Choose the Creator Network creators you want to recommend to subscribers
If you're part of the Creator Network, you can recommend creators whose newsletters your subscribers may be interested in subscribing to. (Some creators will even pay you for each successful referral!)
To set up these Recommendations, follow the steps here to join the Creator Network if you haven't already.
After that, follow the steps below to add (or edit) your Recommendations, share them, and customize the order in which you display your Recommendations to your subscribers:
Managing your Free Recommendations
Free Recommendations are recommendations you give other creators without receiving financial incentives in return. Here's how to manage your Free Recommendations:
Add a new Free Recommendation
Go to Recommendations under the Grow tab in the top navigation and click + Add recommendation.
It'll direct you to the Discover page where you can browse creators in the Creator Network.
Click a creator's profile to check it out in more detail. If you've decided to recommend a certain creator, click the Recommend button. We'll add them to your list of Recommendations.
On the Recommending me page, you may also see creators with the "Recommending" status, which means they're recommending you.
If they're a good fit for your audience, you can recommend them back. Hover over the "Recommending" status, and then click the Recommend back button that appears.
The creator's status will change to "Recommending each other" to indicate both of you are recommending each other.
Remove a Free Recommendation
To stop recommending a creator, go to the My Recommendations page and click the three vertical dots next to their name > Remove.
Click Stop recommending in the window that pops up to confirm the removal.
If you change your mind about removing a Free Recommendation, you can re-add it by clicking the three vertical dots next to the creator's name > Restore.
Then, click Recommend in the window that pops up to re-add the Free Recommendation.
Managing your Paid Recommendations
Paid Recommendations are recommendations you give other creators who offer financial incentives for sending quality subscribers their way. Here's how to manage your Paid Recommendations:
Manually add a new Paid Recommendation
To add a new Paid Recommendation, enable Paid Recommendations first if you haven't already.
Use the Paid toggle on the My Recommendations page to go to your Paid Recommendations. Or, go to Earn > Paid Recommendations in the top navigation.
Click + Add paid recommendation to add a new Paid Recommendation. It'll direct you to the Discover page for Paid Recommendations.
Click any Paid Recommendation to view more details on its referral criteria.
If you've decided to recommend it and you're pre-approved to do so, click Recommend.
NOTE: If you aren't pre-approved to recommend the Paid Recommendation, you'll see an "Approval Required" box.
Fill out a short message on why your audience is a good fit, and then click Submit request. The creator behind the Paid Recommendation will review your application and decide whether to approve you.
In the meantime, the Paid Recommendation will have the "Pending" status on the My paid recommendations page.
Once you're approved to recommend the Paid Recommendation, it will appear on the My paid recommendations page with the "Active" status.
You have the option of clicking your active Paid Recommendations to add a customized description of why you're recommending these creators to your audience.
By adding your own customized description, it will replace the Paid Recommendation's default bio, like so:
⚠️IMPORTANT!⚠️ If you had connected an existing SparkLoop account when enabling Paid Recommendations in Kit instead of creating a new one, you will additionally need to add your Paid Recommendations to Upscribe and activate Upscribe.
(You'll need to set up the Upscribe widget as part of the Upscribe activation process. But you don't have to embed the widget on your website.)
Finally, customize your recommendation slots to display your Paid Recommendations. Otherwise, your Paid Recommendations will not appear. Learn how to customize your recommendation slots below.
Automatically add pre-approved Paid Recommendations
Turn on the Auto Pilot feature to automatically add Paid Recommendations you're pre-approved for. This way, you'll continue to show Paid Recommendations—and continue to earn—even if the budgets for some of your Paid Recommendations run out.
To turn on Auto Pilot, click the three vertical dots at the top right of any Creator Network settings page (e.g., the My paid recommendations page) > Settings:
Click Paid Recommendations in the left sidebar of the Recommendations settings.
Toggle Auto Pilot on, and then click Save to save your changes.
Pin a Paid Recommendation
Your Paid Recommendation slots will display a random Paid Recommendation by default. But you can pin a Paid Recommendation so that it always appears in your Paid Recommendation slot until its budget runs out.
To do this, go to the My paid recommendations page.
Click the three vertical dots to the right of the Paid Recommendation you want to pin, followed by Pin.
The Paid Recommendation's status will change to "Pinned."
NOTE: Only Paid Recommendations with the "Active" status can be pinned.
To unpin a Paid Recommendation, click the three vertical dots to the right of the Recommendation, followed by Unpin.
Remove a Paid Recommendation
To remove a Paid Recommendation, go to the My paid recommendations page.
Click the three vertical dots to the right of the Recommendation you want to remove, followed by Remove.
Click Stop recommending in the window that pops up to confirm the removal.
NOTE: If you change your mind about removing a Paid Recommendation, you’ll have to re-add the Paid Recommendation using the steps above.
To temporarily turn off a Paid Recommendation without removing it completely, select Pause instead.
Managing your Smart Recommendations
Smart Recommendations are automatic recommendations of Creator Network creators.
If you are a Newsletter Plan user, three of your Recommendations slots will display Smart Recommendations by default. If you'd like, you can change these to show Free Recommendations (but not Paid Recommendations).
This is except for the last Smart Recommendations slot, which will be locked and cannot be customized.
To remove the locked Smart Recommendation, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
If you are a paid plan user, Newsletter Plan users may automatically recommend you via Smart Recommendations.
You can view a report of the creators recommending you via Smart Recommendations. You can also block creators whom you don't want to receive Smart Recommendations from.
Sharing your Recommendations
You can get a standalone page of your Recommendations for sharing with others:
The page's design is based on your Creator Profile template.
To get the link to this page, click the three vertical dots at the top right of any Creator Network settings page (e.g., the My Recommendations page) > Settings.
Click the Recommendations tab on the left.
Under the Share section, click the copy icon to copy your standalone Recommendations page's URL.
NOTE: Want to redirect subscribers to this Recommendations page after they submit a non-Kit form? Learn how in our guide to displaying Recommendations on third-party forms.
Customizing the look of your Recommendations
Click the three vertical dots at the top right of any Creator Network settings page (e.g., the My Recommendations page) > Customize to access a settings page for changing the look of your Recommendations.
From this Customize page, you can change your:
Heading and description
Theme
Number of Recommendations
Order of Recommendations
Click the Preview button on the top right to preview how your Recommendations will appear to subscribers who have just joined your email list.
Heading and description
Under the Settings tab on the right, use the Heading and Description fields to update the Recommendations text that subscribers will see right after they join your email list.
Use this text to encourage them to subscribe to your recommended creators.
Your changes will be saved automatically.
Theme
Under the Settings tab on the right, you can choose whether to use a light or dark theme for your Recommendations. The options are:
Light: White background with dark text
Dark: Black background with light-colored text (see the example below)
Auto: The subscriber will see either a light or dark theme depending on their browser settings
Your changes will be saved automatically.
Number of Recommendations
Under the Slots tab on the right, click + Add slot to add a new Recommendation slot. You can have up to five slots.
Click the ✖ next to any Recommendation slot to remove it.
Your changes will be saved automatically.
Order of Recommendations
Under the Slots tab on the right, click each Recommendation slot to choose the type of Recommendation that appears there.
The options are:
Random Recommendation: The slot will display one of your Free Recommendations at random.
Paid Recommendation: The slot will display one of your Paid Recommendations at random. (This option will appear only if you have added Paid Recommendations to your Recommendations settings.)
If you've pinned a Paid Recommendation, it'll appear in your Paid Recommendation slot until its budget runs out.
If you haven't pinned any Paid Recommendations or your pinned Paid Recommendation's budget has run out, the slot will display one of your Paid Recommendations at random.
Specific creator: The slot will display a specific Free Recommendation of your choice.
Smart Recommendation (Newsletter Plan users only): The Smart Recommendation slot will display a Free or Paid Recommendation automatically chosen by Kit for offering content similar to yours.
Your changes will be saved automatically.
If you're done managing your Creator Network Recommendations and want to see who has recommended you to their subscribers, you can learn how in this article 👇