Shopify Collabs

Shopify Collabs Affiliate Programme Experts

Shopify Collabs is the app Shopify built for running a creator and affiliate programme. You publish an application page, invite creators directly with personalised offers and gifts, give approved creators their own links and discount codes, and pay commission automatically through your Shopify bill. It installs free on every Shopify plan except Starter and Retail.

One change catches out older advice: Collabs has stopped accepting new creator sign-ups. Creators with existing brand partnerships can still use it, and direct invites and applications still go through, but the pool isn't growing. That makes recruitment and offer design the skilled part of the job. It usually sits with an affiliate or creator programme manager, or a social and content marketer who has run a programme before.

Where nobody below is the right fit, the social media and content marketing services listed at the end handle the same programme work. A short brief should name the creators you already work with, your commission and gifting budget, the markets you sell in, and whether Network Intelligence is on.

The work behind a Shopify Collabs programme

Collabs supplies the plumbing: application page, links, codes, gifts and payouts. Building a programme creators want to join is judgement rather than settings: who gets invited, what they're offered and how you'll know it worked.

Profile and application page. Writing the brand profile creators see, building the custom application page, picking the survey questions applicants answer from your online store page, and setting the target markets you want creators in.

Offers and commission. Designing commission offers that suit your margins, and deciding whether to switch on an open access programme, which offers instant commission to Collabs creators.

Recruitment and emails. Building a target list, sending direct invites with personalised offers and reviewing applications against clear criteria. The invitation, welcome and decline emails are editable, and a %firstname% tag drops in each creator's first name, so an expert rewrites the defaults in your brand's voice.

Gifting, links and codes. Choosing which products go out as gifts and tracking them through Shopify, then issuing personalised affiliate links and discount codes to each approved creator so their sales can be traced back to them.

Payouts and reporting. Setting up automatic commission payments, checking every creator has activated auto-payouts on their side, and reporting on affiliate sales so you can see which partnerships pay their way and which only cost gifts.

Finding a Collabs programme lead

Hire for programme experience over app experience. The Collabs admin is quick to learn. Knowing which creators actually move product for a brand like yours, and what to offer them, is not.

Ask what they'd offer first. A good candidate proposes a starting commission and gifting approach based on your margins and price points, and explains how they'd adjust it after the first month. A vague answer here means a vague programme later.

Ask where the creators will come from. With new sign-ups paused, the answer has to be direct invites and your own application page, aimed at people who already know the brand. Anyone pitching a big, growing creator marketplace inside Collabs is working from old information.

Red flags. Promised sales figures or follower targets before they've seen your catalogue. A plan with no reporting rhythm. A plan built entirely on the open access programme, with no hand-picked creators at all.

Start with a pilot. A sensible paid first task covers the application page, invites to a shortlist of creators you approve, and one gifting offer. You see their outreach style and the response rate before you commit to a retainer.

Before you set up Shopify Collabs: plans, privacy and payouts

Check the plan first. Collabs works on all Shopify plans except Starter and Retail. A store on either has to change plan before any programme work makes sense, so an expert confirms it before quoting.

Network Intelligence is required. Collabs needs Shopify Network Intelligence enabled in the store's privacy settings. That's the owner's privacy decision, so an expert raises it early rather than flipping it quietly.

No new creators are joining. Collabs isn't accepting new creator sign-ups at this time. Creators with existing brand partnerships can keep using the app, merchants can still send direct invites, and applications can still be accepted. Plans that count on discovering fresh creators inside the app need rethinking.

Payments changed in January 2024. Manual commission payments were discontinued on 8 January 2024. Commissions now go out automatically through your Shopify bill, and a creator only gets paid once they've switched on auto-payouts themselves. When a creator reports a missing payout, check that setting before anything else.

Applications come through your store. Applicants answer the survey questions you set from a page on your online store, so the application page is part of the site and should be linked where creators will find it: footer, about page, social bios. An expert checks it works on mobile before inviting anyone to apply.

Collabs programmes merchants ask for help with

Work on Collabs usually lands in one of these projects, often several in sequence.

Programme launch

Profile, application page, survey questions, target markets and a first commission offer

Creator outreach

Direct invites with personalised offers to creators you've chosen yourself

Gifting run

Selecting products, sending gifts through Shopify and tracking each one

Links and codes

Personalised affiliate links and discount codes for every approved creator

Payout setup

Automatic commission payments plus auto-payout checks with each creator

Programme reporting

Affiliate sales reporting that shows which partnerships earn their commission

Collabs questions from Shopify brands

How do I use Shopify Collabs while new creator sign-ups are paused?

Treat it as a programme tool rather than a discovery tool. Bring creators to it: invite the ones you already know with personalised offers, and point others to your own application page. Collabs then handles the links, codes, gifts and payouts. The recruiting effort sits with you or your expert, so plan time for outreach every month.

What does running Collabs actually cost?

There's no charge for the app on eligible plans. The real costs are the commissions you pay, the products you gift, and a processing fee that Shopify adds to each automatic commission payment on your bill. Check Shopify's current payment terms before setting rates, then budget for the expert's setup time.

Should I hire a freelancer or an agency for Collabs?

Match the size of the programme. A freelancer with affiliate experience suits a launch: application page, first offers, a gifting run. An agency fits better if Collabs sits inside a bigger social and content plan with regular creator campaigns. Either way, ask who will do the outreach week to week.

Can creators I already work with move onto Collabs?

If they already have a Collabs account, yes: send a direct invite with a personalised offer and their own link or code. If they don't, check with Shopify whether an invite lets them join while sign-ups are paused. Look up each creator's past sales with you first, so commission reflects what they already drive.

How do I tell whether a creator is worth the commission?

Start with the sales tied to each creator's link and code, then set them against commission paid and the cost of the gifts you sent. Link and code sales show the direct return; wider effects, like repeat orders from customers a creator brought in, need your own analysis or an attribution specialist.