Finding and managing creators (My Affiliates, AI Search, Lists & Groups)

This is for brand and agency operators who want to find creators, keep their roster organised, and feed the right people into outreach.

The quick version

Cruva gives you four ways to work with creators:

• My Affiliates — everyone already connected to your shop.
• AI Creator Search — find new creators across TikTok Shop's affiliate database.
• Lists — static lists of handles (or emails) you upload or save, used to feed an automation once.
• Groups — dynamic, rule-based segments of your own affiliates that an automation keeps messaging as creators match.

My Affiliates

Dashboard → Affiliate CRM → My Affiliates

This is your full roster of creators connected to the current shop. Per creator you see handle, followers, program status, lifetime GMV, units, videos, post rate, tags and demographics.

Important: the per-creator numbers here are lifetime totals with your shop, not scoped to a date range. If you filter "min GMV 100" you get everyone whose all-time GMV is over $100, not this month's. Use the Dashboard or Reports pages for period-scoped numbers.

Filtering and finding

Use the Filters button to narrow by status, GMV / video GMV / live GMV ranges, followers, post rate, Days Since Last Post, showcasing a specific product, has email / has phone / already messaged, and tags. Sample-request status is multi-select.

Tagging

Tags are free-form labels (e.g. retainer, beauty, do-not-contact). Add them to one creator from their row, or select multiple rows and use the bulk tag action. You can then include a tag as a filter here and inside Group rules.

"Do not contact"

There isn't a single global do-not-contact toggle. Use these instead:

• Tag the creators (e.g. do-not-contact) so you can spot and exclude them.
• For outreach, use the Exclude Affiliates button on the Automations page so a campaign skips them (you can exclude by tag/group, uploaded lists, or other automations).
• For samples, add them to Ignored Affiliates on the Sample Requests page (you can choose to ignore all their future requests too).

AI Creator Search

Dashboard → AI Creator Search

Type what you want in plain language and Cruva turns it into filters plus a similarity match. It has three tabs: natural-language (AI), Lookalike, and Image search.

Plan requirement

AI Creator Search is available on Growth and Scale plans. On a free trial / free plan the search is locked and you'll see an "Upgrade to use AI Creator Search" prompt.

What it searches (scope)

Results come only from creators registered in the TikTok Shop Affiliate program — Cruva's data is sourced directly from TikTok Shop's affiliate database. You can't use it to find creators who aren't in the affiliate program.

How to phrase a query

Be specific or broad — the AI reads natural language. You can search on:

• Performance: followers, 30d GMV, live GMV, engagement, average views, brand collaborations.
• Appearance/identity: gender, age range, language, etc.
• Category/niche: skincare, cooking, fitness, gaming, parenting, fashion, and more.

Example: "Latinx women who review skincare with over 1k followers" or "men with beards with over 10k live GMV". Use the What to search for link by the box for more examples, and the Filters / Advanced panel to fine-tune (min videos, recency window, strictness, AI-content).

Selecting results and saving them

The checkbox at the top selects everyone on the current page. To capture all results (including thousands across many pages), click Save List at the top — it takes the whole result set and saves it to a new list. To add a page's selection to a list you already have, use Add to List and pick the existing list.

Uploading a creator list (CSV)

Dashboard → Lists → Upload CSV

Use this to bring in creators you found elsewhere (e.g. an export) and blast them with an automation.

File format

• Plain CSV only. Excel/Numbers/Sheets files are rejected — open the file and use File → Save As → CSV.
• One single column, no extra columns.
• Pick the matching List Type:
  • Handles — one column of TikTok handles, no @ symbol.
  • Emails — one column of valid email addresses.
  • Handles to Emails — upload handles and Cruva finds emails where it can.

Example handle CSV (no header needed, no @):

`` kylejones beautybyanna fitwithsam ``

What happens on upload

For handle lists, Cruva checks each handle against TikTok. Handles that don't exist are skipped, and the success toast tells you how many were added and how many weren't recognised. Getting some "unrecognized" is normal — the rest still import.

Adding to an existing list vs merging

• To add creators to a list you already have, open the list and use Add Creator / Add Email, or save into it from Creator Search.
• To combine several lists, use Merge Lists: it creates a new list and keeps the originals, de-duplicating overlapping entries.

Note: uploading emails on the My Affiliates page only matches emails to creators already in your CRM. To upload a fresh list to message, use Lists.

Groups vs Lists

This trips a lot of people up. The difference is static vs dynamic:

• What it is — Lists: A static list of handles you upload or save · Groups: A dynamic segment of your affiliates defined by conditions
• Where — Lists: Dashboard → Lists · Groups: Dashboard → Affiliate CRM → Groups
• How an automation uses it — Lists: Messages each creator in order, then turns off at the end · Groups: Runs continuously, messaging creators as soon as they match — no manual updates
• Updates itself? — Lists: No · Groups: Yes

Building a condition-based group

Dashboard → Affiliate CRM → Groups → Create Group

1. Name the group.

2. Build the rule using the same filters as My Affiliates (status, GMV/units ranges, tags, product showcased, days since activity, etc.). A live preview shows who matches and the count.

3. You must set a title and at least one filter before you can save.

High-value groups to build first:

• Shipped but not Posted — status = shipment/content-pending only. Creators sitting on free product. Usually the biggest leak.
• Posted but $0 GMV — content that didn't convert; good for a follow-up brief.
• High performers — high lifetime GMV; candidates for retainers.

Linking a group to an automation

When you create an Automation (or Email Campaign), choose CRM Creators as the Outreach Audience and pick your group. (The audience options are Outreach = new affiliates, Saved Lists, and CRM Creators = a group.) The automation's audience stays in sync with the rule automatically. If you later try to delete a group that an automation or email campaign is using, Cruva warns you and lists what's linked.

Common problems

"CSV says 0 imported." Make sure it's a real .csv, one column, and that you picked the right List Type (handles vs emails). Handles that don't exist on TikTok are skipped.

"AI search bar is greyed out." AI Creator Search needs a Growth or Scale plan.

"It only selects the page." The checkbox is per page. Use Save List to save every result.

"I can't add to an existing list — I keep making new ones." Open the list and use Add Creator, or Merge Lists to combine.