One of the most interesting things about working at Influence Mobile, whose flagship app is Rewarded Play, is meeting all of the unique individuals on the team and learning what they do here. With this being said, we thought it was time we introduce you to Julie Gossler, Influence Mobile’s redemption director who plays a crucial role in keeping the company safe and our players happy.
Today we are asking the important questions – what are your key responsibilities? How much fraud and suspicious activity do you actually see? And most importantly, how did you earn the prestigious title of “The Sheriff”. Follow along for all this and more.
What are your key responsibilities? Do you review every single gift card that is redeemed?
“My role is to oversee the entire redemption process and ensure players' gift cards are delivered as fast as possible while ensuring the company is subjected to minimal risk,” said Gossler. “That is why we automatically process around 90% of the gift cards redeemed, where the remaining 10% are flagged for review by our team and placed into one of two buckets: member fraud or first time.”
Gossler went on to explain that there are different “flags” that trigger the redemption to be placed into each of these categories. For example, a redemption might be placed into member fraud if the player redeemed more points than the installed apps on their device offered.
“While this may sound shady, and it often can be, we always take the effort to look into the players account and make sure that this flag was appropriately assigned,” said Gossler. “For example, our marketing manager will hold social media giveaways where the players have the opportunity to win a set amount of points. If a brand new user was to win and be rewarded let’s say 45,000 points, a flag would likely be thrown. That is why it is important to me to touch on every single redemption that is flagged.”
Coworkers know you as “The Sheriff” – how did you earn this prestigious title?
“The nickname was given to me due to my lack of tolerance for players trying to find ways around our system checks and also for my natural knack at investigating suspicious activity,” said Gossler. “For example, we have had situations where players write in stating that they did not receive points for let’s say a $100 purchase in a game. Before we can credit purchases of this amount, we must first request and verify the receipt. When the support team receives a questionable looking receipt, they always know to call the Sheriff into town to verify!”
How much fraud and suspicious activity do you actually see?
“We are so thankful to have some of the best users out there,” Gossler stated. “While the vast majority are wonderful, the small percentage of users trying to take advantage of the company can have a big impact.”
Gossler continued on to give an example of one specific user who recently tried to maximize her earnings by creating over 70 accounts and cashing in on the $5 gift card new users typically earn within 48 hours.
“Situations like this are not uncommon - It is so important we consistently find and review accounts that are trying to break the rules,” said Gossler. “We want to make sure that we protect the company so that we continue to have the capability to push the limits on what we can offer our valued users.”
What about the redemptions that are flagged and then cleared - how long do the players have to wait?
“Our team is always looking for ways to streamline the review process so that we can get our players their gift card as soon as possible,” Gossler said. “That is why we recently implemented a new tagging system that allows us to see what takes the most manual review, and optimize.”
Gossler went on to explain that within the first month of implementing this new process, they were able to identify two flags that did not directly correlate with fraud and could be turned off. This seemingly small change led to the processing time (redemption created date to fulfillment date) drastically dropping by more than 50%.
“We’re proud that the processing time for reviewed accounts dropped to under 30 hours within the first month of implementing this new system,” said Gossler. “This progress motivated the team to continue optimizing the stops put in place so that we can ensure our valued users receive their gift card as quickly as possible.”
We hope you enjoyed this glimpse behind the scenes. Are you curious about another member of the Influence Mobile team? Email us and let us know who you'd like to see featured next.