How to Build a High-Performing Affiliate Influencer Program w/ Sarah Grosz (Allbirds)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Influence Factor – How to Build a High-Performing Affiliate Influencer Program w/ Sarah Grosz (Allbirds)

Date: March 4, 2026
Host: Alessandro Bogliari (The Influencer Marketing Factory)
Guest: Sarah Grosz (Head of Influencer, Affiliate & Community at Allbirds)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Alessandro Bogliari is joined by Sarah Grosz of Allbirds to explore the intricacies of building scalable, effective affiliate influencer programs. The conversation covers practical do’s and don’ts, incentive structures, balancing brand guidelines with creator autonomy, and adapting influencer strategies to increasingly savvy, discerning consumers. Sarah shares actionable strategies and behind-the-scenes insights from managing a 3,000+ member ambassador network, emphasizing experimentation, data-driven decision-making, and the importance of authenticity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Sarah’s Mission, Achievements, and Purpose

• Mission: To create scalable, repeatable strategies within the influencer and affiliate space.
  “That’s why I do it and that’s why I really love being able to just copy and paste different processes for different brands to achieve whatever they want through influencer marketing.” – Sarah [01:00]
• Career Highlights:
  • Built departments from scratch at Meet Six and Allbirds.
  • Launched partnerships with Stanley Tucci, Pantone, Melissa Wood Health, and others.
    [02:25]
• Purpose: Passion for empowering up-and-coming brands with knowledge, playbooks, and case studies.

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Do’s and Don’ts of Affiliate Influencer Communities

Do’s:

• Be Patient: Performance from commission-based ambassadors often takes time.
• Enable Success:
  • Provide product seeding, clear briefs, and top-converting promotions.
  • Leverage learnings from paid media into affiliate execution.
    “Brands should be a little bit more patient and they should definitely… handhold a little bit more.” – Sarah [04:35]
• Track and Engage:
  • Use CRM-like systems to track each partner’s progress, product sends, engagement, and conversions.
  • Regularly prune inactive affiliates and focus on nurturing engaged creators. [06:29]

Don’ts:

• Don’t Be Overly Selective:
  • With commission-only programs, the real risk is misalignment with brand values/esthetics—not cost.
  • “Don’t be too precious with the ambassadors you’re accepting into your program.” – Sarah [04:00]
• Don’t Move Too Fast: Let affiliates ramp up, and don’t expect instant ROI or results. [04:50]

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Building and Managing the Community (0–3,000+ Members)

• Recruitment vs. Applications: Most ambassadors are hand-picked and vetted; some apply organically.
• Pipeline Management: Treat ambassador development like a sales funnel, tracking every step.
• Churn and Retention: Remove the bottom 10% of performers every few months to keep the community healthy and averages up. [07:00]

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Balancing Performance & Creator Autonomy

• Brand-Provided Content:

  • For fast campaigns (like flash sales), send ready-to-share Instagram story frames that are fully branded.
  • Maintains aesthetics, ensures “heat” from social, and offers speed. [09:22]

• Creative Briefs with Flexibility:

  • Focus on benefits and unique selling points.
  • Allow the creator to personalize messaging for their audience.
  • This approach creates both authentic-feeling content and effective ads.

• Micro-Opportunities for Content Creation:

  • Offer small, opt-in paid assignments (e.g., $25) aligned with specific briefs.
  • Additional incremental payment if content is used in ads or site.
  • Particularly effective for newer, less experienced creators.
    “A lot of the times… this is their first time ever partnering with a brand and so they’re excited to create… amazing content for $25.” – Sarah [11:45]

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Incentive Strategies & Gamification

• Commission Tiers:

  • Higher sales unlock higher commission rates.
  • “The more you sell, the more you make. That essentially gamifies it.” – Sarah [14:09]

• Conversion Milestones:

  • Data-backed goals (e.g., 3, 5, 7, 10 conversions) trigger increasing rewards.
  • “My goal… is to get all of my affiliates to 10 conversions. So I’ll make a milestone at maybe 3 conversions… the biggest one… would be at 10.” – Sarah [14:31]

• Engagement Challenges:

  • Extra bonuses for consistent posting (e.g., five times per month).
  • Product rewards for continued participation—new products generate excitement and more content opportunities.

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Influencer Selection: Quantitative vs. Qualitative

• Define the KPI: Content quality and creativity vs. pure sales/conversions require different approaches.

• Data for Performance Affiliates:

  • Ask for real IG Story stats (link clicks, sticker taps) to measure conversion potential.
    “If I want conversions and sales… I’m going to push them to post on stories where there’s that direct response link.” – Sarah [18:20]

• AI-Powered Content Matching:

  • Use inspiration images or prompts (e.g., Archive.com) to find creators with a matching vibe and content style.

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Adapting to Trends: Consumer Savviness and Authenticity

• Savvy Audiences:

  • Consumers easily detect scripted or sponsored content.
  • “Customers are understanding fake content. They’re harder to trick because there’s more awareness in what actually happens behind the scenes.” – Sarah [21:40]

• Practical Tips for Authenticity:

  • Advise on camera angles (top-down, bottom-up) and eye contact to make content feel organic and unscripted.
  • Specific cues in briefs help guide realism.

• Rise of the Curator:

  • Next-gen consumers trust niche, consistent recommenders, not “whoever pays” influencers.
  • “There is a lot of credibility and trust built with that instead of just influencers getting their bag, posting whatever, whoever and whatever brand pays them.” – Sarah [23:50]

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Memorable Quotes

• “Don’t be too precious with the ambassadors you’re accepting into your program.” – Sarah [04:00]
• “Brands should be a little bit more patient and they should definitely… handhold a little bit more.” – Sarah [04:35]
• “The more you sell, the more you make. That essentially gamifies it.” – Sarah [14:09]
• “Customers are understanding fake content. They’re harder to trick.” – Sarah [21:40]
• “There is a lot of credibility and trust built with [curators] instead of just influencers getting their bag, posting whatever.” – Sarah [23:50]
• “Sometimes filming straight on makes it a little bit strange. So… have influencers kind of crouch in front of their screen. It just adds a little bit more of an organic feel.” – Sarah [22:30]

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Important Timestamps

• [00:24] – Sarah’s intro & mission
• [02:25] – Notable campaigns and achievements
• [03:46] – Do’s and don’ts for affiliate programs
• [06:29] – Selecting, tracking, and managing ambassador pipeline
• [09:22] – Balancing guidance and creator autonomy
• [14:05] – Gamification and tiered incentives
• [18:00] – Influencer selection tactics (quantitative & AI strategies)
• [21:30] – Adapting to consumers’ demand for authenticity
• [22:30] – Creative suggestions for more genuine-feeling content

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How to Find Sarah

• LinkedIn: @Sarah Grosz
• Instagram: @GoodCPG (Tactical tips, especially in Stories) [25:46]

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For in-depth strategies, actionable tips, and a look inside managing a major affiliate community, this episode is an essential listen for brands and marketers navigating today’s influencer landscape.

Transcript

[A]

Customers are understanding fake content. They're understanding that this review is just a script and they understand that it's the brand that's backing it and producing this content. They're harder to trick because there's more awareness and what actually happens behind the scenes.

[B]

Hey, Sarah, welcome to the show. How are you?

[A]

I'm good. Thank you for having me.

[B]

Absolutely. You know, today we go into affiliate creator communities and, you know, how do you balance between, you know, performance representation and, you know, creator, you know, autonomy in the affiliate setup. And there are going to be a lot of fascinating things between, you know, some technical questions, some more about the vibes lately. Right. In 2026. When it comes to creators and influencers, there are a lot of things happening right these months. But before we get started, usually we use this thing called an app. Basically is divided in three main areas. The mission. So what do you aim to achieve with your work? Achievements? Any notable milestones they're really proud of. Could be your career or life or both. And the last one is the purpose. Why do you do what you do?

[A]

Awesome. Well, I would say my mission is to create scalable and repeatable strategies within the influencer community and affiliate space. Some milestones in my career is I started and scaled the influencer department at a marketing agency called Meet six. I started and scaled the influencer team within Allbirds when I started. And so that's really aligned with my mission is to build a scalable process. Especially when I'm starting at ground zero. It's really exciting for me and I guess that's also ties into my purpose. I really love working with up and coming brands and so however I can share my knowledge and just case studies with up and coming brands. That's why I do it and that's why I really love being able to just copy and paste different processes for different brands to achieve whatever they want through influencer marketing. And it just helps them scale and grow.

[B]

And in terms of achievements, is that in your, in your, you know, previous years that you are really proud of anything that could be, you know, a big campaign or the fact that, you know, talking about, let's say, you know, scalability that you were able to achieve something that you're, again, you know, very happy about.

[A]

Yeah, a few of my most recent achievements is launching a campaign with Stanley Tucci, launching a campaign with Pantone. So many partnerships that have been really fun. Melissa Wood Health. Like, we did a whole event around her. So yeah, a lot of fun things and a lot of milestones and achievements through Partnership.

[B]

I would say it's always pretty cool when you work for months and months on something and then you finally can see it there. Right? Like yeah, that's, that's me and my team, you know, they work on that. So it's fantastic to hear. I would love to start, you know, talking about the, you know, some of the do's and don'ts. Right. Because I think that it's very important these days that, you know, there are a lot of times where both brands, but also creators want to understand how to work in the best way with each other. Right. And many times we talk about the do's, not many times I think we also talk about the dancers. I want to see both sides. Right. And specifically for brands building and managing, you know, affiliate creator communities, you know, we know, right, that affiliate is becoming more and more predominant in the influencer marketing game. So I would love to understand a bit more, you know, again, if you do have some, let's say generic do's and don'ts as first phase and then I do have, of course, you know, a few more detailed questions and in depth ones for you again in terms of, you know, how you balance things. But if you have to face, think about the first ones that comes to, to your mind in terms of do's and don'ts. What are they?

[A]

Sure. Well, I would first like to set the scene. My affiliate community is about 3,000 active members. And so this is across many years. And so there's so many things that I test with and then it's a quick no. And then I also want to say that these ambassadors are only commission based, really. At least that's why they initially onboarded and signed up to be an ambassador. So the first thing is that if it's performance based, a big don't is to not be so precious with the ambassadors you're accepting into your program. It's really low risk. The biggest risk that you can take is potentially not aligning with your brand's esthetic or your brand aspirations. But in terms of cost, there is almost no risk. Usually it's only cost of product. So that's my one don't is don't be too selective and don't be too precious. I also think that especially with affiliate influencer communities, it takes a long time to actually get that first, even piece of content shared first. And then also on top of that, getting that first conversion for the affiliate. And then. And so I think a big don't is acting too fast and the reverse of that is the do is brands should be a little bit more patient and they should definitely, I think, handhold a little bit more leverage what you know, from paid ads and paid media and translate those contextual learnings and the content copywriting and into your execution through affiliate partnerships. So giving them briefs that show them what content converts best, giving them products that you know are top converting and then enabling them with different promotions that are exclusive to them in order to give them as many best chances to

[B]

perform for you and you know a lot to get in a second about. Also incentive strategies. I think it's very, very important as specifically when there is so much competition going on. Right. In the affiliate creator communities. Before getting into that, you, you mentioned 3,000, right. Basically ambassadors and affiliates that are working with you. How was at the beginning, did you, did you open up to, you know, many people as possible to understand what was the right fit for you and then you kind of, you know, work backward and try to remove those that were not a good fit or did you start piling up all the ones that were working? So going from 0 to 3000 or was it like 10k to 3k?

[A]

Yeah, it's a constant push and pull. So most of my ambassadors have been hand selected and recruited by my team. So ideally, if you're on as an ambassador, we already have screened your content, screened your profile, and are reaching out to you because we want to work with you. That's one. We do have some affiliates and ambassadors that apply and they're aware of our brand, they're excited about our products. And so that's just another way that I've been able to build this community of three partners. I would say what is really important and it could be another do, is just make sure that you're properly tracking the pipeline of each partner. And I consider this similar to an email CRM where you're emailing customers, you know exactly where in the sales funnel they are and what they need in order to get them across the conversion pipeline. I think about that in a similar way to influencer marketing where I'm tracking the products that I've sent them, how engaged they are in communicating back with me, if they've posted, if they've converted, what are their benchmarks? And so then I can make a decision if there's an inactive affiliate, like maybe it makes sense to remove them from the program and maybe re engage at another time because they're, they could be just taking on additional hours that we need to coordinate with them or communicate with them. Maybe they're Just kind of the opposite of beefing up. They're loosening up our metrics and the overall performance and making the averages good. Go less. Less efficient. So, yeah, it's important to keep your current roster engaged, but also to remove the, like, bottom 10% every few months.

[B]

Absolutely. No, it makes terrible sense. Like, especially like when it comes to. And that reminds me, similar to influencer marketing. Right? The Pareto principle. Right. At the end of the day, the 80, 20, it still applies many times in marketing. Right. And that's also what we do. Many times if a client want to renew, you go and look at the ones that perform the best, the one that maybe were not the right fit. And next time you don't call them, but you can renew with the ones that brought the, you know, of course, the most possible. And, you know, you already kind of mentioned a bit of these, but I would like to go more in detail. How do you balance, you know, performance expectation? But we created autonomy in all these affiliates because, again, you have to balance all the time, the, you know, the authenticity of the person, the tone of voice, how they present themselves. But there are also certain expectations, there are guidelines. And I noticed that some brands are great at doing that. Others are still learning in. In order to keep your affiliate happy. At the same time, you can also control the, the. The brand image. Right? That is quite important. How, how. How do you find the balance?

[A]

Well, there's one really amazing hack that I execute pretty often, and that's actually providing the ambassadors with content to share. So I work with my creative team to create different. It's usually an Instagram story frame. And so it's designed in a way that aligns with my brand with a quick turnaround so that we get the amplification and the heat from social that we're looking for. This is typically executed when there's like a flash sale or a new product launch where we have just like really exciting news, but not the luxury of time to prepare our ambassadors to create content. So providing them content, it really aligns with brand aesthetic. It's definitely more risky giving influencers and ambassadors the space to create their own content. And so what I always recommend is creating some sort of loose or light brief. It's more focused on the unique selling points and the benefits of your product and your brand. And so that way the influencer is educated and knows what to speak on and leverages their creativity to storytell and make that make sense for their audience, since that's what they're who they're trying to convert. But also it typically translates into really good ad creative to, to when you're just really giving them, focusing really on the selling points of your product instead of, you know, like focusing on this crazy transition or whatever trend, they really focus on getting the point across and like why people love your products just based off of simple information that you give. And so that's the best way that I mix performance with the creator autonomy. And then I would also say that beyond commissions that I offer my affiliates, I do something really unique and that is giving micro opportunities for content creation. But it has to align with a very specific brief. And so this is typically used when I need content to be amplified through brand channels. So posting it on our organic socials post, using it as an ad, maybe it's in an email, maybe it's on site, but it's a very specific thing that I need usually coming from other teams. And so I'm able to offer maybe let's say it's 25 bucks to anyone in my 3000 like affiliate influencer ambassador program. This opportunity to create content, it's all opted in so they can just totally ignore it if it's not worth their time. But a lot of the times, especially when we're talking about affiliate influencers, at least in my program, this is their first time ever partnering with a brand new and so they're excited to create, you know, amazing content for 25 bucks. And then we give them even more incentive when we actually use it as an ad or we use it on site, we give them incremental money and, and we just pay them because one, they did amazing work and two, it really works for us as well. So it's, it's a mix of letting the affiliates drive revenue through content that feels, feels right for them but then also pairing it with smaller opportunities for them to directly align with my brand and my, my brand's needs.

[B]

Hey, if your brand is ready to grow, we are here to help. At the influencer marketing factory, we run full service influencer campaigns that actually move the needle. We handle everything. Creator identification, campaign strategy, contract shipping, logistics, you name it. We have supported brands of every size from world recognized Fortune 500 companies to ambitious BTC startups. And with our in depth ROI tracking, you always know what's working and why. Just visit the influencermarketingfactory.com to learn more and get started. And are there any other, you know, similar incentive strategies that you find effective? Again, I'm curious if there is anything else that you've tried in the past that you want to double down this year or, or if this one that you just mentioned is primarily the one that you are very excited about. I'm just curious, you know, because all the time there are so many way to keep again, you know, people engaged. So you said that you communicate a lot with them whenever they can obtain in these opportunities. Right. Is there anything else that you might be looking at and be like, oh, that, that would be actually very interesting to, to test out, to incentivize our, our ambassadors to maybe do the extra mile or, or having a different point of view on this type of format or experimenting things.

[A]

Yeah, there's lots of experiments all the time. I, I would say ambassador affiliate influencers, however you want to call it. It's not a simple program, it never will be. So on top of paying commissions, I have different commission tiers. So the more you sell, the more you make. That essentially gamifies it. Not only that, but I've taken my data and I've seen where the biggest breakthroughs are in terms of number of conversions. So when someone, this is just an example, let's say if an affiliate converts 10 times, they're going to generate 95% of my revenue in total based on all of the affiliates that are converting more than 10 times. So my goal at that point is to get all of my affiliates to 10 conversions. So I'll make a milestone at maybe 3 conversions, I'll make a milestone at 5 conversions, I'll make a milestone At 7 and then the biggest one, the most incentive would be at 10 just knowing like that's what I need to get them where they're where they need to be in order for them to produce and be a top performer for me. So that's one. I would also say another incentive that is dually worth like incentive. It incentivizes both me and the affiliate is when affiliates participate and I just have just general engagement challenges. So post five times a month and I'll just give you this small bonus. If they do that consecutively for two months, let's say I'll let them choose a new pair of allbirds or a new product that's a new product for us, which means it's a new product for them. They get these, this free product which they're really excited about, but it also enables them to create new, more content because they have more products to play with. And not only that, it's a high priority product for me. Usually new product launches are prioritized and we need more people talking about it. Just because we haven't spent the marketing dollars as our evergreen products. So that's just like another way that I can creatively incentivize my affiliate community to not only produce content, but also like stay engaged, be retained and then also prioritize what's a priority for me as well.

[B]

Basically almost gamification, right? You keep the people engaged and then the next milestone, I can achieve these, I can unlock that, right? And then I can get maybe this product for free or so. So that that's something that I know this, that works well. And I think that especially again there is so much noise going around and people want to see something where actually the brand care about you and they all the time engage with you and they send you something and then again it becomes a little video game basically in your head. It's like I want to achieve more, right? I want to get in the top 1% of the affiliate. And then as you said, you know, now you get to a new tier of, of revenue that you know that you can share and everything. So that's fantastic. In addition to these, you already mentioned it a bit earlier when it comes to also influencer selection, but it's something that I also want to see a bit more with you because there are so many, right, creators, influencers, affiliate ambassadors out there. There are brands that look only on paper in terms of quantitative analysis. There are others and now they're getting away from vanity metrics and they primarily look at the touch and feel, the style, the type of message and how they present themselves. Others are still looking at both. Others are using AI tools to really try to get the granularity of each post. And exactly at second free, the person said that word that is getting the attention. So there are so many approaches as in your opinion, 2026, what is, what is the best that is working well for you from again, finding the right people. You already said about engagement, but the first part, how do you really select the right ones for you?

[A]

Well, I would say the first thing that you have to think about and consider when selecting influencers is what is your primary KPI? If you're just looking for content and to repurpose it for ads or social or just create more of a brand vibe, that's going to be a different process than if you're trying to drive sales. I would say driving sales is a lot more straightforward, at least in my opinion. I typically ask for their most recent Instagram story link clicks and then also their sticker taps. And this shows me how engaged in Real time their audience is and how willing they're they will be to click a link. If I want conversions and sales from an affiliate influencer, I'm going to push them to post on stories where there's that direct response link where they can make that conversion. And so that's what I want to know is like how often are they convincing their audience to at least click into other products that they're recommending. So that's a good, like just check and flag. And that's what I would be leaning into when you're thinking about conversion partners. If I'm thinking about content and creative and how to make a beautiful video or whatever you're creating, I have certain tools that I love and use and I basically can share inspiration, literally share either a picture, a screenshot of content that I love, or I could describe the content that I love and it will return similar creators that either exactly match the content style just based off of the inspiration I plugged in, or it will give me based off of the prompt that I left it. So it's basically taking ChatGPT and turning that into an influencer affiliate database. The tool that I use is called Archive. Com. It's super powerful, amazing. And it's just kind of cutting through all the bullshit. There's no keywords that I really need. It's really leaning into like what's actually in the content.

[B]

Amazing. You know, I know an archive and you know, it's quite crucial these days to use different platforms to really, again, you know, go through the noise. There are so many posts, right? But which one are the right ones? Which one are the one that matters and how do we analyze them? And to go even a bit more in depth in these and actually looking on even almost, let's say, psychological level here, I have a last question for you that is more on the still on the creator side, but understanding the consumer expectation these days, right? Consumers do care much more these days about trust the brand and being able to align on their same DNAs and the same values, right. Because of that reason, how should creator strategy adapt to it, right? Like again, what is the good balance between your, you know, of course authenticity is such a buzzword, but between that and guidelines and again, really understanding that consumers, they are dissecting right messaging these days. They, they, they go out there and they look for reviews and they watch video reviews and then they read about the brand, right? Much more. So are creators, in your opinion, able to really understand what is happening there or can they do something better or different really to again adapt to this new way how consumer look at brands,

[A]

I would say, I mean when I started at influencer marketing, it was about 10 years ago and anyone could, you could reach out to any influencer, no matter how big or how small, send products. And it was just like you get content for free. Essentially. The industry has been able to mature a little bit. And so there are more brands that understand that influence affiliate marketing is so crucial to their brand strategy, their growth strategy, their customer acquisition strategy that every, every brand is doing it now. It's, it's just a part of the regular playbook, especially when we're talking about D2C brands that are selling products that people are reviewing. And so what I'm seeing in terms of shift in customer sentiment is there's a larger BS like meter. And so customers are understanding fake content. They're understanding that this review is just a script and they understand that it's the brand that's backing it and producing this content. They're harder to trick because there's more awareness and what actually happens behind the scenes. And so I've recently actually had to tell creators like, hey, thank you for submitting this content. But it looks like you're reading off of a script. And sometimes that's how creators produce is they're really good at reading and even if they're not reading, it feels like it. And they just don't have this genuine, just convincing tone to their voice. And so some things that you can do as a brand to adapt is ask the influencer to move their camera literally when they film in different angles. Sometimes filming straight on makes it a little bit strange. So if you have an interesting top down angle or bottom up or sometimes I have influencers kind of crouch in front of their screen. It just adds a little bit more of an organic feel. Other thing that you can consider is eye contact. And so just playing around and just maybe the influencer creator, affiliate needs to have more eye contact. Maybe it's just like too much, which makes it again inauthentic. So there are small little personal cues that you can call out in your briefs that will help the influencer again or affiliate drive more sales and then also create better content. But I do think that just consumers are more aware and they're usually also looking for curators. So influencers, it's just the next generation of influencers. It's people that just every product they recommend always hits. And so there is a lot of credibility and trust built with that instead of just influencers getting their Bag posting, whatever, whoever and whatever brand pays them. I think there's a level exclusivity that consumers are looking for.

[B]

Absolutely. Very interesting also and thank you for sharing. When you, you know, shared some of these, you know, tips. Again, this, they, they are simple ones, right. But as you said, sometimes maybe people think about, you know, they think about the moon when there are so small things like, you know, the eye contact or they change the camera settings and, and then how they. And, and just experiment. Right. Like, I, I think that that's a very important, you know, message. I, I noticed that certain brands, they have a gut feeling of what works without actually testing. Not until you don't see your customers do they love that type of content. Is this more better to be polished? Is it better to be raw or again, like just watching like the camera all the time or different, you know, POV and things like that, I think makes a huge difference and it helps right together to the tracking that you're doing on the influence. Also a B test setup of formats and videos and images and everything right up until you don't really test, it's difficult to say, oh, this actually works. Right. Because if you don't have the data behind that or marketers. Right. So at the end of the day, vibe can be part of it. But the garden roi, right. It's. It's what matters, let's say. Sarah, thank you so much for joining me today for, for sharing all your knowledge. Tell us, how can people find you? Is it. Is the best way for your LinkedIn or, or are there other resources that you usually publish online?

[A]

Yes, I post a ton of content on LinkedIn @Sarah grows and then I also have an Instagram called Good CPG where I share extremely tactical executions, especially on influencer, affiliate and community strategies. Most of it's in my Instagram stories, so you'll have to follow along to catch me at the right moment.

[B]

Nice CTA to end the episode, let's say. Fantastic. Thank you so much, Sara, for joining me again. This was the influence factor by the Influencer marketing factory and I'll see you in the next episode.