#ops-inventory

Thanks Jake! @Prateek Jain yeah we love it.

IF you wanna compare it to ppc, think about it like an auto campaign, or an open collaboration within TTS.

The brand and product need to be good fits, but sometimes you can brute force a cold start with higher commissions.

Levanta is essentially a UI + network that sits on top of Creator Connections. While it is an alternative, you'll still drive substantial volume through CC

Thanks <@U07U1BG6ERG> and @Andrew Bonasso. Do you guys give out free products?

We have not been, no. And it’s still be very successful

Levanta used to be good, but then Amazon changed their policy to not allow double dipping and most publishers stopped using the Levanta links. Our commissions on levanta dropped to almost zero and it was a painful monthly fee.

So we switched to Josh Hadley's approach (here) and put a bunch of effort into building the google form setup, etc. But after a few months we found that 99% of our commissions were coming from publishers, NOT influencers who were requesting product.

So we stopped offering samples and now we just publish a lot of campaigns. Results TBD but the cost is negligible (I agree I basically see it as its own form of PPC).

*Note: Josh Hadley's thing may be great if you want the content for ads - we don't need them so it didn't have that benefit for us.

Same @Julia Tunstall mentioned. We've found sending samples isn't as required on Amazon, at least at this time, maybe only for your top ppl but that's it.

But we're still getting sales from more than publishers. Given it's pay per sale you don't really have much risk

I heard Levanta fixed those issues. Highly recommend them

Levanta did fix, but are now also incorporating CC into their chargeable revenues - which wasn't the case before somewhere around March this year.

Levanta can certainly add a ton of value, but if you're not doing much above typical CC campaigns the cost is not worth it at all. There are other tools for free that will provide the same level of reporting.

I'd like to chime in here as well and outside of Creator Connections ... we've been really happy with Wayward (Wayward.com). Reach out to them and let them explain how they have two different approaches - one for affiliates, and a different one for Creator Connections.

@Fred McKinnon how you’re using Wayward effectively?

think that will overtake levanta at some point ?

@Andrew Bonasso I have a few small campaigns going, but haven't pushed it hard, but I spent a ton of time with the guys from both Levanta and Wayward --- ironically, competitors, yet always at the same conferences, we went out and took a poker cruise together, had drinks, etc -- all together. Great folks on both sides. I liked Wayward better.

I am a member of MDS (Million Dollar Sellers) and ECF (EcommereFuel), both paid premium communities, and in boht of these, people have bailed on Levanta and are using Wayward for the most part.

I just paid around $50 to Wayward for this past month, so not a lot of sales - but I have a lower commission threshold set, and it's a niche product.

Looks like my sales came from Buzzfeed, recurrent, and popsugar

so interesting, thanks for the insight @Fred McKinnon!

From our side, WW allows you to have the same tracking of CC without the fees tacked on by Levanta.

For activity off CC however, we've seen WW to be an incredible UI for use w/ attribution - mostly from reporting and payments - to our off-network affiliates / creators. Their access to associates (publishers) are great and are a strong suit of theirs from what we've seen.

I still stand strongly that these tools are not the end all and be all, and are simply that - tools.

Affiliate programs can be built and managed like any other marketing effort. You have a spectrum of possibilities depending on the level of investment willing to put into it.

Levanta sucks a big, fat dick. Not worth the cost.