How Deel Built a High-Performing Customer Advocacy Program with Base

When Spencer Cook joined Deel as the head of customer advocacy, he had a clear mission: turn happy customers into active sales partners. What he needed was a platform that could manage the entire journey, from nomination to reference call, at scale. That platform turned out to be Base.

Starting from Zero

Deel is a global HR platform used by companies around the world to manage payroll, compliance, and hiring. Like many fast-growing SaaS companies, Deel had plenty of satisfied customers. What it lacked was a structured way to mobilize them.

Spencer's role sits within the customer success team, and his focus is on building what he calls a "pyramid of activities." At the base are customers who agree to be sales references. From there, the goal is to move them toward more public-facing activities like case studies, videos, and speaking at events.

To make that happen, he needed buy-in from the CSM team. "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," Spencer says. CSMs are required to promote the Deel Advocates program and are encouraged to bring in at least a few customers per quarter from their account books.

Why Base

Spencer had used other reference management systems before, so he came in with a clear sense of what he wanted. Base stood out for a few reasons.

The Asks feature was a particular draw. The idea that you can challenge customers to complete specific activities, and reward them for doing so, felt like the right mechanic for keeping advocates engaged over time. Customers can log into their Base account, see how many points they have earned, and redeem them for a gift card in minutes. Spencer says that instant gratification has been a hit with Deel's customer base.

The reference request workflow was another selling point. Base allows Deel to route requests through a structured process: check with the CSM, confirm with the customer, then arrange the meeting. It is a clean, consistent workflow that has helped the team scale without losing quality control.

The Results

Deel brought Base on in December of the previous year. Nine months later, the numbers tell a strong story.

The program grew from zero to around 800 advocates. Monthly reference meetings went from zero to somewhere between 20 and 60, with Spencer estimating they are now approaching 100 per month.

The team tracks several KPIs to measure program health: total advocates, engagement rates, campaign completion, and total revenue supported. That last metric, which captures the deal value tied to each reference conversation, is one Spencer watches closely quarter over quarter.

Sales rep satisfaction is also tracked directly. CSMs survey reps on a five-star scale after reference requests are fulfilled through Base, giving the team a way to measure the quality of the experience, not just the volume.

Going Beyond the Standard

One of Spencer's favorite moves has been building small tools that extend what Base can do. His team created a CSM leaderboard that pulls data from Base and ranks teams by how many customers they have brought into the advocacy program each month. The top two teams each quarter earn a bonus for the whole group.

It is a simple idea, but it has added a layer of friendly competition that reinforces the behavior Deel wants to see from its CSMs. Spencer describes these as "micro apps," small solutions built on top of Base to solve problems that fall just outside the platform's core functionality.

What's Next

With 800 advocates in the program and reference volume continuing to climb, Spencer's attention is shifting toward engagement. Getting customers into the program was step one. Keeping them active, moving them up the pyramid, and finding new ways to recognize their contributions is the work ahead.

For Deel, Base has provided the infrastructure to make that possible. For Spencer, it has turned a 300-person CSM team into an advocacy engine.