Why three tools give three numbers
Ask a shop how many videos went live last month. You get three answers. The outreach tool counts creators approved. The affiliate performance tab counts videos with a product link. The tracker counts whatever someone typed on Friday.
None of them counts the thing you pay for. GMV, per creator, per video, over time. When the three disagree, nobody owns the number, and the samples keep going out.
GMV per video, weekly, is the score
A creator is not good or bad. A creator has GMV per video, or does not. Weekly, because a month hides a creator who posted once and left.
Build one table. One row per creator. Videos posted this week, orders, GMV, GMV per video. The same four columns for the last eight weeks. Sort by GMV per video. The top of that table is the creators you fund. The bottom is your sample budget leaking.
What two months of GMV tells you
One month of GMV is a signal. Two months running is a seat. Creators with GMV two months running get three things no one else gets. A place in the community you own. A human on the line. Real rewards. Budget, retainers and ads follow them, in that order.
Follower counts are vibes. GMV is receipts.
What to do with creators who never post
Nothing more. Not a second sample, not a reminder sequence, not a seat. The product they have is the last product they get. Until a video with GMV shows up.
The part most shops miss is the queue. Sample requests expire while someone clears them once a week. The good creators move on. Review requests every day. Pass the on-the-fence creators back to the brand the same day. Product goes to creators by fit and GMV history, never by follower count.
How to read your own 90 days this week
Export the last 90 days of affiliate performance at creator level. One file for the US, one for the UK if you run both.
Then answer four questions from the file.
- What share of GMV came from creators with GMV in two or more months?
- How many creators received product and never posted?
- Which 25 creators would you fund tomorrow, ranked on GMV per video?
- Which creators posted GMV once and went quiet, and when?
If the first answer surprises you, hold the next sample run. Get the second answer first.
Where the money goes next
Budget only behind creators with GMV two months running. Shop ads on the videos that convert. Meta partnership ads from the creator's own handle, so the proof travels. A video with GMV earns four times over. The post. The GMV. The shop ads. The partnership ads. Only videos with GMV get ad budget.
Not one dollar on a maybe.
Next step
The ones who have earned ad budget are marked in the free Creator Proof Audit. The ones who never posted get nothing more, not even a second sample. When one of them asks for a fee, read why upfront fees are a bet on reach.