The Challenge: Generating More Referrals & UGC from Their Customers
It wasn't SM Global Shop's first time hosting a brand ambassador program. In fact, the brand has been gaining so much popularity that they invited a small group of customers to be their first group of ambassadors back in early 2020.
But the challenges they faced, in the beginning, were quite universal. They wanted to unlock the potential of their customers (who were already generating UGC for SM Global Shop) and generate more UGC and referrals via their ambassadors.
On top of that, the brand was using several means of communication which lead to a high level of inactive members and overall lacked engagement and a sense of community. They knew that they needed a better system to manage their initial group of ambassadors.
"Our program always had difficulty with bonding and communicating with ambassadors because we had to maintain a separate community on Facebook Group, and all the notices were scattered into different platforms (Facebook/E-mail) which lowered the open rate and confusion between members."
Some of SM Global Shops biggest pain points included:
- A disorganized group of initial ambassadors
- The low open rate for email and notifications with regards to activities or program updates
- Low engagement overall lead to more wasted time and effort to maintain the program
- Lack of community and bonding among ambassadors and the SM team
Scaling Up Their Ambassador Program
"The SMS notification and community feature from CrewFire have changed our program a lot. Our ambassadors now have a unified and huge hall of communication. This helped them to be effectively notified (with a better open rate than E-mail!)"
With a rapidly growing, passionate base of k-pop fans who wanted to work with SM Global Shop, they saw the eminent need to scale up and mobilize by turning their raving fans into their team of brand ambassadors.
- A growing number of passionate k-pop fans around the world
- Wanted to have a more robust community and communication across ambassadors
- An extremely eager fan base (cult-like following)
- Saw an opportunity to grow their community and have higher engagement with ambassadors
- 275k on IG and a customer base that was already producing UGC on their socials
"Having a separate community on CrewFire, allows us to communicate with our ambassadors better than before."
Highlights from the SM Global Shop Ambassador Program
In just two short months, the SM Global Shop has hit the ground running, full speed ahead. They have seen rapid growth, amazing UGC, and an impressive number of referrals.
- 377 Ambassadors
- Over 1,800 pieces of UGC
- Over 480 Referrals
- Over $72k in Referral Sales in 10 Months
- 904% ROI
"CrewFire support was always very fast-responsive and helpful so that we can resolve the issue really quickly. Also, they check-in with me regularly. This helped us a lot to see if our program is going well and improve if we had an issue with the program."
SM Global Shop's Unique and Engaging Activity Line-Up
SM Global Shop has hosted a wide variety of activities for their ambassadors to participate in and consistently receives tons of amazing content from their ambassadors.
SM Global Shop can take that content and repurpose it on their website or social media channels.
- UGC on Instagram
- Product reviews
- YouTube unboxing videos
- Create TikToks
- Share content for Twitter
- Write a blog post
Sample UGC from SM Global Ambassadors
How CrewFire Works
The Ambassador Experience
Community
Ambassadors can check in for program updates and engage and interact with their fellow ambassadors.
Submission/UGC
Mobilize your ambassadors to create content and take action in exchange for points.
Referrals
Arm your ambassadors with a unique referral code that they can share with friends, family, and followers and earn a commission for each sale they generate.
Activity Feed
Ambassadors can check out what their fellow ambassadors have been participating in the activity feed.
Ambassador Profile
Ambassadors can check their history in their profile and see their complete list of completed activities and points earned.
Rewards
Incentivize your ambassadors by adding custom rewards that they can earn in exchange for points.
Conclusion
In just ten months, SM Global Generates $72k in Referral Sales, 1,800 Pieces of UGC, and a 904% ROI with CrewFire.
But the best part? Their ambassadors are passionate about the SM Global Shop brand, k-pop, and they want to create content for the brand!