Pay the most for the UGC that actually sells.
Performance UGC is one of three ways to structure a UGC deal. The creator produces content for your paid ads, the collaboration is tied to that creator’s unique Make Influence tracking, and the creator earns the agreed commission on the sales the content helps drive.
Payment agreed up front · Unique tracking per collaboration · Usage rights agreed explicitly
Three ways to structure a UGC deal.
The difference between the three models is not whether the creator gets paid. It is when the payment lands and what it depends on — and therefore who carries the risk if the content does not work.
UGC paid up front
The traditional model. You agree a production fee and pay once the content has been delivered and approved.
The creator is paid whether or not the video ends up selling. The brand carries the risk — and keeps the entire upside if the content turns out to be a winner.
Fits when you know exactly what you need and want delivery certainty.
UGC paid on the back end
All or part of the payment lands only after the content has been tested. Typically a lower production fee combined with a later payment or bonus once the content has shown that it works.
The risk is shared. The creator accepts waiting for part of the payment in exchange for earning more if the content performs.
Fits when you want to test wider than your production budget allows.
Performance UGC
The creator produces content for your paid ads. The collaboration is tied to the creator’s unique Make Influence tracking, so the sales the content helps drive can be measured.
The creator earns the agreed commission on those tracked sales. The model can be combined with an agreed production fee.
Fits when you want to test many creatives and pay the most for what sells.
The creator gets paid. The payment is simply tied to the result rather than to the delivery. What is actually agreed — commission, a production fee, or both — is settled between the brand and the creator before the work starts. A creator who judges the risk to be too high can say no, or ask for a fee on top.
From creator content to tracked sales.
Agree the terms
Product, brief, payment, and how long you may use the content in paid ads. All four are agreed before the work starts.
The creator produces the content
The creator makes the content from the brief and delivers it to you. It does not have to be posted on the creator’s own profile, if that is what you have agreed.
You run the content as an ad
The ad uses the creator’s Make Influence tracking, so traffic and sales can be traced back to the individual collaboration.
Share the value when it sells
Tracked sales determine the commission. The creator receives the agreed share when the content generates revenue.
More upside. Less waste.
- Test more creatives without locking the whole budget into production up front
- Move a larger share of the budget onto distribution and ad spend
- See which content and which creators actually drive sales
- Pay the creator more when the content earns more
- Build a library of performance-tested content
- Earn without necessarily posting brands on your own profile
- Work with more brands without crowding your feed
- Get upside if your content becomes a winning ad
- Follow your tracked sales and earnings
- Be rewarded for performance — not only for follower count
Performance requires tracking. That is why the model works.
A performance-based fee can only be agreed if both parties can see the result. That is why every Performance UGC collaboration is tied to the creator’s unique Make Influence tracking.
When the brand activates the content in paid ads, the associated tracking is used alongside the ad.
That makes it possible to trace performance back to the content and the creator who made it — and to calculate the agreed commission on a basis both parties can see.
Usage rights do not come automatically.
Paying commission does not in itself grant the right to use the content in ads. Usage rights are a separate part of the agreement, and they have to be agreed explicitly.
So agree from the start how long the brand may use the content in paid ads, on which platforms, and whether the content may also be used elsewhere.
A usage window of 30, 60 or 90 days is a common starting point, but the period is something you agree — not something that is given in advance.
When the period runs out, it has to be extended if the brand wants to keep running the content.
Read further before you decide.
How the platform fits together, and what the three UGC models look like in practice.
Want to test UGC on performance?
Book a demo and we will walk through the three models against your products and your numbers — and which of them makes sense for you.
