I’ve started adding a five-day paid trial to creator contracts. A portfolio can tell you whether someone looks comfortable on camera. The trial shows how they work for your brand.
Five days is long enough to see the things that matter once the initial excitement wears off. Can they follow a script? Do they understand the shooting instructions? Are they willing to redo a video after feedback? Can they post regularly and get the work done on time?
Use the same small scorecard for every trial: delivery, consistency, response time, and how well they apply feedback. It makes the final decision easier than relying on which creator you happened to like most.
Consistency is one of the harder parts of this channel. A lot of people romanticize the idea of creating UGC. Once they start doing it every day, they realize they can’t maintain the frequency. Finding that out during a short trial is much cheaper than discovering it several weeks into a monthly agreement.
The trial should be paid. I prefer offering a little more than the normal daily average if we decide not to continue. For example, if a creator is discussing a $600 monthly retainer, you could offer $200 for completing the five-day trial when the longer engagement doesn’t go ahead. The premium helps build trust because the creator is also taking a chance on you.
Use the first few days to review their videos before anything goes live. Give them a script, a reference reel when relevant, and clear instructions on what to show from the product. Keep the feedback in a private channel so they can ask questions and send revised cuts.
Sometimes you’ll know before day five that the arrangement won’t work. If the creator has posted for two days, pay them pro rata for those two days and close the engagement cleanly. Don’t get a bad name for not paying someone for work they completed.
Keep a bank of other applicants moving through the process. When a trial fails, you should be able to start with the next person rather than spend another week rebuilding the pipeline from scratch.