  • Add your branding to your store: stores with custom branding see 35% increase in conversion rates. 
  • Customize your domain: creators with custom domains can sell up to 5x more on average than those who don’t. Also, when you set up a domain with us, you’ll automatically receive an SSL certification, making your store more search friendlier as well as more secure or fans.

We recommend doing all of this by November 1. If you need a good example, see @ashleyooacevedo’s top tips. 

Browse custom domains

5) Keep profits rolling until Christmas with digital products

Okay, we just threw a bunch of dates at you. One thing with a bit of flexibility is digital products. Since these don’t have to actually ship anywhere (fans download immediately), you have up until the holiday itself to sell these products. Ensure your digital products are added to your store ASAP, so you can start promoting right away. Go extra hard on promotions after Cyber Weekend.

Get fans excited with special promotions on holiday themed digital products. Include bonus products (e.g. a free wallpaper background) with their digital product purchase—this is a great way to boost your sales even more.

Find inspo for digital products to create for the holidays, and don’t forget, we’ve got free digital product templates you can download and customize here. 

Create holiday digital products
Categories
Insights

Let’s talk samples

Congratulations on receiving your sample. Now, head out with friends, style them in your products, get snapping—the best way to send fans into a frenzy over your new collection (and increase sales).

So your sample has just arrived—this is the fun part. Paired with your expert content creation skills, they’re sure to increase sales. Like a lot.

Unboxing your sample

Get your community excited by capturing your sample unboxing moment. Once your box arrives, take pictures of yourself opening your package, or share a short video like @exploreeffectgear or @liannefrankel. Sharing teasers gets fans excited that something new is coming. Consider creating a countdown or giving fans a release date to build anticipation for your product launch.

Don’t forget to tag @springforcreators or use the hashtag #createshareearn for the chance to get featured on our Instagram grid. Click below to get started.

Share

Promote on social media

Creators who feature samples in promotional content can increase sales by up to 6x compared to those who don’t. Posting sample imagery on socials is an engaging way to create excitement around your collections. See how other creators are using their samples on our Instagram grid below.

Sample content inspo

Pair social content with a link straight to your listing. Present products underneath your videos using the YouTube Integration, or set up the Instagram Shopping Integration to begin tagging your products in posts (and more). Don’t have access yet? Start using the Linktree Integration, available to all creators right now.

Check out inspo from our top creators killing it on socials below.

6 ways to create content using samples

There’s no one way to create genius, eye-catching content. Our advice? Head to a beautiful spot (like the beach), and unleash some creative genius. You’ll have a blast, and sell some products. Win win. 

Once you’re done, tag us with the hashtag #CreateShareEarn. We’ll feature our favorite promo images on our Spring Instagram feed.

Try your hand at product photography

You don’t always need to be wearing or holding your products to show off the quality of your designs. Sometimes the beauty is in the details. @aestheticallyrica definitely has the right idea.

Show how fans can enjoy your products IRL

Feature your samples in a way that feels natural to you and the style of content your community loves seeing on your feed. Take for example @weretherussos, who put their die cut sticker on the back of their 4×4.

Create video content using your products

For YouTubers, it’s a no brainer. Wear your samples in videos. Instagram creators: videos get more engagement—It’s a known fact. @delta_of_phoenix is a shining example. Featuring samples in TikTok content is always a great way to inspire fans to purchase your products too. Don’t forget to have your Spring store accessible within your Linktree.

Get creative with your imagery

@ashleyooacevedo includes samples in almost all of her Instagram content. Check out how she has photographed her hoodie design and jazzed up her Instagram post with her own illustrative touches. Super cool!

Combine samples and online design templates to promote sales  

Just like @loudmouthpod has below. Hands down, the best way to shout about a promotion on your social media. Choose from hundreds of completely free post templates on Canva, including sample imagery.

Organize a giveaway contest

Samples make it easy for you to run giveaway contests on your social platforms. All you need to do is mail them to the lucky winner. Giveaways are a great way to thank your community for their support and boost engagement on your content.

We created an example using sample imagery below. Head to Canva to get started with yours.

Create a giveaway post

Categories
Insights

3 ways to customize (and optimize) your store

Picture this: you walk into a store, you’ve seen hundreds before like it. Then you go next door—it has a distinct feel. There’s vibrant colors, a catchy name, cool artwork on the walls. Well, the experience with your Spring store is no different. 

A great looking Spring store not only streamlines your fans shopping experience, it compliments the products inside it—making visitors more likely to purchase products. In fact, customizing your store can increase your conversion rates by as much as 35%. 

Take graphic designer and creator Ashley Acevedo, for example. Recently, she has done a total makeover of her custom store. The tagline in her header image sums up the new look, as well as newly launched digital and physical products—it’s hardcore fun. To level up your store like Ashley, here’s the 3 ways to do it: 

  • Add a custom domain
  • Feature social media icons in your navigation bar and store footer
  • Enhance your brand with design customization capabilities

Choose a custom domain 

Connecting a custom domain bumps up your rankings on search engines, making it easy for fans to discover your store, as well as revisit it. 

Ashley knew she wanted her online moniker “ashleyooacevedo” in her domain name—the name she goes by online. That’s how she landed on the domain name ashleyooacevedo.fun— instantly making her products more discoverable. When choosing a domain extension, instead of ‘.com’, she got lucky with ‘.fun’—fitting perfectly with her brand’s slogan, ‘Hardcore Fun’. 

She tells us: “Since changing my domain name, I have seen a massive increase in sales. It really took my shop to another level and it feels so much more my own. My community also really love the catchy name.” 

You can get a custom domain instantly through Spring, or connect one you already own. It’s easy.

Connect a custom domain

Add social media icons

Your store should be an extension of your creator brand—so make sure there are pathways between your social media profiles and your store. With Instagram being her main platform, Ashley did exactly that, adding her Instagram profile link to her store navigation bar and footer. 

Add your social media URLs too, via the Stores tab of your dashboard. To get started, head to the store editor now.

Store editor

Customize your branding and colors 

The fun part—you have the ability to edit the appearance and update branded elements of your custom store with ease, giving you full creative control. Edit your store banner and footer, add a logo, text color, insert buttons, alter your navigation bar, and more. 

Ashley certainly had tons of fun updating hers: “I loved being able to add my own banner and branding! As a graphic designer, it’s really important to me to have my identity anywhere my audience can find me. It’s also super fun to customize my store to fit my style.”

Try it for yourself. Head to the “Stores” section of your dashboard and open up the store editor on the top right. 

We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Get started
Categories
Uncategorized

How a psychology professor took Instagram Shopping by storm

She came, she created, she integrated—now, Christina Costa is reaping rewards from her shop on Instagram.

Christina Costa loves neuropsychology. 

Not only is Christina pursuing her PhD from University of Michigan, she also teaches psychology to both undergraduate and high school students. On top of that, she’s written a book, given a TED talk, and regularly shares educational content with her fans. Even her dog is named Neuro. 

Christina’s so passionate, in fact, that she started creating products to convey the messages most important to her: celebrating neurodiversity and promoting accessibility. 

Sales were going well, and Christina was pleased. And then she integrated her store with Instagram. 

On August 21, Christina posted a photo wearing her “Celebrate Neurodiversity” t-shirt she created with Spring. She tagged the product in her post, so fans could buy from her profile. 

On that day alone, Christina racked up 150 sales of that shirt—her highest number of sales ever in a single day.

The best part—Christina’s not just spreading an important message; many of her proceeds from products are dedicated to cancer research. 

“I love using the Spring feature on Instagram,” Christina says. “It makes it so easy to integrate the products on Instagram and raise money for cancer research!”

You can take advantage, too. Go to your profile and look for the “Add Shop” button. From there, you can tag products in posts, stories, and reels, making it easy for fans to buy right then and there—just like what happened with Christina. If you don’t see the “Add Shop” button, don’t fret—we’re still rolling this integration out for creators and it should be available for you soon. 

Head to your Instagram profile to get started.

Add shop

Categories
News

Spring partners with INFLCR to establish social stores for NCAA athletes – welcoming a new wave of merch for fans

Spring & INFLCR are empowering NCAA athletes to monetize their audience by creating and selling digital and physical products.

San Francisco, August 2021:  Spring (formerly Teespring), the leading creator commerce platform, has just announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with INFLCR , the leading platform for athlete brand building. The innovative partnership gives collegiate athletes easy, compliant access to Spring’s direct-to-consumer sales platform where they can establish their own digital storefront. They will be able to design and sell both digital and physical merchandise, allowing the next generation of sports stars to become creators in their own right, harnessing their direct relationship with fans and nurturing an entrepreneurial spirit.  

Under new NIL laws, the NCAA now allows student-athletes to earn an income from the use of their name, image and likeness. This is the first time student athletes will be able to legally monetize their fan base. This new full-scale ecommerce partnership will equip Teamworks’ and INFLCR’s 100,000+ athlete user base with the most innovative, efficient technologies as well as design support to maximize their brand potential by monetizing via social commerce. 

NCAA athletes can now launch their own branded Spring storefront, filled with physical merchandise, NFTs and digital products, and seamlessly connect their stores via Spring’s industry leading social integrations with the likes of Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. This will reach fans where they interact most with their favourite athletes,  on social media, optimizing their brand potential and helping them to earn an income. Through this partnership athletes will receive a $1.90 discount on core apparel products. 

College World Series Softball Player, Kiersten Landers at Florida State, is among one of the first to launch her Spring store. She says: “It is beyond exciting to be able to engage with my fans in a way I haven’t been able to before, with the support from industry leading partners. I never thought during my time as an NCAA athlete we would be able to monetize under the new NIL laws, and what better way to start this journey than with merchandise?”.

By starting their social commerce venture on Spring, INFLCR’s athletes will receive resources to set them up for success. This includes:  

In-App Education

Spring will provide education on best practices that will live in INFLCR’s Storyteller Playbook, which students can access on-demand via desktop or via the INFLCR app using their mobile device. 

In-App Reporting

All athlete transactions generated with Spring will be reported to the INFLCR Verified Ledger, to cover all required reporting for collegiate athletes. This activity will be updated in real time to ensure athletes do not jeopardize eligibility through their NIL opportunities.

VP of Marketing at Spring, Les Green says: “We are truly excited to be working with INFLCR to empower athletes to create their own merchandise. At Spring we put the creator first and through our industry-leading design capabilities, we look forward to supporting athletes in the creation of both digital and physical merchandise. This partnership will help athletes to harness their relationship with their fans as they step into the creator realm and finally have the opportunity to create additional revenue streams.”

CEO and Founder at INFLCR, Jim Cavale says: “As athletes build their brands and gain rights to monetize their name, image and likeness, we see e-commerce as a natural opportunity for them. Partnering with Spring, the leader in their industry, will put education and opportunity at the fingertips of athletes so they can navigate this new landscape compliantly, to create and sell their own merchandise in a way that content-creators and social influencers have made extremely popular and lucrative.”

As the bridge between creators and commerce, Spring supports, elevates and propels creators forward, not thinking about the new normal, but instead, the ‘new possible’. The introduction of NFTs and digital products to the platform, demonstrates the innovation of Spring’s tools and capabilities, expanding far beyond traditional merchandise. Spring has seen more than 30 creators become millionaires as a result of selling on the platform.

The success of platform social integrations resulted in explosive growth for Spring, with more than 1.3 million verified creators signing up to the platform to build their socially integrated e-commerce stores as of June 2021. New creator growth has exploded by 160%, alongside a 93% growth in the number of creators who are actively selling their products through the platform. 

Categories
Insights

How Connor DeWolfe used Instagram to increase his orders by 60%

The passionate and viral content creator took advantage of Instagram’s shopping features—and has watched his earnings pile up.

Connor DeWolfe creates video content about living with ADHD. His skits are short, relatable, and pretty humorous, educating his fans on what it’s really like to live as a neurodivergent person (and reminding them to drink water). 

As Connor’s platform grew, he wanted to create merchandise too. So he made a bunch of products on our platform, including his now-popular “Bees in my head” design. 

Here was the issue. Connor’s product sales were doing well, but he wanted to reach even more fans. He also wanted fans to be able to find and buy his products without having to click through too many links.

That’s where the Instagram shopping integration came in. 

It was pretty simple. He hit “Add Shop” on his Instagram profile, and with that, he could tag his Spring products in posts, stories, and reels. Fans could seamlessly buy his merchandise right then and there. And sales skyrocketed.

Connor saw orders increase by 60.5% after integrating, with a 56.8% increase in profit.

“The Instagram integration has been a game-changer for marketing my products,” says Connor. “My followers can now see my store without going through a trail of links.”

Other creators can follow suit. Just hit “Add Shop” on your profile to integrate your store, and you’re good to go. If you don’t see that button, no worries—access is rolling this out gradually, so more creators will be eligible soon. For any questions, check out our FAQ page.

Add Shop

Categories
Digital

Go big, go digital: Why Spring is the #1 platform for selling digital products

Over 50,000 creators are already selling digital products with Spring—here’s why.

Digital products are taking over, fast. For one, you can create nearly anything (most folks have a digital product already designed, yet aren’t aware). And two, profit margins are huge.

But the best part? All you have to do is create a product and upload to the launcher—we’ll take care of everything else. Here’s some other benefits:

  • It’s so easy for fans. After they purchase, they’ll get the product in their inbox within minutes. No shipping, no wait times. 
  • Sell more digital products and drive tons of traffic through our integrations like the YouTube merch shelf, Linktree, and more.  
  • We’ve got creator and fan support teams to offer help whenever you need it.

No listing fees, no subscriptions

That’s right—there are zero upfront costs when you launch a digital product with us. Just choose the profit you want to earn and you’re good to go. We’ve also included additional features below, so you can see how Spring stacks up with other platforms. 

Spring pricing structure as of August 31

Remember, our fees are built into the base cost of the product, so they’re only deducted if you make a sale. And you choose your exact profit for each digital product. Click here to learn more about product pricing.

Ready to get started?

Check out these free tools and resources.

  1. Social integrations: With our powerful integrations like the YouTube merch shelf, Linktree store, and others, your fans can shop your products directly from your social accounts and channel.
  2. Free digital product templates: Not a designer? No problem. Use these free, customizable templates to create your high-quality digital products. 
  3. Free product mockups + promotional hacks: Once your product’s ready, create eye-catching content from these tools and templates to help promote them.  
  4. Digital product inspiration: Needing some product ideas? Here are some of the coolest digital products our creators have made on Spring. 
Categories
News

Quality overhaul + pricing update

Important news: Quality overhaul and price update. Here’s what it means for your store and fans moving forward.

We’ll get right to it—we’ve had to increase prices on some products. 

You’ve been forthright in asking us to improve product quality, and that became a major priority for us. So we went heavy on those areas. We’ve tried to hold off on increasing costs as long as possible, but it’s no longer feasible. So after lots of deliberation, we knew it was time to bump up our prices. We’ll explain why.

For one, costs have gone up significantly worldwide for things like raw materials and transportation, especially in the last two years. On top of that, we’ve invested heavily into improving product quality and production. Last year alone, we spent $1.6 million to enhance quality, both internal and external: We’ve upgraded fabric quality on core products, procured more advanced production equipment, made multiple hires to support quality checks, and more. And for those two reasons, we’ve had to increase prices on some of our products. Below you can see just a few of the upgrades we’ve made, and there’s still many more to come. We’ll keep you posted on all that, of course. So expect good things. 

Ultimately, it’s all about providing the best possible product quality for your fans, improving their shopping experience, and ensuring you can maintain great profit margins. 

In the meantime, we’d like to thank you for your support, for your hustle, and for continuing to inspire us. 

Updated price chart

As you’ll notice, prices have changed for many products. Again, this is not only due to the quality upgrades we’ve mentioned, but a direct result of worldwide cost increases in raw materials and product transport. We’ve adjusted the recommended retail price to account for this new update and to help you maintain the profit margins you’re used to seeing.

Digital product pricing

With this update, digital product pricing will also be impacted—our processing fee will change from 10% to 20%. Despite these changes, we’re still keeping prices super competitive. Check out this blog post on why we’re still the top platform to sell digital products.

How to adjust selling prices

We recommend updating your selling prices before the update takes effect on August 31, 2021. This way you’ll be able to set the exact profit margin you want. Please keep in mind any promo codes you’ve created—you’ll want to ensure you’ve got enough margin to support the discount you’re offering.  You can edit prices instantly within the “Listings” section of your Spring account at any time. 

Important note: Once the new pricing updates go live on August 31st, promo codes will not be redeemable on listings that are not profitable. Also, any listings that are not profitable will become inactive once orders are processed—you will need to increase the profit margin of the products in the listing before reactivating it. Learn more here.

Adjust prices

Need help with setting prices? First, check out our new recommended retail prices (RRP) for each product type in the table above. To adjust pricing, head to the Listings section of your Spring dashboard. Go into “Listing Details” next to the listings you want to edit, then edit the prices. Be sure to save your changes before you exit the page.

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Uncategorized

Creator tools beta terms

Subject to all the terms and conditions, policies, rules, guidelines and definitions provided in the Spring “Terms of Service” available at: (https://www.spri.ng/policies/spring-terms-of-service), Spring is offering you an exclusive opportunity to purchase Creator Tools (defined below) during a limited 30-day trial period (“Beta”). 

Participants in the Beta may purchase “Creator Tools” including Design Services, Design Guard and Internet Marketing (each service described below). Creator Tools may be provided by Spring or third parties on its behalf. Upon completion of the Beta, Spring may continue to offer Creator Tools to you at its discretion. Spring may terminate the Creator Tools at any time. To qualify for this limited Creator Tools Beta, you must acknowledge and agree to the following:

  • Payment. For any Creator Tools you wish to purchase, payment will be processed as set forth in the Price and Payment section of the Terms of Service. 
  • Publicity. You may not make any public statements regarding the Creator Tools, including, without limitation, any publication, review, or evaluation, without prior written approval from Spring. 
  • Feedback. If you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions for improving the Creator Tools (collectively “Feedback”), you will provide such Feedback to Spring at the end of the Beta. Spring may use, disclose and otherwise benefit from Feedback in any manner and via any media without restriction, royalty or any obligation to you.
  • No Warranty. All Creator Tools are provided “as-is” and are subject to the disclaimer of warranties set forth in the Terms of Service.
  • Spring Property. As between you and Spring, Spring retains all right, title and interest (including all intellectual property rights) in and to the Creator Tools, including its visual interfaces, graphical design, computer code, documentation and all other elements.

Description of Creator Tools

Design Services: Spring can help develop customized designs for use in other Spring Services (“Designs”). Subject to Spring’s acceptance, Spring will perform design services described in one or more Statements of Work (as defined below). The specific details of the Design Services to be performed will be determined on a per-project basis, and the details for each project will be described in a mutually executed statement of work (each, a “Statement of Work”). To the extent the Designs will include materials provided by you to Spring (“Creator Materials”), you represent and warrant to Spring that you own or otherwise have the necessary rights and consents in and relating to the Creator Materials so that, as received by Spring and used in accordance with these Terms, they do not and will not infringe, misappropriate, or otherwise violate any intellectual property or proprietary rights of any third party or violate any applicable law.

  • Review. In the course of performing the Design Services, Spring will request input on Designs from you, and you will provide such input in a timely manner. You agree that you may only request up to three revisions per Design, and any additional revisions are subject to Spring’s sole discretion.
  • Ownership of Designs. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Terms of Service, all final Designs created for you by Spring, as between you and Spring, will be your sole property. Designs that constitute copyrightable subject matter will be considered “works made for hire” to the extent permitted under the United States Copyright Act. To the extent that ownership of the Designs do not by operation of law vest in you, Spring will assign (or cause to be assigned) and does hereby assign to you all right, title, and interest in and to the Designs, including all related intellectual property rights. You acknowledge that under U.S. copyright law, copyright in each Design extends only to that unique expression of ideas, and not the ideas themselves, and accordingly, agrees that Spring is free to use the same ideas to create similar designs and themes. 
  • License to Designs. You grant Spring (including any third-party providers acting on Spring’s behalf) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable, transferable right and license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works of, communicate, publish, publicly display, publicly perform, distribute, and otherwise exploit the Designs for the purposes of allowing Spring to provide, improve, and promote the Spring Services.

Design Guard: Spring’s Design Guard service provides you with a non-comprehensive report with links of potential similar designs.] The materials and information in a Design Guard report are intended for informational purposes only, are not legal advice, and Spring takes no position on whether any designs may violate third-party rights. A Design Guard report is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. You should not act upon Design Guard report information without seeking advice from a lawyer licensed in your own state or country.

Internet Marketing: Spring’s Internet Marketing services help optimize a Creator’s store in an effort to improve the quality and quantity of website traffic using search engine optimization and other digital marketing strategies. Spring’s Internet Marketing services may help improve traffic or sales but are provided “as is” without any warranties or guarantees as to increased traffic or sales.

Categories
Digital

Free templates and tools for creating digital products

Ready to launch your digital product, but not sure where to start? We’ve got you covered with free design tools, downloads, and templates to kickstart your digital creation.

Digital planners

Create planners like workout schedules, diaries, and to-do lists. We’ve created a customizable template you can make your own, click the button below to open it in Canva and start editing. We’ve also got some cool lifestyle mockups here you can use for product images or promoting on social. 

Create a digital planner

Presets

Select a preset from our Summer Presets Catalog, edit it in Lightroom, and make it your own. Upload your creation to the launcher and add it to your store. Don’t forget you can create eye-catching mockups too—click here to learn more.Click the image below to download the catalog and follow the instructions at the top. 

E-books

Choose from hundreds of unique book cover templates on Canva and lay out your content and imagery using the e-book building tool via the button below. To build an e-book, simply go into the builder, click ‘add page’ at the bottom, and paste in your text and images. 

Alternatively, try combining your e-book cover and pages using Adobe (Indesign, Photoshop)  or Powerpoint. 

Arrange your content

PDF guide or course 

Share skills and knowledge with your community by presenting content using the custom templates linked below. 

Don’t see a template you like on Canva? Either use your expertise in Adobe Indesign or try laying out your content using Microsoft Powerpoint or Google Slides. It’s so easy—just export your slides as a PDF. 

Build a guide