I sell women’s clothing on Amazon. My on-site ads weren’t converting well, and I noticed many successful brands in my niche don’t run ads – they rely on influencer marketing.
So last month, I went all in. I DMed about 500 influencers on Instagram (based on what other clothing brands were using). Got replies from ~90, sent samples to 33. Some asked for payment, others did it for free. Total cost: around $1,700.
Result? Almost nothing. No noticeable traffic increase, no sales bump.
What I learned the hard way:
Accounts that looked like they were from South Asia (even with 10k–100k followers) produced zero results. Yet they were super eager to collaborate.
You can negotiate prices. Someone asks $500, you can offer $200 – sometimes they accept.
Free samples rarely led to anything.
My best guess:
Maybe I just went way too small on influencers (500k+ followers)?
Or is Instagram just dead for fashion now? Should I focus on TikTok? (I tried TikTok but kept getting account banned, so email outreach had very low reply rates.)
Has anyone successfully done influencer outreach for fashion? What actually works? I’d really appreciate any advice.
Answers (5)
Have you tried Amazon’s own influencer program (Creator Connections)? You only pay commission when a sale happens. It won’t blow up overnight, but it’s low risk and you can test many creators without upfront fees.
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For $1,700, you could hire a model + photographer for a few hours and get high-quality images for your listing. That would at least improve your on-site conversion. You rushed into outreach without vetting influencers properly. Learn to spot fake influencers – look at engagement patterns, not just follower count.
Also, ask yourself: what’s your real goal? Sales? Brand awareness? If your on-site conversion is poor, fix that first. Otherwise, even if you drive traffic, it won’t convert.
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I was in charge of influencer outreach for a small accessories brand for three months. Here’s what I learned (company eventually stopped because results weren’t there):
YouTube: small creators have low views; big ones are too expensive. Instagram performed slightly better, but the pool of relevant creators is limited. TikTok has the most young creators, and prices are more reasonable.
Email open rate was ~50%, reply rate 2–3%. ~70% of creators under 200k followers expected payment.
On Instagram, you can find creators with 100k+ followers for $100 if you dig deep. Their videos might get 10k–20k views.
Conversion is straight-up bad. If you’re after quick sales, this isn’t it. This is for brand awareness, not direct ROI. Also, focus all your budget on ONE product – spreading thin makes it worse.
Accounts with Indian/South Asian appearance often have high followers and views but zero conversion. Avoid.
Always use a unique discount code per influencer so you can track who actually drives sales.
Check their comment section before reaching out – if engagement looks fake (generic comments, all posted at the same time), skip.
One small TikTok creator accidentally made a product go viral for months because she mentioned it didn’t snag hair – that hit a pain point. So you never know.
If you find a few good influencers, they’ll refer their friends. Be polite even to those you reject – it’s a small world.
Bottom line: influencer marketing is a long game. If you’re not building a brand, it’s probably not worth it.