Samsung operate a brand ambassador programme, drawn from high performing retail staff, known as “Elites”. Members of the programme receive perks such as Samsung devices and exclusive access to events. In return they were expected to champion the Samsung brand within stores, and act as a knowledge base for their customers.
Stores with an active member of the ambassador programme seean average sales uplift of 64% versus those without. However this is skewed by a wide distribution of actual performance. Measuring performance and engagement levels across the programme was a challenge due to the limited tracking that came with its largely offline delivery.
We were briefed by Samsung to develop a strategy that would drive and reward engagement and to integrate it into the existing retail engagement platform (Samsung Backstage) to better drive accountability.
We worked with Samsung to define the ideal behaviours of an engaged ambassador (Elite), map out measurement criteria for each behaviour, and then analyse current activity levels.
Based on this we developed a gamified engagement and reward strategy. We encouraged Elites to maintain or improve their performance by assigning tiers to different levels of engagement, with increasingly compelling rewards available at each level.
This led in turn to the design and development of a technical feature for the Backstage platform that fully automated the process. On monthly and quarterly cycles, it assessed activity and performance against set criteria, and then moved users up or down a tier accordingly, triggering hints, reminders and notifications as appropriate.
Early product design concepts for integration with the Backstage platform
The new feature was well received by users at launch, and the natural reactions of users being assigned performance levels that may be lower than their expectations were minimised through extensive data modelling, testing, teaser comms and refinement of the algorithms during a shadow launch period.
The improved visibility not only allowed Samsung to identify and remove disengaged members from the ambassador programme, but also enabled a reward mechanic that caught users at risk of lapsing and encouraged them re-engage and drove measurable uplifts in engagement across all levels.
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