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To fully understand how your ambassador program works, you need to create a new email segment or attribute for them. This way you can see how they perform over time compared to your other subscribers. In other words, you need the perfect customer journey – welcome Autopilot.What is The Hustle?
Because of the many moving pieces, few companies run great ambassador programs. One company that does it exceptionally well is The Hustle, a media publication founded by serial entrepreneurs, Sam Parr and John Havel. The Hustle is a daily email newsletter and publication targeted at millennials. Today, the email has over 275,000 daily email subscribers. Powerful. Sam Parr founded a unique niche with their daily email’s conversational tech-bro voice, and memorable stories and reporting. A couple of more standout stories, include Microdosing: I Spent 14 Days Using LSD to Increase Productivity… Kind Of, Soylent: What happened when I went 30 days Without Food, and How Much Does It Cost to Build an App? “In the way Vice has filled a voice somewhere between CNN and Fox News, we’re doing that with business-undertone news, focused on an affluent young audience, somewhere between CNBC and The Wall Street Journal,” said Parr. To see what makes The Hustle’s ambassador program tic, let’s go on a deep dive.It Starts with the Opt-in Form
First, submit your email. Notice the casual copy above the opt-in form and the lack of text on the button. I can only wonder how many times they A/B tested this form.
You can access this opt-in form through a direct link or other pages on the Hustle like this one: 
What happens when you opt-in?
You see an unforgettable thank-you page. The man in the mirror is a GIF, so when you land on the page, you’ll see him nod his head over and again. Talk about a seductive landing page!
You’re officially a subscriber. Now, you’ll receive the most epic welcome email ever to exist. I know what you’re thinking: “To ever exist? Really?” Yes. Many publications featured their welcome email, including here, here, here, and here. Oh, and here, too. Here’s the welcome email word-for-word: 
Notice the call to action to join their ambassador program at the bottom of the email. This link is in many of their daily emails, too. When you click the link, you land back on your personal ambassador homepage where you see the number of people you’ve referred and the prizes you can win. Here’s the first half of the landing page:
Now, not everyone who enters will become a referrer. Maître, a viral marketing software, conducted a study of 3.6 million referral emails and found most people don’t refer even one person. In turn, by only referring a small number of friends (2-3), you can push yourself to the top of the leaderboard. In fact, to be in the top 10%, you only need to refer one person. If you refer two people, you’re in the top 5% Before we continue, many people may be asking what’s the difference between a sweepstakes, giveaway, contest, and ambassador program. A giveaway is another way to say “contest” or “sweepstakes.” Why? More conversions. The word “giveaway” receives 27% more conversions than “sweepstakes” when running a sweepstakes. A sweepstakes is a game of chance. A contest requires skill and exclusion. An ambassador program is a contest that anyone can win – a combination of a contest and community.Who participates in ambassador programs?
Forrester’s Social Technographics explains the different audiences that will engage with your promotion: Spectators, Joiners, and Creators.- Spectators click through to your giveaway, but their interaction doesn’t go further. For spectators, use a well-designed landing page and clear messaging, so they leave with a good impression of your brand.
- Joiners participate in low-barrier ambassador programs and may engage further through referrals, commenting and sharing.
- Creators love user-generated content giveaways and ambassador programs. Because many of us have iPhones, there are many more content creators than a few years ago. As content has become easier to create, expectations have increased, too.
What do you give away?
The Hustle gives away a ton of swag and free tickets to their events. In fact, they’ve changed their referral tiers as they’ve received a better understanding of the customer lifetime value of their average referrer. Ideally, what you give away should have a viral component to it. The most viral gift The Hustle gives away are their stickers (think of it as their Apple logo). Most people slap the sticker on their laptop resulting in thousands of free impressions. To give each gift a viral component, The Hustle team always goes over the top. One of their referrers posted an image of the prizes she received. Notice the extras, including the handwritten letter and branding on the packaging. As Sam Parr says, “Everything is content.”
Make sure to keep the prizes relevant to your niche and brand. If The Hustle gave away an Apple iPhone, then they’d have many people on their email list interested in iPhones, not their daily email and events. At the same time, don’t make it too specific or you’ll scare people off. To save money, think of your prize in regards to benefit, not cost. Now, for the second half of the ambassador landing page: 
Notice how the second half details the exact steps to getting more email subscribers using testimonials. Few – if any – brand ambassador programs do this. By the time you finish reading the testimonials, you feel confident enough to sign people up for The Hustle.What happens when you refer enough people to receive a prize?
You get another email with excellent copy and a few call to actions. First, they ask you to fill out a form to input your shipping address.
Here’s the genius part: Since they know you have a strong incentive to fill out the form, they also ask whether you’re a founder, type of content you enjoy reading, desired outcome from the ambassador program, and what websites you follow. By the time you hit “Submit,” you’ve given The Hustle a detailed look into your life enabling them to market to you better.
At the end of the form, they also link to a YouTube video of the co-founder, Sam Parr, introducing The Hustle on a more personal level: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxewIXvHO4s Now back to the second part of the prize email:
If you have any questions, they link to their ambassador guide FAQ. This is one my favorite parts of the ambassador program. The FAQ answers every question the prospect might ask. Moreover, it reminds them of how easy it is to refer people because they include a few testimonials similar to the ambassador homepage. Here’s a short snippet of the testimonials on the FAQ page: 
The last call to action is to refer more people. Most marketer put this CTA at the top of their email, but The Hustle doesn’t believe you should ask first. They’re objective is to build trust. And it works quite well – 200,000 plus subscribers. 
What’s up with the private community?
This is where the magic happens. An engaged community is priceless, but it takes a significant amount of work to facilitate. You need to post excellent content almost every day, respond to comments, approve members, and introduce new members. The Hustle founders know this, so they’re constantly testing out content from polls to live streaming with influencers.
Imagine having the exclusive benefit of a Q&A with Tim Ferriss because you’re one of The Hustle’s ambassadors. Benefits like this live stream encourage thousands of more people to become ambassadors. 
To reiterate, they post new content every day. I’ve seen many people try to create ambassador programs, but give up after a couple of months – they can’t continue providing value. Can you? Ask yourself: “How do I provide value to keep my community engaged without burning out?”There are several ways to do this.
- Make other active members moderators or admins to encourage them to create great content.
- Interview influencers, so you don’t have to create an original content.
- Document your personal journey of failures and successes with tactics.
- Congratulate your top members regularly.
