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My TeeSpring Journey! (44)

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Hello STM members, my name is Houssem and this is my first thread on STM.

I started with TeeSpring several weeks ago. So far, I ran about 23 campaigns. I made a total of 10 sales, but no campaign has tipped.

I made a positive ROI on couple of campaigns (profit per t-shirt), but unfortunately, the audience was too small (scrapped) that I couldn't reach the goal.

Here are the type of campaigns I ran:

1- Sports niche: mostly Basketball (Playoff teams). The formula: I may live in ... but I'm loyal to ... (this is where I got the most sales, but never reached any goal).
2- Profession niche: nurses, physicists, neurosurgeons...etc. Forluma: keep calm and ... OR I'm an ... what's your super power...etc. Made couple of sales.
3- Dog/cat niche: 2 layers. This "City" girl loves her "dog/cat type". I tried it with country music as well. No sales.
4- Father's day: I ran 2 campaigns, but I didn't get any sales.

I believe that the designs are good (similar to the ones that are currently doing very well on TeeSpring).

Also, the click-through rate varies between 2-9% (newsfeed ads). I also drop a campaign if it doesn't convert after $10-$20. Most of my targetting comes from scrapped audiences from Facebook graph search.

Can you please tell me what I'm doing wrong. Also, are there any campaign formulas that are working well right now.

Thank you very much. I would really appreciate your help!

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Your process is 100% wrong.

You haven't let the data make decisions for you. You have just based your decisions on your assumptions. None of your tests are statistically significantly to make any kind of decisions.

Take your best performing campaign. Then run it using a process that lets the data do the decision making for you.

We can help you read the data, and ideas on ads to test. The more you show us the more we can help you.

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Thank you very much Mr Green, I appreciate your advice.

The problem that I faced is that my best performing campaigns have very small audiences (2K-7K). I had 1 campaign about Miami Heat and the scrapped audience was about 3K. I reached all of them and I only made 3 sales (the goal was 10). The t-shirt was specific to those 3K that I couldn't scale it (I tried to introduce some broad interests and exclude the audience that I already reached, but I made no sales).

What do you recommend as a minimum reach for TeeSpring campaigns of let's say a goal of 10 t-shirts?

Also, I will take another good performing campaign as you suggested and run it again to get more data.

Thanks for your help. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Sounds to me like your scraping ID's. If you want bigger audiences don't scrape

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I'm using scrapped audiences for some of my campaigns that require them (EX: People who were born in Texas and like Spurs and live in Florida). What I noticed is that I instantly get sales with those campaigns, but unfortunately I can't scale. I'll experiment more with interest/demographic based campaigns and see what happens. I appreciate your advice!

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I thought FB banned ads using scraped IDs and linking to Teespring.

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No they didn't ban them. I've used a dozen scrape-based campaigns without any problem. They only ban name based campaigns even if you cloak the link.

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I've had a few wildly successful campaigns so far after a few weeks of trying out this shit, and while I'm no expert I can give you a few tips on what I've learned.

While custom audiences and linking to Teespring are still allowed, I wouldn't rely so much on custom audiences from scraped UIDs if I were you. I use it as a last resort, but never as your main targeting strategy.

First of all, there's been a huge crackdown in the last week or so with these tools. Chris Record no longer offers his Internet Marketing Bar (for scraping) because Facebook lawyered up and demanded that these guys pay Facebook for revenues collected. FB Leadjacker stopped selling it's tool (and if I'm not mistaken it doesn't even work anymore). Secondly, the number of audiences you can reach with scraped tools is severely limited -- at least that's what I found in my experience. And lastly, even if the tools still work right now who knows if they're still going to be around six months from now. As early as now, you're going to need to learn how to target properly because scraping as we know it is pretty much on its way out.

Based on your OP I'm going to say this: aside from the whole scraping issue, I think that your problem is attacking saturated niches with saturated designs. The "Keep Calm" and "I'm A [xxx] What's Your Superpower" has been done to DEATH, and if I were to bet I would say that 80% of these occupations have been targeted with the same shit already.

As for the other campaign types, I'm not saying they're bad campaigns, but you're possibly doing the targeting wrong. You'll get a much bigger audience if you target women living in a certain city who show an interest in cats than you would with scraping. Again, don't rely on scraping IDs and learn how to use interest targeting well. This is pretty much the secret sauce.

And lastly, sometimes $10 isn't enough to test a campaign. Well, sometimes...

By $5 spent you'll usually know whether a campaign has a chance of succeeding or not. Likes and shares can be deceiving -- my most important metrics are the cost of website clicks and website CTR (not regular CTR of how many people just liked/shared/commented on your ad, but the number of people who actually clicked through and showed a little bit more intent to buy).

I'm currently running a campaign where I got a ton of post engagement, but hardly any website clicks. What I did was narrow down my audience to different segments that had the most/cheapest website clicks -- there's a much better chance of someone buying something when they click through your site, than someone who likes and shares your ad but doesn't even bother to click through! I'm spending another $10 or so on this audience (because it possibly could be targeting too broad of an audience and I just need to narrow it down) and if I still don't get any sales, then it's time to kill the campaign.

Usually by $5 to $7 spent you'll know if a campaign has a fighting chance. My successful campaigns would've already made 1-2 sales by then, and it's a matter of scaling up with the right audience.

Hope that helps and good luck.

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That is definitely helpful Carlo! I agree with you that scraping UIDs is not a sustainable strategy. I'll try to get more creative with interest/demographic targeting instead.

For the campaign goal, the one that has been very successful for me so far is the "Website Conversion". Once you get the first conversion, Facebook will auto optimize the ad to appear to similar demographics/interests to the ones that have purchased. The worst performing for me is the "Post Engagement" goal. I get a ton of likes and shares, but very few website clicks and no conversions.

Thanks for your help Carlo. I'll implement everything you recommended.

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@thisiscarlo - fantastic advice! One for the newsletter!

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Hello STM members, thank you all for your input. Here is an update of my TeeSpring journey!

I finally got 1 campaign to tip. I sold 12 t-shirts out of my goal (10). My ad spend was $28 for those 12 t-shirts. However, when I tried to scale the campaign by splitting it to different age groups so I can see which one is performing better, I didn't get any more sales (2 age groups: 25-40 and 41-54. They were selected based on the demographics of people who bought). I spent another $20 and I didn't make any additional sales. There is so much room to scale this campaign as I only reached less than 10% of the actual audience, but for some reason, I stopped getting sales although my click-through-rates are the same as before 2-3%.

The only 3 things I changed are:

1- Splitting age groups: which I don't think is the problem as people are still clicking to the website.
2- Changed the copy of the t-shirt page a little bit to increase conversion (nothing drastic).
3- Excluded Desktop because it wasn't getting any reach.

Note: I didn't change any targeting or ad copy.

Also, the sales stopped on Saturday and Sunday. So I'm thinking that weekends don't convert well for this particular audience.

Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

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What's the payout you're getting per t-shirt?

Also, can your tracking tell you if it was Desktop users who were converting before?

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You excluded Desktop Users - that doesn't look right to me. All your 12 sales were from mobile users?

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Hey Caurmen, the profit per t-shirt is $7 (before considering ad spend).

For the tracking, I checked the detailed reports Facebook provides and saw that all the conversions tracked came from Mobile. Also, Desktop wasn't getting any reach, so I stopped it. What do you think?

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Hey Hangman, not all of my checkouts were tracked via Facebook as many purchased because the ad was shared. However, the ones that were tracked came all from Mobile.

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The reason I asked that was to determine if you're hitting statistical significance. I'd say that your spends are a bit small at present to draw any strong conclusions, particularly given you're split-testing. I'd recommend spending at least $28 per split-test group now to get an idea of where your conversions cluster. The $20 where you saw no conversions is likely just to be random chance.

Tbh, $84 profit for $28 spend on a first run is pretty darn promising. Worth spending a lot more to optimise that if there's a decent-sized potential audience.

Your reasons for excluding desktop seem sound. Concentrate on mobile for now. Do you have tracking in place to check what mobile devices, carriers etc generate the most sales?

Also, how many ads were you using? That's another major area for optimisation.

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Your conversions weren't tracked? Were you using an unpublished page link post or similar? The social clicks/interactions with these ads should be tracked all the same.

In any case, I would be scaling if I was making $84 on $28 ad spend!

Not sure why desktop wasn't getting any reach but I would check again - bigger screens, different mindset and locations > purchase intent different.

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Hi Caurmen, thanks for your reply. As of now, I spent $70 on the campaign and made $97 ($27 profit). I only made 2 additional sales out of the last $40 spent. I noticed that the conversions tracked through Facebook came mainly from Men so I tried to test that segment. However, I can't seem to get this campaign to scale. Do you think I should cut my losses and stop it? I also checked the analytics provided by TeeSpring and noticed that 6 sales came from 1 person, so I'm guessing there is a little bit of luck involved

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Hi Zeno, I hope you're having a great day!

I think Facebook only tracks people who clicked directly through an ad. Viral conversions aren't tracked. For the type of post, it was a dark post with the goal "Website Conversions".

I was also surprised that only mobile was getting reach. I re-included Desktop again, because I'm starting to think that Facebook's reports aren't accurate.

For the campaign, I spent $70 so far and made $97. I only got 2 additional sales out of the last $40 I spent.

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Yes, if 1 person is getting 6 tees/hoodies, then obviously i think there is luck factor involved. I'll say don't promote, or if you are in it for just learning purposes, you can test till break even.

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So from a $70 spend you've sold T-shirts to 8 people? That's still a very good sign. I'd keep going as long as you have ideas on ways to optimise.

And yes, re-enable desktop and see what happens.

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Hello STM members, thank you all for your help. Here is an update of my TeeSpring journey. Any advice or tips would really be appreciated!

So far, I ran about 35 TeeSpring campaigns. I spent almost $600 and I only got 1 campaign to tip (sold 14 t-shirts out of 10 with a profit of $26 after considering ad spend). From what I can see from other TeeSpringers, 1 successful campaign out of 35 is a pretty bad number. Most get at least 2-3 successful campaigns out of 10.

I mostly tried the sports, hobbies and occupation niches. My approach is that I always monitor new active campaigns that are doing really well and then try to come up with a similar angle in a different niche (I use Teeview, Teescover, Google Alerts...etc). I'm fairly good with Photoshop, so I know that my designs are good. Also, I know that the sports, hobbies and occupation niches are the highest converting for most TeeSpringers, so that leaves me only with targeting. Here is how I target:

1- I tried scrapped audiences, but they are too hard to scale since the biggest targeted audience I could get is 7K.
2- I start with the country (United States). I select the group (mostly 18 and above). For the interest, I start with smaller targeted groups (pages, events, places, famous people, sub-niche...etc).
3- As a campaign goal, I tried all of them, but found that "Website Conversion" is the best for me since Facebook adjusts their targeting each time someone converts.
4- When I get 1-2 conversions, I start split testing different age and gender groups according to the demographic data provided by Facebook on their detailed reports.
5- With the ads, I mostly start with 1-2 per ad set until I see that the shirt is selling, then I try to improve the CTR by trying different ads, CTAs...etc.
6- My CTR is consistently between 3-8% (NewsFeed), but that also includes likes, comments...etc. My website CTR is a little bit lower.
7- I mostly spend about $15-$20 on a particular design. If it doesn't at least bring 1 sale, then I drop it. I know that this might not be the best way to get more data, but many TeeSpringers suggested this approach since it's not worth spending lots of money just to test t-shirts. The best way is to spend a little money on as many campaigns as possible to get those few successful ones that cover all the ad spend of the other campaigns and bring positive ROI.

That's pretty much it. I'm following the advice of several successful TeeSpringers (Don Wilson, Nishant Bhardwaj...etc, as well as STM TeeSpringers) and I'm pretty much implementing everything they recommend. However, I'm still missing something! Here are my questions:

1- Can you tell me what's wrong with my approach and how I should go about running my campaigns.
2- Is there any good way to qualify ideas. I get many ideas everyday, but I can't test them all. So is there any way I could select the ones that are more likely to convert.
3- Also, how do you go about finding ideas and testing them?
4- What niches, trends, angles do you think are converting the best right now?

Any advice would really be appreciated. Thanks!

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On 2 - there are many ways. Try running surveys to see which idea people are most enthusiastic about. Try running dry tests where you send people to a sales page with a clickthrough to buy the T-Shirt, then monitor how many people click the "Buy button". And, of course, ask communities that you're targeting if they'd buy your shirt!

As for ideas - if you haven't read "Parallel Thinking" by Edward De Bono, I would very strongly recommend doing so. It's a great manual on how to come up with ideas.

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Your approach is OK, but like with all marketing, nothing is a sure thing.

As for points 1-4:

1. My only suggestion here is... why the US? Everyone will start there. They ship internationally so why not try Canada, UK etc. or use someone other than Teespring?

2. Write them down. Go back to them the next day and think about a) how you will market that idea, b) who your audience is and whether you can target them, c) why someone would even want the shirt.

3. Creativity and 'ideas' are difficult to impart on someone. People can get inspiration and ideas from almost anything... Look at what others are doing, read about creative marketing and advertising, look at advertising in the wild and try to distil things down to the core features and angle of the ads and why they may work, etc.

4. No idea. You'd have a better idea than me. I can say one thing though... once you notice a trend it's likely someone else has set it and the wave may have already broken.

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Thanks for the ideas as well as the book recommendation Caurmen. I just watched some YouTube videos on the concept of "Parallel Thinking" and "6 Thinking Hats" and I'm really impressed by De Bono's work. Thanks again man, I appreciate it!

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That's some golden advice Zeno. I already started experimenting with Fabrily. A UK based company similar to TeeSpring. Their platform is still pretty basic compared to TeeSpring, but there is a lot or potential there because of their low shipping fees across Europe. I will also start experimenting with the Canadian TeeSpring market and see how it goes.

Thanks for your help!

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I advertise Teespring camps all over the world. Sometimes even to non-english countries with an english ad and was pretty consistent to the US camp sales. Shipping is higher but the shirts are usually so targeted that a few dollars more doesn't seem to matter.

When coming up with ideas, try to use two ideas together. If you want to mix two interests then you will have to scrape but a lot of times I try and use other parameters to get my second target like age or location so I can keep my numbers higher and hopefully scale.

My best shirt runs have all been off my own fresh ideas and not things I've seen in teeview. Hitting the same niched target with a similar design usually doesn't work great unless your design is insanely good. Just using text does work but designs with graphics and have a nice shirt look always seem to do better.

Think about what it is people would want others to know about them without having to tell them. Let the shirt do it. It can be a great way to meet like minded people on a topic that might never come up with a group of new people.

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Think about what it is people would want others to know about them without having to tell them. Let the shirt do it. It can be a great way to meet like minded people on a topic that might never come up with a group of new people.[/QUOTE]

This is a gold advice! I'm impressed.

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That is indeed some golden advice. I'll definitely keep that in mind. After all, that is probably the reason why people buy these types of shirts. Thank you very much!

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Hey STM members! Just a quick question about Facebook ads.

I was wondering what is the best time to start an ad for the US market. I know that it depends on lots of variables, but does anyone have a rough idea of what times convert better, especially for TeeSpring campaigns (morning, noon, afternoon, evening or night). I usually start mine at noon PDT. Is it better to start them after work, let's say 6 or 7pm?

Thank you all for your help!

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I haven't done Teespring, but you should put yourself in the shoes of your target market.

• For example, if this is for someone who is working (e.g. "Trust me, I'm an Accountant"), then you probably want to target them out of work hours.
• If this is something targeted at stay at home moms, then daytime may be the best time.
• If you are targeting university students who have flexible hours, then a wide range of hours could work.
• If you are targeting middle/high school students who have fixed hours, you probably want to avoid the hours they are in school.

The more that you can understand your customer base and start your testing from this understanding, the more success you will have.

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Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it!

I'm mostly targeting occupations and I found that the best converting time is after 5pm. Also, weekends suck in terms of conversions for this segment.

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Hello STM members, I hope you all are having a great weekend! I just wanted to post an update of my TeeSpring journey so far!

Total ad spend: $1053.69
Tipped campaigns: 2
Amount of shirts sold for those tipped campaigns: 25
Money back: $200
ROI: -81.02%

I don't mean to discourage anyone with these numbers. Each case is different. Some people have success with their very first campaigns while others take a little bit longer (or in my case a lot longer ). It depends on the skill-set of each person.

To be honest with you, I first joined the STM forums to learn affiliate marketing/CPA. However, when I saw the potential of TeeSpring, I decided to give it a try. Do you think I should continue experimenting with TeeSpring campaigns or is CPA more rewarding. The problem with TeeSpring is that if you don't get at least 10 shirts, they will not print the design and you end up losing all of that ad spend. At least with CPA, you get paid whether you made 1 or 100 conversions.

Please advise what my next steps should be. I'll run out of budget soon and I want to make the right decision.

Also, if anyone is willing to help, I'll send you links to my campaigns so you can advise accordingly.

Your help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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Hey Houssem,

What in particular did you find held you back on your Teespring campaigns?

Was it ad CTR? Percentage of clicks going through (out of all actions paid for), high CPCs?

Low CVR at Teespring's end?

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Hey Zeno, thanks for your quick reply! Here are the stats for my most recent campaigns:

CTR (all actions): 2-4%. On clicks to website only: 1-3% (I optimize my campaigns for website conversions).
CPC (for website clicks only): $0.2-$0.6
TeeSpring CVR (for the campaigns that sell at least 1 shirt): 2-5%

Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

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I've found that before and after work hours perform best. By a long shot.

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I have not done Teespring, so I can't give any advice from personal experience.

However, I would be interesting in knowing the details of your campaigns that did not tip. You wrote, "The problem with TeeSpring is that if you don't get at least 10 shirts, they will not print the design and you end up losing all of that ad spend."

If Teespring (or someone else) would have still printed and sold shirts for these campaigns that did not tip, would this have brought you to profitability?

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Same here. Sales tend to slow down a lot during work hours for most of my campaigns.

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Hi cmdeal, thanks for your reply and I appreciate your help man.

I have 2 campaigns sitting at 8 and 9 t-shirts and I spent a lot to get them to tip (10 shirts). They were both profitable up until the 7th shirt. I spent more money to get 3 extra sales than I spent on the initial 7 sales. Now I stopped spending money on them because I can't get them to tip.

I started experimenting with SunFrog shirts since they don't have any restrictions when it comes to the number of sales. You get paid whether you sell 1 shirt or 100. I believe this will be helpful for campaigns with small audiences that don't have much room to scale.

Thanks for your help!

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Make sure to get the affiliate signup so you get 40% commission instead of 35%. That's a good way to start and get profitable faster.

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If you are again in that situation wouldn't it be cheaper to buy those shirts yourself to tip the campaign?

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Yes - exactly! If you get to the end and it doesn't want to tip, it's generally going to be worth tipping it yourself vs. letting all of the revenue disappear.

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Ive had some success with teespring

One this you need to implement into all of you campaigns ASAP is retargeting

I'm getting conversions for anywhere from $1-$3 from retargeting

This video will show you how to set it up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxofEwQPy_w

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I usually find that midday and 8pm work best.

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