The influencer strategy I wish we had in 2020

Happy Wednesday… I’m excited to bring you this one today!

Because… Influencer seeding is broken.
And brands are quietly bleeding time, product, and sanity because of it.

Let me explain.

Most influencer gifting programs fail for one of three reasons:

1. No skin in the game.
When creators get free stuff, they don’t owe you anything.
No contract. No obligation. Just… vibes.

2. No centralized system.
Your team’s juggling spreadsheets, chasing down receipts, organizing Dropbox folders, and praying someone posts before the product goes out of stock.

3. No pathway to performance.
Even if the creator posts—what happens next?
There’s no follow-up. No performance feedback. No scaling of what actually works.

This is the problem Refunnel just solved—brilliantly.

Introducing: Refundable Samples by Refunnel 

It flips the whole model on its head.

Here’s how it works (This is a real example from a very well-known brand’s upcoming campaign):

1. A creator purchases the product—yes, with their own money.

2. They upload the receipt, complete a content challenge, and post.

3. Refunnel automates the refund process after submission and approval.

4. If their content crushes it? They’re invited to their paid ad partner program (earning 5% of ad spend tied to their assets).

So instead of “spray and pray” seeding…

You get content creators who are financially invested, aligned with your goals, and incentivized to overdeliver.

It’s a performance engine, not a gamble like it normally ends up being.

Why this works 10x better than traditional influencer gifting:

• Creators with skin in the game show up stronger.
  They’ve bought the product. They’re not ghosting.

• Refunds are automated inside Refunnel.
  No more messy manual tracking. One dashboard. One flow.

• All content gets auto-collected + reviewed in one place.
  You’re not digging through email threads or DMs to find posts. Everything lives inside Refunnel.

• Top performers can scale into paid partnerships.
  Standout creators can earn cash plus a rev share from ad spend. That’s real upside.

This isn’t a tool.

It’s a system for scalable creator campaigns.

At Upgrowth, we always say:
Start with systems, then scale with performance.

And Refunnel nails both.

• Use it to seed creators fast

• Automate the refund process

• Centralize UGC collection

• Filter for ad-worthy content

• Build a pipeline of future brand partners

If I were launching a brand today?

I’d start with a Refundable Sample campaign on Refunnel.

Because social proof, UGC, and conversion content can’t wait until month three.
You need those assets yesterday.

As you probably already know I am an advisor to Refunnel and LOVE what Atif and the team are doing!

This is their brand new product offering and is in private beta. They are offering first 100 customers 50% off and grandfathering them on this plan. Book the call below to be one of the first! 

👉 Book a demo with Refunnel

Jordan West