How to find brand ambassadors for a Shopify brand

By the RecruitAffiliates.ai team · 29 October 2026 · 6 min read

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To find brand ambassadors, start with the people who already buy from you, then look at who already writes about brands like yours. A brand ambassador is someone who talks about your brand because they like it. They get something back, such as a code, free product or a commission.

This guide is only about finding them. To set up the perks and rules, read how to start an ambassador scheme in Shopify.

Where do you find brand ambassadors first?

Start with your own customers. They need no convincing. ReferralCandy's guide, published 24 March 2026, names four groups to check. They are repeat buyers, people who wrote long reviews, customers who tag you unasked, and people who email support to say thanks (ReferralCandy, checked 29 October 2026).

Pull these lists from your store this week.

Repeat buyers. Sort orders by customer. Take anyone with three or more.
Long reviews. Sort your review app by word count.
Taggers. Search your brand name in Instagram and TikTok tags.
Thank-you emails. Search your support inbox for "love" and "thank you".

Start with 10 to 20 names. The same guide advises starting with 10 to 20 ambassadors and not mailing your whole list. A mass email can bring in people who "just want free stuff".

Who else already promotes brands like yours?

Customers are a small pool. The second pool is people who already write about your category. We ran a first search for 30 public Shopify brands on 22 October 2026 and read what came back. It showed 2,924 people. This is who they were.

Type of page	People	Share of 2,924
Review, roundup or comparison page	1,877	64%
Blog-style page	573	20%
Podcast	399	14%
TikTok	49	2%
Instagram	17	1%
Newsletter	9	under 1%

Read the table with care. The rows are rough labels from the page type and address. The counts add up to 2,924, but the rounded shares add to 101%. It was one run on one day, on a hand-picked sample of 6 Shopify stores in each of 5 categories. No YouTube search ran, because YouTube calls were paused. Instagram data is a floor, because one brand's Instagram search ran out of time (method, counts and limits).

A second run on 3 of the brands, on a paid plan with a full setup, gave a different mix. It showed 2,022 people, and 1,440 of them (71%) came from YouTube. TikTok and Instagram gave 214 (11%). So the social share depends on how you search, not only on your category. Our 2026 data report has the follow-up.

What this means for you: in the first run most people were review pages, blogs and podcasts, and in the second most were on YouTube. Do not search only on Instagram or TikTok.

How do you check the people you find?

An AI model read the page title and address of 30 random rows from the first scan. It judged 9 not to be promoters (30%, with a likely range of 17% to 48%). They included a national broadcaster and another brand's own site. With 30 rows the range is wide.

So open each page before you write. Four checks take five minutes.

Does the page cover your type of product? A skincare brand needs skincare, not general lifestyle.
Is it recent? Look for a post in the last six months.
Do they recommend products or only list them? Real opinions are the sign you want.
Is there a contact route? A business email, a contact form or a clear message option.

Our guide to checking a creator is real goes deeper. For a small creator, how to find micro influencers gives the account checks.

How do other brands let ambassadors in?

Many brands do not search at all. They post a page and let people apply. We read three public pages on 29 October 2026.

Brand	How people join	What the page says on picking
Paula's Choice UK	An "Apply now" form	Needs "1K" Instagram or TikTok followers, age 18 or over, based in the UK
CLEARSTEM	An "Apply Now" button to a ShopMy sign-up	Does not say how applicants are chosen
Stinger	Register in an ambassador portal	US residents aged 18 or over, no follower minimum listed

Sources: Paula's Choice UK, CLEARSTEM, Stinger. Three pages are a small sample, so these are ideas, not a benchmark.

An apply page works if people already know you. If they do not, you need to go and find them.

Can Shopify Collabs find them for you?

Partly. Shopify's help page says Collabs keeps a database of creators you can search by keyword, location, social account and audience. You can invite up to 100 creators in any 7-day period (Shopify Help Center, checked 29 October 2026). Another Shopify page says Collabs "isn't accepting new creator signups at this time" (Shopify Help Center, checked 29 October 2026). So the pool there may not grow. Our Collabs guide shows its limits.

What do you send once you have names?

Keep the first message short and make one ask. Name one real page of theirs so they know you read it.

Hi Sam, I read your post on travel-size skincare. We make a fragrance-free balm and I think your readers would like it. Can I send you one? If you like it, you would get your own code and a commission on each sale.

The brand and the post are made up. Copy the shape, not the words. The influencer outreach email template guide has a cold version and a follow-up.

Whatever you send, tell them to say they got it free or earn a commission. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission says free products generally need disclosure. It also says a company is "ultimately responsible for what others do on your behalf" (FTC, checked 29 October 2026).

How can you do this faster?

RecruitAffiliates.ai runs the search above for you. It finds the review sites, blogs, podcasts and creators already promoting your rivals. It ranks the best fits first and shows the page where it found each one. It looks up their email and shows whether each address was checked (what each result means). The 7-day free trial needs no card.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I find brand ambassadors for my Shopify store?

Start with repeat buyers, long reviewers and customers who tag you. Then look at the review sites, blogs, podcasts and creators that already cover brands like yours.

How many ambassadors should I look for?

Start with 10 to 20 names, as ReferralCandy advises. Not everyone replies, so a list of 30 is a safer start.

Should I find them on Instagram?

Not only there. In our first scan of 30 Shopify brands, Instagram gave 17 of 2,924 people. The count is a floor, so use Instagram as one source among several.

Do I need to pay ambassadors?

Not always. The pages above mention vouchers, free product, codes and commission. Choose what you can afford, and say it in your first message.