Create Targeted Collaborations

Overview

A Targeted Collaboration in AfterShip Feed is a way to set up collaborations with creators on TikTok by offering commissions on product sales. This feature allows brands to select products, set commission rates, and invite creators to participate in a partnership in a centralized place.

What you'll learn

1. How It Works
2. Additional Considerations
3. How to Set Up Outreach Invites (Collaborations)

• 3.1. Step 1: Set Invite Basics
• 3.2. Step 2: Configure Target Collaboration (TC)
• 3.3. Step 3: Configure Your Message Sequence
• 3.4. Step 4: Select Creators
• 3.5. Step 5: Set Schedule and Launch

4. Understanding Outreach Limits
5. View and Manage Your Invites

• 5.1. Invites List View
• 5.2. Invite Statuses
• 5.3. Viewing Invite Details

6. Common Failure Reasons

How it works

1. Create automated outreach invites: Create outreach invites to send automated target collaboration invites or direct messages, or both, to creators.
2. Invite creators: Invite up to 10,000 creators per day at a rate of 10 creators per minute. When an invitation is sent, it appears in the creator’s TikTok app, allowing them to review and accept your collaboration offer.
3. Product samples: Offer free product samples, which creators can request from the app. Manually review and accept free sample requests.
4. Built-in follow-up automation: Send automated follow-up messages for creators who haven't responded, so you never miss a partnership opportunity.
5. Shoppable videos: If the creator accepts the request to collaborate, they will produce shoppable content (e.g., videos) featuring your product and earn the negotiated commission.
6. Orders and commissions: When creators produce shoppable TikTok videos, any subsequent sales will generate commissions, calculated and distributed by TikTok.
7. Real-time tracking: Monitor the success and failure status of outreach with clear error reasons for every creator.

Additional considerations

• Brands can choose up to 10 products.
• The brand sets the commission structure for every product.
• Creators accept invitations and create shoppable content.
• Sample requests from creators can be manually reviewed and approved in the TikTok Shop’s Affiliates Center.
• Edits to collaborations must be made in TikTok's Affiliate Center, as updates won’t sync back to AfterShip Feed.
• The process of inviting creators to a targeted collaboration follows TikTok’s standard procedure, but there are a few important details to take note of.

1. You can create targeted collaborations within our system, but any edits to the collaboration must be made directly in the TikTok Affiliate Center.
2. Any updates made in the TikTok Affiliate Center won't sync back to AfterShip at this time, although this feature will be available in future updates.

How to set up outreach invites (collaborations)

Step 1: Set invite basics

Outreach invites automatically sends collaboration invitations to your selected creators at scale. The system handles the entire process, from batching and rate-limiting to follow-up reminders, so that you can focus on strategy rather than manual operations.

1. Go to Affiliates > Creator outreach > Collaborations.
2. Select the TikTok Sales Channels for which you would like to create collaborations.
3. Click Invite from the top-right corner. Before creating the outreach invite, we’ll check if your store has TikTok Affiliate access.

• If your store does not have access, you will be directed to TikTok Shop to update your access.
• If your store has access, you’ll be taken to the targeted collaboration settings page where you can proceed.

4. Enter a unique name for the outreach invite. This name is for your internal use only and won't be visible to creators. The default name will be set to New invite - {YYYYMMDD}. You can customize this to reflect your campaign (e.g., "Beauty Creators Q2 Wave 1")
5. Choose the Outreach method to contact creators.

• Target collaboration + direct message (Recommended): Sends a formal target collaboration invitation via TikTok Shop and a personalized direct message simultaneously. This dual-channel approach significantly improves reply rates, as creators see both a professional product offer and a personalization message.
• Target collaboration only: Sends only the formal target collaboration invitation through TikTok Shop's affiliate system. This option is best for straightforward product promotion offers.
• Direct message only: Sends only a direct message to the creator's TikTok inbox. Best for relationship-building or when you want to start a conversation before making a formal product offer.

Step 2: Configure target collaboration (TC)

This step appears only if you selected "Target Collaboration + Message" or "Target Collaboration only" in Step 1.

1. Add products to include in the collaboration.

• You can add up to 10 products to the collaboration.
• Ensure that the products you are adding are in stock.

2. Creators may request free samples of products included in the collaboration (including product variations). Select the checkbox to allow creators to send you free sample requests. Simultaneously, selecting the checkbox will also allow you to review each sample request on the TikTok Shop Affiliates Center.

3. Write a short introduction and explain why you're excited to collaborate with the creators.
4. Set an expiration date for the collaboration. Once the expiration date is reached, creators will no longer be able to accept the invitation or earn commissions from it.
5. Provide your contact information(email address), so creators can reach out to you if they need more details.

Step 3: Configure your message sequence

This step is only visible if you selected "Target Collaboration + Message" or "Message Only" in Step 1.

1. Initial direct message

The first thing you'll configure is the opening message that lands in each creator's TikTok inbox. This message is required and can be up to 2,000 characters long, giving you plenty of room to introduce your brand and explain the collaboration.

If you're using TC + Message mode, this initial message can also include a Target Collaboration card that lets creators view your offer details and accept the partnership directly from the message, without any back-and-forth.

2. Insert merge tags

You can use merge tags to personalize messages at scale. These are dynamic placeholders that automatically pull in creator-specific information when the message is sent.

For example, adding {Creator name} to your message means each creator receives it with their own display name filled in automatically, making every outreach feel individually crafted, even when it's part of a mass campaign.

3. Automating follow-ups

Not every creator will respond to your first message, and that's completely normal. To handle this without manual effort, you can set up up to two automated follow-up messages for creators who haven't replied.

For each follow-up, you configure two things:

• The message content: A fresh approach to push creators to acknowledge and accept your invitation to collaborate.
• The delay: How many days after the previous message it should send (anywhere from 1 to 7 days, with a default set to 3 days)

This means a creator could receive a maximum of three messages in total: one initial message and two follow-ups.

The system automatically halts follow-ups the moment a creator replies. So if someone responds after the first message, they'll never receive the scheduled follow-ups to preventing creators from feeling spammed.

Step 4: Select creators

Choose which creators to target by selecting a pre-built Creator List. Lists can be created in two ways under Find creators section of Affiliates:

• From search results: Save creators directly from a Magic Search or Lookalike search.
• Via CSV import: Upload a .csv file of creator under Affiliates > Creator Lists.

Once selected, all matched creators in the list are added to the campaign.

You can invite up to 10,000 creators to collaborate on this targeted campaign.

Step 5: Set schedule and launch

Configure the delivery schedule and review your invite settings before launching.

1. Delivery schedule

• Set the days of the week for sending the outreach. The default days will be set to weekdays.
• Set the time window (hours) for sending the outreach. The default window will be set to 8 AM–5 PM.
• Choose the appropriate timezone for sending the outreach. The default timezone will be set to New York

The system automatically distributes messages across your configured schedule, respecting the daily limit of 10,000 creators per store.

2. Launch options

You can either Save the invite as draft (saves the draft with a "New" status for later launch) or Send invites to immediately begin the outreach based on your schedule.

After you create the collaboration in AfterShip, the details will sync with the TikTok Shop Affiliate Center, ensuring consistency across both platforms.

Understanding outreach limits

AfterShip Affiliates displays your outreach quotas prominently at the top of the Collaborations page:

• AfterShip daily outreach limit: AfterShip supports sending to up to 10,000 creators per day per store. This counter shows how many you have used today.

• TikTok weekly outreach limit: TikTok imposes its own weekly quota based on your store's GMV over the past 30 days. This limit is set by TikTok, not AfterShip. Click "View limit on TikTok" to check your current quota directly on TikTok Shop.

When your store's TikTok quota is reached, active invites will temporarily pause sending in the background. Once the quota resets, sending resumes automatically, no manual action is required.

View and manage your invites

1. Invites list view

The main Collaborations page displays all your invites in a table with key performance metrics:

• Invite name: The invite's name and who created it.
• Type: The outreach method: TC + Message (Target collaboration with DM), TC only, or Message only.
• Status: The invite's current state (Draft, Paused, Failed etc.).
• Created: The date the invite was set up.
• Creators reached: How many creators were successfully contacted.
• Replies: Number of creators who replied to the outreach message.

Reply rate = [Replies / Creators reached] X 100

• Creators accepted: How many creators accepted the collaboration.

Acceptance rate = [Creators accepted / Creators reached} X 100

• Videos: Number of videos submitted by creators.
• Orders: Orders generated through the collaboration.
• GMV: Total sales revenue driven by the invite's creators.
• Remaining creators: How many creators in the target list are yet to be contacted.

Columns vary by invite type. For example, DM-only bots show Replies but not Videos, Orders, or GMV.

2. Invite statuses

3. Viewing invite details

Click any invite to see a detailed breakdown of every creator's outreach status. You can quickly identify which creators were successfully reached, which ones failed, and the specific reason for each failure. This makes it easy to troubleshoot delivery issues and plan follow-up actions.

Common failure reasons

When outreach fails for specific creators, the system provides clear error messages:

1. Direct message failures

• The creator's account was deleted
• Your TikTok Shop has been restricted or closed
• An unexpected error occurred

2. Target collaboration failures

• The creator is already an official creator for your shop
• The creator is linked with another shop
• You have already sent them an offer for the same product
• Selected creator or product is unavailable
• Your message contains restricted words; a selected product cannot be promoted.

Need help?

Reach out to our support team via live chat to get answers to all your questions.

Updated on: 29/04/2026