For those doing cross-border e-commerce, especially those deeply involved in Tuke, you must have experienced the failure of “online romance turning into reality”: you sent hundreds of private messages in the backend, but the reply rate was pitifully low; finally, you managed to get a creator to agree, sent a bunch of samples, and the resulting video was like flipping through a PPT, with almost zero sales effect.

Today, let’s talk about how to use logic that ordinary people can understand to win over creators, so that every minute of your operation time is not wasted.

 

Image source:Tuke

Step One: Stop Searching Blindly, Learn to Find the Right People

The first mistake many beginners make when connecting with creators is only looking at follower count. When they see an account with a million followers, their eyes light up, thinking if this works, their shop will explode with orders. But the result is often that the price quoted is ridiculously high, and the output is not as good as a small blogger.

Remember this: follower count does not equal sales power. Matching the right person and product is yyds (forever god).

So how do you find the “right person”? You need to act like a detective and use the following channels:

Digging in competitors’ comment sections:

This is a low-cost and highly accurate method. Many data platforms now allow you to directly view a brand’s associated creator list. Open these tools, search for the top brands in your category, and you can see which creators they’ve worked with in the past 30 days, how much sales each creator brought, and what the video content looks like. Add them directly to your connection list, much more precise than searching blindly.

Layered screening logic:

If you’re testing new products with limited budget: focus on mid-tier creators (100,000—500,000 followers) or even small creators. Many vertical creators with tens of thousands of followers have highly sticky fans due to their niche content, and their conversion rate can even surpass top creators.

If you need materials for ads: you don’t need creators with many followers, just high-quality content. You can connect with regular users who often produce high-quality videos, exchange samples for material copyright, and then use them for ads, at extremely low cost.

 

Image source:kalodata

Step Two: Break the “Read but No Reply”, Communicate Sincerely

Screening creators is just the first step; how you start the conversation is the key to success or failure.

Are you still using the “universal” template: “Dear, we like your video, want to cooperate, pls contact me.”? Creators receive dozens of such messages every day and will swipe past without even looking.

How do experts do it? They follow the formula of “specific praise + clear benefit point”.

Practical script breakdown:

“Hi [Name], I’ve been following you for a long time! Last week, your video about ‘kitchen storage gadgets’ was really creative, the rotating draining basket design was something I’ve never seen before (specific praise). We are a Chinese brand specializing in kitchenware and have just developed a no-drill storage rack, which fits perfectly with your video style (showing the match). We’d like to send you a set for free to try, and if you like it, we can offer a high commission (20%) for sales collaboration, or even if you just post an unboxing video, we’d be happy (lowering the threshold). Interested in chatting?”

The logic of this script is:

Show you’re not mass messaging, you’ve seriously watched their content.

Show the product is relevant to them, so they don’t feel harassed.

Give enough options: commission or free samples, keeping the pressure to a minimum.

Additionally, if you encounter slow replies during big promotions, don’t just wait. Try reaching out through Tuke private messages, WhatsApp, or email via multiple channels, but stay polite and follow up again after a few days.

 

Image source:Tuke

Step Three: From “One-off Deal” to “Deep Partnership”, The Ultimate Expert Play

After solving slow replies and mismatches, the most headache-inducing issue is low cooperation. For example, scripts are shot perfunctorily, or not posted as agreed. At this point, you need to understand that a simple transactional relationship is the least stable.

Here’s a real advanced play: brand co-creation case

There’s a big cross-border seller in the hair care category named Eldon. When facing traffic bottlenecks in the Southeast Asian market, he didn’t choose to cast a wide net, but instead chose to “co-create a brand” with top creators.

How did he do it? He targeted a creator with ten million followers focused on “family parenting” content. Instead of paying the creator to make a video as usual, he invited the creator to jointly develop a mother and baby care product. The creator provided product requirements based on their experience (such as gentler ingredients, packaging convenient for one-handed use), and Eldon’s team handled supply chain and production. It’s said that for one detail, they made over 50 samples.

The result? The product sold out quickly after launch.

For profit distribution, they used a tiered mechanism: Tuke channel live sales gave creators high commissions, and if the brand sold well and reached GMV milestones, there were extra20%—50%profit sharing; if the brand expanded to Shopee and other channels, the creator still got dividends.

 

Image source: Ebrun

Final Words

The road to connecting with creators will definitely have pitfalls in the early stage, you’ll encounter “read but no reply”, and data fraud. But as long as you shift your mindset from “I’m spending operation time” to “I’m accumulating brand assets”, everything will become clear.

Next time you open the private message dialog, think: What unique value can I bring to this creator? Is it a quality product, generous rewards, or a future of growing together? Once you figure this out, your road to connecting will truly start to go smoothly.