Deel

Introduction

Deel is a leading global HR platform that simplifies payroll, compliance, and hiring for companies with distributed teams worldwide. To amplify customer voice and drive revenue through advocacy, Deel brought on Spencer Cook as Head of Customer Advocacy and partnered with Base to build a world-class program from the ground up.

Challenge

When Spencer joined Deel, there was no formal customer advocacy program in place. The company needed a scalable platform to recruit advocates, manage reference requests from sales, and create a structured engagement model that would move customers from basic activities to high-impact contributions like case studies, videos, and speaking engagements.

Solution

Using Base, Spencer built a structured "pyramid of activities" — starting with references at the base and progressing to case studies, video testimonials, and speaking engagements at the top. Base's ASKs feature (challenges with reward points) and reference request workflows became the backbone of the program.

Key elements of the program included:

• Gamification and rewards: Advocates earn points for completing activities and can instantly redeem them for gift cards — creating what Spencer calls "instant gratification" that drives repeat engagement.
• CSM Leaderboard: The team extended Base's functionality by creating a leaderboard for Customer Success Managers, introducing friendly competition with quarterly bonuses for top performers in advocate recruitment.
• Structured measurement: The team tracks advocate count, engagement rates, campaign completion, revenue supported per reference, and rep satisfaction scores.

Results

Within just nine months of launching in December, Deel's advocacy program grew from zero to approximately 800 advocates. Monthly reference meetings skyrocketed from zero to 20-60, with the trajectory approaching 100 per month.

As Spencer described it: "I kind of think of it like I have a 300-person sales team running around trying to get people to sign up for the customer advocacy program." The combination of Base's platform capabilities, gamification mechanics, and a creative internal competition model turned Deel's advocacy program into a high-performing revenue engine.