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Jun 6, 2023
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5
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How to Get Your First Sales: Growing Income as a Creator

We've rounded up the best advice from top-selling creators and the Fourthwall team to help you effectively promote your next launch
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Whether you're a YouTuber, a streamer, a podcaster, an artist, or any other type of creative entrepreneur, launching an online store is a great way to connect with your fans and boost your revenue. After helping tens of thousands of creators succeed, here are the two most important steps for a successful shop launch:

  • Step 1: Make sure your audience knows this new project is important to you
  • Step 2: Celebrate and show love to your early buyers

Let’s break down each one and why they matter.

Step 1: Make sure your audience knows this new project is important to you

While high-quality products and fair pricing are important, the #1 reason your community will buy from you is to support you as a creator. When your community understands this new release is something you care about and is an important next chapter in your offerings as a creator, they’ll be far more likely to buy. Here are five quick ways you can get that message across:

🤔 Decide on a collection

Make sure you’re set up for success by first deciding whether an “always-on”, drop-style, or hybrid strategy is for you. Lean into a specific marquee item (like this keychain drop from chocoandpancake, plushie from PointCrow, or matte black wallet from MKBHD) or use Collections to build around a theme (like Petty Couture from Charlotte Dobre or Between Two Buns from MeatMommy). Choosing a focus that will uniquely resonate with your community is a great way to capture your community’s attention and make promotion easier from the start.

📦 Order samples of your products

If you haven’t taken the time to order your own product and make sure you love it, can you expect your community to place an order? Sample orders can be used to review quality (so you really feel comfortable vouching for a product and putting your name behind it), for custom photography, and for your launch announcement video!

If you have friends that are creators as well, you can also send them a free sample to let them know you appreciate their support and see if they’re willing to shout you out on their socials.

Pro tip: Sometimes something funny or exciting will happen unexpectedly in your community that’s worthy of commemorating. When that happens, feel free to jump on the opportunity and just get a product up quickly to capture the moment!

⏱️ Build hype in advance of your launch

Schedule your launch a few days in advance of the actual release so you can tease what’s coming and build hype.

Fourthwall makes it easy to set up a coming soon page with a countdown timer and email collection, so you’ll have something official to link to and your supporters can be sure they’ll be the first to know when you launch.

Want to get your community refreshing the page until the moment your drop goes live? Anticipation is key. Use a countdown timer like evanf1997, and give supporters a taste of what’s coming with teaser content like close-up shots, cryptic tweets, or sneak peek videos on your socials and content channels. Check out these examples from TMG Studios, AnthonyZ, and FitMC.

🧢 Wear your products in your announcement videos and posts

When you wear a product that you designed, it shows your audience that you’re proud of your creation. Showcasing your work is a major driver of sales success. One of our favorite examples of this is how Joe Santagato of The Basement Yard releases regular videos that highlight new products while seamlessly connecting them to the lore of his channel and community.

Don’t be afraid to get creative and have fun with your promos, like freestyle creator Harry Mack did with this Black Friday special or this limited-time bundle offer.

🤩 Use beautiful imagery to showcase your shop

Eye-catching graphics are an important part of any effective promotional strategy, and you don’t need much to create something special. Use free tools like Canva to easily create assets yourself, or hire a designer to help you. Teasing your homepage is a super easy way to quickly spin up a promo graphic that feels polished and on brand. We love this simple but slick example from elysamelon.

Photo and video are also great tools when promoting your shop. NYC-based fashion collective L’Agence organized a simple photoshoot with friends without breaking the bank and instantly elevated the vibe of their launch. Hype reels like these examples from eeveenara and ATL Reign are also great for engagement and add a personal touch to your marketing efforts.

Step 2: Celebrate and show love to your early buyers

The second step to a successful launch is celebrating and rewarding the people who support you – especially the early adopters. Knowing that you’ll see their purchase and shout them out can be a massive motivator for fans, and can significantly increase your sales in turn. Here are three quick ways to show love to your buyers without a major time commitment:

💌 Send your fans love

When your product first launches, be sure to show your appreciation to your initial buyers. This can be in the form of:

🎁 Generate hype with giveaways

Giveaways are one of the best ways to get your audience excited about your drop – not to mention they’re excellent for engagement. With Fourthwall, it’s easy and fun to run giveaways via unique links, limited-time promo codes, and Twitch Gifting.

Fourthwall Partner Jenntacles saw a 30%+ increase in sales after enabling Twitch Gifting. WolfyTheWitch used giveaway links to celebrate hitting the 100 order milestone with their community.

✅ Don’t forget the basics

Your community can’t buy your products if they don’t know they exist, so promote your shop across all of the places where they support you.

  • Highlight your new collection at the top of your homepage and add an announcement bar to promote any limited-time sales.
  • Prominently feature a link to your shop in your social bios, About sections, video descriptions, overlays, panels, and link in bio pages. This will ensure your community can’t miss your shop and can easily navigate to it from any channel.

Promoting your shop can be just as fun and creatively rewarding as the process of designing and launching it. By incorporating these best practices into your marketing strategy, you can set yourself up for a successful drop and watch your sales and engagement soar to new heights.

Click here to head to your dashboard and get started on your next drop. Not yet on Fourthwall? Create your free account to get started.

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Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to use Fourthwall?

There are no monthly fees, no upfront costs, and no contracts to use Fourthwall. You set your prices and choose your own margins. Here is how our pricing and splits work when you sell:

  • Products from our product catalog. All products in our product catalog have a publicly listed flat fee, which gets deducted from the selling price you set. There are no extra percentages/margins. You keep 100% of profits.
  • Products you ship yourself. No fee (0% fee)
  • Digital products. 3% flat fee
  • Subscription memberships. 5% flat fee

Additionally, all US-based credit card transactions have an added 2.9% + $0.30 payment processing fee (same as Shopify). Fees vary for PayPal and other providers. Learn more.

How much money do I make on sales from the Fourthwall catalog?

Product costs are listed directly in our product catalog.

If a t-shirt is listed in our catalog at a $10 cost, we will automatically deduct that amount from your profits whenever you make a sale. You can sell products for any price you want.

For example, if you sell the shirt for $22, you'll make $12 in profit on each unit sold. If you sell it for $50, then you'll make $40 in profit on each unit sold.

Does Fourthwall ship worldwide?

Yes! Fourthwall works with manufacturing & fulfillment partners around the globe in the US, UK, EU, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and Japan.

Shipping rates are dynamically determined by the size of package and destination. We work with most major carriers and pass through the true cost of shipping. That means that you can offer low-cost, fast shipping to your fans. Most items have a delivery window of 5-8 days.

Be sure to browse our product catalog to find products that are fulfilled out of your target regions to provide the fastest & cheapest shipping for your community.

Does Fourthwall handle sales tax?

Fourthwall operates as the "Merchant of Record", which means that we're responsible for handling all sales taxes. This includes nexus registration, collecting sales tax, and remitting this to US states & other countries.

That way you can focus on designing products and promoting your shop, not taxes.

Can I connect a custom domain to Fourthwall?

Yes. You can connect a custom domain or subdomain on Fourthwall. Learn More.

Does Fourthwall offer artwork & design support?

If you need help finding an artist or designer, check out our design community.

This is a vetted network of exceptional designers that can help you make great quality designs for your audience. We also recommend tools like Canva or Kittl.

Does Fourthwall provide customer support for my orders?

Yes. For any product from our product catalog, we'll handle all customer support for you.

From answering general order questions to making address changes, our team is there to ensure that your buyers are treated with the same level of care that you would personally give them. We have a 12-hour or less average reply time, including nights and weekends.

For any items that you source on your own and ship from home, however, you'll need to do customer support.

Can you show me examples of storefronts on Fourthwall?

Yes! Over 200,000 sellers use Fourthwall to power their storefronts. This includes creators, podcasters, artists, musicians, startups, non-profits, and more.

Get inspired and browse all examples sites.

What integrations does Fourthwall have?

Fourthwall supports many free integrations, including:

  • YouTube Product Shelf (Merch Shelf)
  • TikTok Shop
  • Facebook and Instagram Shopping
  • Twitch Product Gifting
  • StreamElements and Streamlabs stream alerts
  • Zapier
  • Klaviyo
  • Mailchimp
  • And many, many more

See all apps & integrations.

Are there any requirements to join Fourthwall?

There are no requirements to join Fourthwall! Sign up now.