This guide walks through building tiers in the brand app: choosing how often tiers are evaluated, setting each tier's requirements, ordering tiers, understanding the Inactive tier, and placing new applicants automatically.
If you're still deciding what your tiers should be, start with the Program Design Guide. For what the platform does on its own once tiers are live, see How Program Tiers Work After Setup.
Before You Start
Where: Programs > your program > Incentives tab. If your program has no tiers yet, the Program Activity tab shows a "Set up tiers" banner that takes you there.
Who: Changing the Evaluation Period and reordering tiers require an account Owner or Admin. Other roles see a "Permission Required" message and nothing saves.
Commission tiers first: Each program tier links to a commission tier, and assigning a member to a tier overwrites their commission rate with that tier's. Have your commission tiers ready before you build program tiers.
Nothing is automatic until you turn it on: New tiers start as manual tiers (Automatic evaluation off), and no Evaluation Period is preselected. Both have to be set for members to move. And once both are set, the first evaluation is the very next 1st of the month — it does not wait a full period. Step 1 explains how to control that.
Step 1: Choose the Evaluation Period
The Evaluation Period card sits at the top of the Incentives tab. It has four buttons — 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months — and applies to every tier in the program. Clicking a button saves it immediately. There is no confirm step.
This one setting controls two things: how far apart evaluations are, and how far back each one looks.
Setting | Evaluations are spaced | Each evaluation measures |
1 month | One month apart, on the 1st | The calendar month that just ended |
3 months | Three months apart, on the 1st | The 3 completed months before it |
6 months | Six months apart, on the 1st | The 6 completed months before it |
12 months | Twelve months apart, on the 1st | The 12 completed months before it |
No period is preselected. When you first open the tab, none of the four buttons is highlighted, and turning on Automatic evaluation for a tier does not choose one for you. Until an Owner or Admin clicks a period, tier evaluation does not run at all. Monthly gifts and monthly tasks still go out every month regardless — only tier movement waits.
The first evaluation does not wait a full period. It runs on the first 1st-of-the-month after your tiers exist and a period is selected, and it looks back over the full window even though your tiers were only just set up. Select a 3-month period on September 15th and members are re-tiered on October 1st based on July–September activity. The 3-month spacing only applies after that: January 1st, April 1st, and so on.
Using that example — 3-month period selected September 15th, first evaluation October 1st, window July 1st through September 30th — here is who that first evaluation includes:
Member | Included October 1st? | Can move up? | Can move down? |
Approved into the program before July 1st | Yes — measured on all of July–September | Yes | Yes |
Approved July 1st – September 30th | Yes — measured on activity since their approval date | Yes | No — protected until they've been a member for a full period |
In a Manual tier | Skipped | No | No |
The tier someone was placed in during setup doesn't protect them. A member since before July 1st whose July–September numbers don't meet their current tier's goals drops on October 1st.
When members actually move
Members move up or down only when an evaluation runs. Each evaluation looks back over the previous 1, 3, 6, or 12 completed months (your Evaluation Period) and places members based on that performance. Members who joined the program partway through that window won't be moved down until they've completed a full one. Manual tiers are never changed by evaluation.
Three details that follow from this:
The in-progress month never counts. An evaluation on October 1st sees nothing from October. Only completed calendar months are measured.
Only activity after the member's program approval date counts, regardless of what they posted before joining.
Task and milestone rewards are separate and are awarded in real time as members qualify. A member can earn their current tier's rewards all quarter while waiting on a promotion.
Controlling when the first reshuffle happens
Two settings are involved, and they do different things:
When you select the period sets the schedule. The first evaluation is the next 1st-of-the-month, and each one after that is one period later. Select it in September and evaluations run October 1st, January 1st, April 1st.
Whether each tier is Automatic or Manual controls whether anyone in it moves. Evaluations still run on schedule while your tiers are Manual — they just don't move anyone.
So if you want the first reshuffle later than the next 1st, leave your tiers on Manual and switch them to Automatic evaluation during the month before the evaluation you want to count. Select a 3-month period in September, keep tiers Manual through December, switch them to Automatic in late December, and the January 1st evaluation is the first one that moves anyone — measuring October through December. If the schedule itself needs to change later, ask your Client Strategist; it means running an evaluation in the month you want, and that run moves members like any other.
Step 2: Create Your Tiers
Click Add Tier. A panel opens with everything that defines the tier.
Name and commission tier
Give the tier a name creators will recognize ("Silver," "Insider," "VIP") and link it to a commission tier. When a member is assigned to this tier, their commission rate becomes this tier's rate. If you leave the commission tier empty, assigning a member can clear their existing rate — set it now, before anyone is assigned.
Ongoing Requirements
This section reads: "Members must meet these criteria every evaluation period to maintain their tier." It starts with the Automatic evaluation toggle, and the toggle decides what kind of tier this is. It is off by default — every new tier starts as a manual tier until you switch it on.
Automatic evaluation | What it means |
Off (manual tier — the default) | Goals are hidden and cannot be set. Members stay in this tier until you move them by hand. Evaluation skips them entirely. Use this for VIP and invite-only tiers, or to hold members in place until you're ready for the first reshuffle. The tier card shows "None - manual tier." |
On | Members are placed in and removed from this tier by evaluation based on the goals you set below. At least one goal is required to save. The tier card shows an Automatic badge. Members in it will move at the next scheduled evaluation — see Step 1 for when that is. This includes members you move into the tier by hand: a manual placement into an Automatic tier takes effect immediately, but at the next evaluation that member is scored on their metrics like everyone else and drops if they don't meet the goals. Only a Manual tier holds a hand placement. |
With Automatic evaluation on, click Add post goal and/or Add revenue goal:
Goal | What counts |
Post goal (per period) | Distinct posting days in the evaluation window, not individual posts — three posts in one day count once. Only posts mentioning one of your program's connected social accounts count, and if your program requires content approval, only approved posts do. |
Revenue goal (per period) | Gross attributed revenue by order date in the evaluation window. Cancelled orders are excluded; refunds are not deducted. For affiliate-network programs, orders still pending network confirmation count. |
When both goals are set, a member must meet both to qualify. The goal is measured over the whole evaluation period, so "Post 3" on a 3-month period means 3 posting days across the quarter, not per month.
Max participants and Max redemption limit
Max participants caps how many members the tier can hold. Leave blank for unlimited. When more members qualify than there are seats, they compete: ranked by revenue if the tier has a revenue goal, otherwise by posting days, with ties going to the current occupant and then to the longest-tenured member. Members who qualify but miss the cut cascade down to the next tier they qualify for.
Max redemption limit is a per-member dollar cap on how much can be redeemed in gift cards and site credit from this tier each month. Leave blank for unlimited.
Tier Incentives
Below the requirements, configure the tier's welcome gift, monthly gift, monthly tasks, and lifetime milestones. The reward types and how each one is delivered are covered in the Program Design Guide. Save the tier when you're done, then repeat for each level.
Step 3: Order Your Tiers
The tier list is ranked from lowest at the top to highest at the bottom. Owners and Admins can drag to reorder.
Order matters because evaluation fills tiers from the top rank down: each member is placed in the highest automatic tier they qualify for, and only then are lower tiers filled. If your "Gold" tier is accidentally ranked below "Silver," strong performers will land in Silver.
Each tier card summarizes its Ongoing Requirements (for example "Post 3x/3 months, $500+ sales"), its Max Monthly Redemption, and its New Member Placement (the auto-accept rule, if any — see Step 5).
Step 4: Decide What Happens to Members Who Qualify for Nothing
At the bottom of the tier list is a card labeled Inactive: "Members meeting no tier eligibility rules are automatically assigned to this tier."
Inactive is not a tier you configure. It's a count of every approved member with no tier. While untiered, a member gets no monthly gift, no tasks, and no milestone evaluation, their commission falls back to your program's default commission tier, and — importantly — they are not notified when they land there. They'll notice their rewards stopped; nothing tells them why.
To make sure nobody falls to Inactive, give your lowest automatic tier a Post goal (per period) of 0. Every approved member meets a goal of zero, so the entry tier catches everyone who doesn't qualify higher, and its gift and commission rate become your program's floor.
If you'd rather let inactive members drop out of tiers, check the Inactive count after each evaluation and reach out to that group yourself.
Step 5: Place New Applicants Automatically (optional)
The Application Rules section reads: "Automatically accept applicants matching these criteria into a tier." Add a rule by choosing a Min. follower count and the tier it should place applicants into. You can add one rule per tier.
How an applicant is matched:
Their follower count is the highest across their connected Instagram and TikTok accounts.
Rules are checked from the highest-ranked tier down. The first tier whose minimum they meet — and that still has room under its Max participants — wins.
If no rule matches, or the applicant has no follower data, they go to manual review. The section notes this: "Applications that don't match auto-accept rules will be sent to manual review."
When you approve an applicant manually, you'll be asked to pick a tier before the approval goes through, so nobody ends up untiered. Once a program has tiers, the Applicants tab is always visible and the legacy "Requires Member Approval" checkbox no longer appears in program settings.
Before Your First Month-End
Check | Why |
One Evaluation Period button is highlighted | Nothing is preselected, and with no period chosen tier evaluation never runs |
You know the first evaluation is the very next 1st | It doesn't wait a full period, and it measures the full look-back window. Keep tiers on Manual until the month before the evaluation you want to count |
Each tier that should move members has Automatic evaluation on | New tiers are manual by default and are skipped by evaluation |
Every tier has a commission tier | Assigning a member to a tier without one can clear their rate |
Tiers are ordered lowest to highest | Evaluation places members in the highest tier they qualify for |
Lowest automatic tier has a post goal of 0 | Otherwise members can drop to Inactive and lose rewards without being told |
Every current member is assigned a tier | Untiered members receive nothing from Program Tiers |