+22% affiliate conversion by restructuring automation around the creator funnel
R E A C H E R
Product Designer
Founder, Engineering, GTM, Product Design
Shipped
About Reacher
Reacher↗︎ is a YC-backed startup and official TikTok Shop partner, helping TikTok Shop brands grow affiliate revenue through creator discovery, outreach, and campaign automations at scale.
Main Users: TikTok Shop affiliate managers, ecommerce brands, agencies.
Y Combinator backed
TikTok Shop partner
Background
Reacher's automation feature scaled creator outreach with customizable automation types. But the flow started with setup, not strategy. Cold-start brands didn't know which automation to pick. Agency managers force-duplicated workflows across every brand they managed.
I restructured automation around the creator funnel, turning a chaotic setup form into a strategy layer that guided both user types toward the right action at each different creator lifecycle.
One generic setup flow made automation harder to choose, manage, and repeat
Before the redesign, every automation type lived inside one generic setup flow. Users had to choose between outreach, re-engage, cleanup, and AI chatbot without enough guidance.
Cold-start brands struggled to know where to begin. Agency managers duplicated the same strategy across brands, then had to remember what each automation was meant to do.
There are 5 different types of automation. Which one should I start with?
I still have 24 brands that need to set up this exact same automation flow.
Support calls and PostHog session replays uncovered a repeated workaround
Support calls first showed that users needed lots of help setting up automations. The product was powerful, but users were overwhelmed.
By analyzing with FireFile MCP and PostHog session replays, I discovered users often started by duplicating existing automations instead of building from scratch.
I mapped those repeated flows and found that top affiliate managers were following similar creator funnel strategies across brands.
Top affiliate managers across all brand sizes shared the same creator funnel strategy.
The repeated workflows revealed that affiliate managers were not thinking by automation type. They were thinking by creator stage.
Across brands, the core questions were similar: where is this creator in the funnel, what is blocking them, and what action moves them forward?
This insight shifted the product direction from a generic setup form to guided funnel strategies.
The Solution: Turning One Setup Form Into a Strategy Layer Across the Creator Funnel
BEFORE / AFTER
Before: One setup form for every automation type.
After: A strategy layer organized around the creator funnel, with templates that match each stage and a 3-step pattern shared across every automation type.
1. Split automation into Outreach and Re-engage flows around the creator funnel
The first move was structural. I separated the mixed setup form into two clearer surfaces: Outreach for acquiring new creators and Re-engage for moving existing creators forward.
This gave new brands a clear starting point and helped agency managers repeat funnel strategies across brands without rebuilding from scratch.
2. Pre-filled templates turned setup into strategy guidance
Each funnel stage now had a pre-filled template tied to a specific creator moment, from pending content to sample follow-up and GMV-driven next steps.
I validated the template logic with TikTok Shop strategists so the guidance reflected real affiliate best practices..
Instead of writing from scratch, managers could choose the funnel stage, start with a proven flow, and customize for specific campaign needs.
3. A consistent 3-step flow made every template easier to learn
Every template followed the same structure: add creators, configure the automation details, then set up the message and follow-ups.
The details changed by use case, such as filters, uploaded lists, CRM groups, commission, sample settings, or creator previews, but the mental model stayed consistent.
This made the system easier to learn while still flexible enough for different Outreach and Re-engage strategies.
The Resolution: The redesign turned automation setup into repeatable funnel strategy.
Templates guided users through each creator stage, while the funnel view helped teams track what was working, what was stalled, and what action to take next.
Cold-start brands gained a clearer starting point, and agency managers could scale proven workflows across brands without rebuilding every automation from scratch.
Impact
+22%
affiliate conversion lift after redesign
80%
of new automations started from template flows
17
pre-filled templates launched across Outreach, Re-engage
The lift came from aligning automation with the creator funnel users were already working from. Templates turned repeated strategy into guided setup patterns, reducing blank-page decisions and making each workflow easier to understand, trust, and repeat.
For new brands, this created a clearer path to launch. For agency managers, it made proven workflows easier to scale across brands without rebuilding strategy from scratch.
Three things this taught me
- Good automation teaches users how to think Good automation provides a guided workflow that helped users understand what action to take, why it mattered, and how to repeat it across different campaign contexts.
- User workarounds can reveal the real product model Users duplicating automations shows a usability issue and an insight of a missing repeatable structure for how teams actually planned creator growth.
- Trust is designed through visibility For automation to feel safe, users need to preview the message, understand the logic, and track what is happening after launch.