Latest / The DTC Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Direct-to-Consumer Brands, Shopify, and E-Commerce Growth / How DTC Brands Use Brand Ambassadors Instead of Influencers
Transcript
- Lucas: So we talk a lot on this show about influencer marketing — how to find them, how to brief them, how to measure ROI. But there's a quieter shift happening in DTC right now that I think is actually more interesting. Luna: You mean the move away from influencers toward something more permanent? Lucas: Exactly. Brands are starting to build ambassador programs — not the old affiliate model where you hand someone a link and hope they post. I'm talking about a real, curated group of customers who embody the brand and get compensated in things like product, equity, or a revenue share, but the relationship is long-term. Luna: And the pitch is that ambassadors feel more authentic than a paid influencer who might promote three different protein powders in one week. Lucas: Right. There's data on this. A study from a few years ago — and it's still cited — found that 92 percent of consumers trust recommendations from people they know, even if it's just a friend of a friend, over any other form of advertising. An ambassador program is basically trying to systematize that friend of a friend trust at scale. Luna: But how do you scale something that's inherently personal without losing the magic? Lucas: That's the million-dollar question. And a lot of DTC brands are figuring it out right now. Take Bala Bangles — the wrist and ankle weights that are also kind of a fashion accessory. They've built an ambassador program called the Bala Squad. It's not just about posting photos. Ambassadors get early access to drops, they get invited to community events, they get a commission on sales. But the real hook is that they're genuinely obsessed with the product. Bala doesn't pay them per post; they pay them in community and a sense of belonging. Luna: So it's almost a loyalty program disguised as a marketing channel. Lucas: Exactly. And the result? Their repeat purchase rate among ambassadors is something like 60 percent higher than their average customer. Because once you're in the squad, you're not just a customer — you're part of the brand's identity. Luna: But I feel like a lot of brands hear 'ambassador program' and they think it's just a fancy name for an affiliate program with a lower commission. Lucas: And that's where they fail. Because if you treat ambassadors like contractors who get a link and a code, you're not building a community — you're building a transactional channel that will churn the second a competitor offers a better cut. The brands that do this well think about ambassadors as a relationship, not a channel. Luna: Give me an example of a brand that really gets that distinction. Lucas: Quip — the toothbrush company. They have an ambassador program, but they've been smart about it. They don't just recruit people with big followings. They look for customers who talk about oral hygiene naturally — maybe they're a dental hygienist, or a mom who's passionate about teaching her kids to brush. Quip gives them a custom storefront they can share, and they earn 10 percent of sales. But the key is that Quip provides content assets and social templates so ambassadors don't have to create everything from scratch. It lowers the barrier, but it also makes the brand voice consistent. Luna: That makes sense — you're leveraging their authenticity but giving them guardrails so they don't go off message. Lucas: And the numbers back it up. Quip has publicly said that ambassador-generated sales have a customer acquisition cost that's about 60 percent lower than their paid social ads. Luna: Sixty percent lower? That's huge. Lucas: It is. And the lifetime value of those customers is higher too, because they were acquired through a trusted recommendation rather than a targeted ad. They tend to be more loyal and less price-sensitive. Luna: So if I'm a DTC brand listening to this, what's the first step to building an ambassador program? Do I need a platform, or can I start with a spreadsheet? Lucas: You can absolutely start with a spreadsheet. I know a DTC skincare brand — I won't name them because they're private — but they started their ambassador program with just 50 people. They handpicked them from their repeat customer list, people who had bought at least three times and had left positive reviews. They reached out personally and said, 'We love that you love our products. Would you like to be part of a small group that gets first access and a commission?' And they onboarded them via a simple Google Form. Luna: So no fancy software, no influencer management platform. Lucas: No. And within six months, those 50 ambassadors were generating 12 percent of their total revenue. The brand then scaled it to 200 ambassadors and it became 30 percent of revenue. They actually reduced their influencer spend by 80 percent because the ambassador program was outperforming the paid influencer campaigns on both cost and conversion. Luna: That's a massive shift in marketing mix. But I wonder — does this work for every DTC category? What if you're selling something boring, like paper towels? Lucas: I think it works best for categories where there's a passionate user base. Paper towels might be harder, but think about something like Who Gives A Crap — the toilet paper brand that donates 50 percent of profits to build toilets. Their ambassadors aren't just selling toilet paper; they're selling a mission. If your product has a story, a purpose, or a distinctive benefit, you can build ambassadors around that. Luna: So it's about finding the narrative hook, not just the product. Lucas: Exactly. And that's why ambassador programs feel more sustainable than influencer campaigns. An influencer posts once, gets paid, and moves on. An ambassador is a long-term relationship. They're invested in your success because their identity is tied to your brand. Luna: But there's a risk, right? If an ambassador does something controversial, that reflects on the brand. Lucas: Absolutely. That's why you need vetting and a code of conduct — but you also need to accept some loss of control. If you script every post, you're back to being a brand voice, not a community. The trade-off is authenticity for some brand risk. Most DTC brands I've talked to say it's worth it. Luna: So what about compensation? I've seen brands do straight commission, flat monthly fees, product-only, or equity. What's working in 2026? Lucas: The most effective model I've seen is a hybrid. A small base of product — like free product every quarter — plus a commission on sales they directly generate. Some brands also offer points or perks that can be redeemed for exclusive experiences. Equity is rarer but I've seen it with early-stage brands that want to lock in superfans. The key is that ambassadors feel valued beyond a transaction. Luna: Speaking of valuing people — I want to pull on a thread you mentioned earlier about reducing influencer spend. If these ambassador programs are so effective, why aren't more brands doing them? Lucas: I think it's inertia. Influencer marketing is easy to buy: you find someone with a million followers, you wire them money, you get a post. Ambassador programs require relationship management. You have to recruit, onboard, nurture, and communicate. It's more like running a community than running an ad campaign. Luna: And that scares some marketing teams. Lucas: It does. But the brands that are doing it well are seeing that the ROI is much better over a 12-month horizon. And with ad costs rising and iOS privacy changes still making targeting harder, ambassador programs are becoming a more reliable channel. Luna: I also think about the trust factor. We're in a moment where consumers are skeptical of polished marketing. An ambassador who posts an unboxing video shot on their iPhone in their kitchen is going to resonate more than a high-production influencer ad. Lucas: Exactly right. And that's not just a vibe — there's data. A study by Marketing Week found that ads featuring real customers, not actors or influencers, had a 30 percent higher purchase intent. Ambassador content is essentially user-generated content with a relationship behind it. Luna: So if I'm a brand that wants to start this tomorrow, what's the minimum viable ambassador program? Lucas: Three steps. One: identify your most loyal customers — the ones who already post about you or leave glowing reviews. Two: reach out personally — email, not DMs — and invite them to a private group. Three: give them a simple offer — a discount code that gives them 10 percent commission and a free product if they hit a certain threshold. That's it. You don't need a fancy platform. You need a spreadsheet and a personal touch. Luna: And then you iterate from there. Lucas: Exactly. One brand I know started with a WhatsApp group of 20 ambassadors, and now they have a custom portal with 1,500 ambassadors. But it took two years. The point is to start small and learn. Luna: That's actually a great segue to something I've been thinking about. We talk about these strategies on the show, and I know a lot of our listeners have tried implementing them. If you're one of those people who's listened and thought, 'I want to build something like this' — we actually have a way you can support us making more episodes like this. Lucas: Yeah, and it's pretty straightforward. The show is ad-free — we keep it that way intentionally because we don't want interruptions. But it does mean we rely on listeners who find value in what we do and want to help keep it going. Luna: If you've ever gotten a concrete idea from an episode — maybe an ambassador program structure, or a way to think about customer acquisition — and you've used it in your own work, that's exactly the kind of value we're trying to create. And if you want to support that, you can at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: No pressure at all. Just know that every little bit helps us keep digging into topics like this one. And we really appreciate the people who do. Luna: Alright — back to ambassador programs. You mentioned earlier that one of the challenges is measuring success beyond sales. What metrics should brands track? Lucas: Revenue is obvious, but I'd look at customer acquisition cost by source, lifetime value of ambassador-referred customers, and ambassador retention rate. If your ambassadors are sticking around for more than a year, you're doing something right. Also track content output — how many pieces of user-generated content are you getting? That's a separate asset. Luna: And engagement on that content? Or does that not matter as much? Lucas: It matters, but I'd focus on conversion. An ambassador post that gets 200 likes but drives ten sales is way more valuable than a post with 2,000 likes and no sales. So you need to use trackable links and codes. Luna: That's the affiliate part of it. Lucas: Right. But the difference is the context. An ambassador code shared in a Facebook group of fellow runners feels different than an influencer code in a sponsored Instagram story. The ambassador is part of that community. Luna: So let's talk about the future. Where do you see ambassador programs going in the next year or two? Lucas: I think we'll see more brands building ambassador programs that are tiered — so you have a small group of brand advocates who get equity or high commissions, a middle tier of active promoters who get product and moderate commissions, and a large base of casual ambassadors who get discounts and early access. It's almost like a loyalty program with a marketing component. Luna: So it becomes a customer lifecycle strategy, not just an acquisition tactic. Lucas: Exactly. And I think we'll see more technology built specifically for this — platforms that help with recruiting, onboarding, and managing ambassadors at scale. Right now it's still fragmented between CRM tools, affiliate platforms, and community software. There's an opportunity for a unified platform. Luna: One thing I'm wondering about is the legal side. When you have ambassadors who are not employees but you're giving them free product and commissions, there can be FTC issues around disclosure, right? Lucas: Absolutely. Ambassadors need to clearly disclose their relationship with the brand. The FTC has guidelines on that. Brands need to train their ambassadors on proper disclosure — things like #ad or #ambassador in the first two lines of a caption. It's not optional. Luna: And that's another area where a good onboarding process pays off. Lucas: For sure. The best brand ambassador programs I've seen include a short training module on disclosure, and they have a system for spot-checking posts. It protects both the brand and the ambassador. Luna: Alright, final question: if you had to pick one DTC brand that's doing ambassador programs better than anyone else right now, who would it be? Lucas: I'd say Bala Bangles is up there. But also — and this might be surprising — Athletic Brewing, the non-alcoholic beer company. They have a program called the Athletic Brewing Ambassador Crew. Their ambassadors are runners, cyclists, hikers — people who live an active lifestyle and don't drink alcohol. They don't just post about beer; they post about their adventures, and the beer is naturally part of it. It's not forced. That's the gold standard. Luna: So the product fits seamlessly into the ambassador's existing identity. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the secret sauce. You can't force an ambassador to be passionate. You have to find people who already are, and then give them a way to share that passion in a way that also helps your brand.