I've had 36 calls in the last 2 weeks.

Brands, agencies and a couple of my own clients.

Nearly every one had the same thought: “TikTok Shop is hard.”

And for most brands, it doesn't make money.

(Stuck on your own shop? Hit reply and tell me where.)

Here's what came up on those calls. All real, names removed:

On average, 100 samples gets you 4 or 5 sales.

That's terrible.

It's also normal.

💡 If anyone gives you a TikTok Shop sales prediction……. run. Nobody knows.

Here's what I keep telling every brand.

Your Amazon ad creative won't sell on TikTok. But a TikTok affiliate video that sells? It'll sell on Facebook. On Instagram. In your Amazon video ads.

So stop judging it like a store. Judge it like the top of your funnel.

Then ask yourself two things:

TikTok makes the content. Amazon, Meta and your website cash it in.

That's one leg of the omnichannel engine. And it's the leg most brands skip.

Last Black Friday we ran five brands. The best one grew 154%.

The worst went backwards 19% and lost money all weekend.

Another brand sent its creator invites on 13 November. By the time Black Friday was over, 21 videos were live. 41 creators were still sitting on their samples.

Creator content takes about four weeks to come back. You do the maths……

💡 Samples in October. Ads in November.

By November you know exactly which videos convert. So why gamble on more free product?

Take your best affiliate video to a UGC platform like JoinBrands, Billo or Brands Meet Creators. Show them the exact video. Say "make me this."

A UGC video costs $200 to $300. More than a sample, sure. But you're paying for a video you know works, not a free product you hope gets filmed.

Spin up ten versions. Run them as ads.

Your October samples already did the expensive bit. They told you what works. November's budget goes on ads and paid UGC.

I'm half convinced most affiliates can't read.

They can. They're just drowning. 100 to 200 brand DMs a day. 40 products in the showcase…… and no idea when your deadline is.

So they wing it. A few make huge sales. Most are at ground zero, trying to brute force their way up.

Paid UGC creators follow the brief. That's the whole point.

Then you put those winning videos in front of your affiliates. Now they've got proof, not a PDF. And they finally listen.

We manage nearly two dozen TikTok Shop accounts with a handful of staff. Who, annoyingly, like going on holiday.

That only works because of our TikTok Shop agents. I use them every single day.

Every morning they read each shop. They find affiliates, draft the outreach, rank the samples and flag the videos burning ad spend. My team says yes or no.

I'm not telling you this to brag. I'm telling you because your time is now.

I've actually automated this with our TikTok Shop agents, which are launching soon. If anyone needs access, just reply to this email.

Thanks for reading

- Paul 👊

PS. Not sure how many samples to send this month? Hit reply with your product and I'll tell you what I'd do.