Black Friday is just around the corner, so what better time than now to test what might just be the biggest change on hotukdeals in its 14 yr history?!
On Monday we’ll be launching the Pepper Expert Program- a closed beta test where a handful of deal posters are rewarded for their activity on hotukdeals. These users are the ones you’ll see day after day posting great deals - we see them, we see how much they’re loved by us and the community and we want to show our appreciation.
I’ve highlighted how this will work operationally in an FAQ but for now I wanted to make sure we give you as much info as possible around who is involved, what the driver behind this beta is and what will happen next.
What is the Pepper Expert Program, and why are you testing it now?
For a long time now at hotukdeals and Pepper, we’ve talked about introducing some kind of rewards program for some of our members, but with site updates and company changes we’ve never really been in a position to dedicate time to it.. We decided to stop talking about it so much and just try it out!
At hotukdeals (as well as across the rest of Pepper.com communities) we great content. This is what brought you to the site in the first place, and what made you stick around - it’s the same for all of our community members - they came here to find something specific and eventually stuck around because they kept finding deals and stories that interested them.
We feel like this is a great starting point for our expert beta, so we started looking at the number of new visitors that our deal posters bring to our site through their deals as well as the way those deal posters treat their fellow community members. We created an index and score based on those metrics - the PEP Index
Users who ranked highly in this index, ie those users who contributed heavily to the community as a whole and ranked in the top of the table are being invited into a closed beta, where they will be rewarded for their expert opinions, their amazing content and the way they treat their fellow community members
How can I trust the community if some of them are being rewarded for what they post?
They’re still posting exactly what they would’ve posted originally, they’re just being rewarded for doing so. Their only driver is to post well researched, well written content. In fact, every expert on the program will need to sign a contract in which he or she guarantees us that they are not being paid or in any form rewarded by the brand or shop he posts the content for. Conversely, there’s also a section in the contract that underlines that here at Pepper and hotukdeals, we won’t influence the user either.
You’re guaranteed absolute transparency when it comes to knowing who is a part of the beta - Pepper Expert members will have a unique user title and their profile page will provide details about their participation. You’ll also see a heavy banner on each and every one of those users’ deals. (Mrswitch has been used for this example!)
note - banner updated 23 December 2019 to new wording (now shown here)...
Once our Pepper Experts are all active, we'll add their usernames in here so you know what's what
On what basis do you pay Pepper Experts and how much do they earn?
Pepper Experts are rewarded purely for the quality of their contributions. Each month we’ll contribute a fixed monetary pot, and our Experts will be rewarded a share of that pot based on how their deals performed according to our Pep Index*. The better the quality, the higher their cut of the pot.
Wth is a Pep Index?
As mentioned earlier, our Pep Index combines various numbers to measure the quality of Pepper Expert contributions. The formula in the index will continue to be improved throughout our beta. On-site actions such as voting do not play a role as we want to retain neutrality and balance. Temperature also isn’t a factor, nor is commission.
Do Pepper Experts have extra permissions? Do they get “insider info” from you?
Short and simple answer Nope. There’s no influence from us and they have standard user accounts - they will be expected to continue to adhere to our forum rules as always. Conversely, we expect the rest of our community to treat Pepper Experts with respect; again, they’re still members, they’re still a part of the hotukdeals community and no allowances will be given if they are targeted or otherwise trolled by users because of their perceived change in status.
Why is the beta closed? Why not just open it up?
First off, this is new to us too - we need to test it to death and see if it actually improves the quality of content on hotukdeals.
Secondly, unlike Instagram or YouTube, for example, we don't want hotukdeals to become a place for people who just want to make money on the net or create a brand out of themselves. The Pepper Expert Program is intended to give selected members whose deals inspire others and who are always exemplary towards the community a chance to be rewarded for their special efforts.
So the program isn’t intended to be open to *everyone*. In the future, however, there will be the possibility to apply as long as certain conditions (e.g. minimum age of the account, minimum number of deals) are met. We honestly feel this is the fairest way to handle the situation.
We’ll be running the beta phase for the next few months - we’re positive the majority of our community members will be happy to see some well-known names in the test group but if you see anyone being harsh or unfair toward one another, please let us know via report!
We know this is a huge step into the unknown, and some users won’t be impressed by the plan - some may even feel excluded because they weren’t invited (yet). However, we have to start somewhere, and there’s no rule that we can’t scale the program or change the participants over time. We just have to see how it goes.
Our theory is that quality content is the keystone of a healthy community, so we hope our test will prove that theory and strengthen the community and its values for years to come.
As always, ready for the “tl;dr” comments but seriously, it’d be great to get your feedback and constructive comments.
Current Pepper Experts as of 23 December 2019
On Monday we’ll be launching the Pepper Expert Program- a closed beta test where a handful of deal posters are rewarded for their activity on hotukdeals. These users are the ones you’ll see day after day posting great deals - we see them, we see how much they’re loved by us and the community and we want to show our appreciation.
I’ve highlighted how this will work operationally in an FAQ but for now I wanted to make sure we give you as much info as possible around who is involved, what the driver behind this beta is and what will happen next.
What is the Pepper Expert Program, and why are you testing it now?
For a long time now at hotukdeals and Pepper, we’ve talked about introducing some kind of rewards program for some of our members, but with site updates and company changes we’ve never really been in a position to dedicate time to it.. We decided to stop talking about it so much and just try it out!
At hotukdeals (as well as across the rest of Pepper.com communities) we great content. This is what brought you to the site in the first place, and what made you stick around - it’s the same for all of our community members - they came here to find something specific and eventually stuck around because they kept finding deals and stories that interested them.
We feel like this is a great starting point for our expert beta, so we started looking at the number of new visitors that our deal posters bring to our site through their deals as well as the way those deal posters treat their fellow community members. We created an index and score based on those metrics - the PEP Index
Users who ranked highly in this index, ie those users who contributed heavily to the community as a whole and ranked in the top of the table are being invited into a closed beta, where they will be rewarded for their expert opinions, their amazing content and the way they treat their fellow community members
How can I trust the community if some of them are being rewarded for what they post?
They’re still posting exactly what they would’ve posted originally, they’re just being rewarded for doing so. Their only driver is to post well researched, well written content. In fact, every expert on the program will need to sign a contract in which he or she guarantees us that they are not being paid or in any form rewarded by the brand or shop he posts the content for. Conversely, there’s also a section in the contract that underlines that here at Pepper and hotukdeals, we won’t influence the user either.
You’re guaranteed absolute transparency when it comes to knowing who is a part of the beta - Pepper Expert members will have a unique user title and their profile page will provide details about their participation. You’ll also see a heavy banner on each and every one of those users’ deals. (Mrswitch has been used for this example!)
note - banner updated 23 December 2019 to new wording (now shown here)...
Once our Pepper Experts are all active, we'll add their usernames in here so you know what's what
On what basis do you pay Pepper Experts and how much do they earn?
Pepper Experts are rewarded purely for the quality of their contributions. Each month we’ll contribute a fixed monetary pot, and our Experts will be rewarded a share of that pot based on how their deals performed according to our Pep Index*. The better the quality, the higher their cut of the pot.
Wth is a Pep Index?
As mentioned earlier, our Pep Index combines various numbers to measure the quality of Pepper Expert contributions. The formula in the index will continue to be improved throughout our beta. On-site actions such as voting do not play a role as we want to retain neutrality and balance. Temperature also isn’t a factor, nor is commission.
Do Pepper Experts have extra permissions? Do they get “insider info” from you?
Short and simple answer Nope. There’s no influence from us and they have standard user accounts - they will be expected to continue to adhere to our forum rules as always. Conversely, we expect the rest of our community to treat Pepper Experts with respect; again, they’re still members, they’re still a part of the hotukdeals community and no allowances will be given if they are targeted or otherwise trolled by users because of their perceived change in status.
Why is the beta closed? Why not just open it up?
First off, this is new to us too - we need to test it to death and see if it actually improves the quality of content on hotukdeals.
Secondly, unlike Instagram or YouTube, for example, we don't want hotukdeals to become a place for people who just want to make money on the net or create a brand out of themselves. The Pepper Expert Program is intended to give selected members whose deals inspire others and who are always exemplary towards the community a chance to be rewarded for their special efforts.
So the program isn’t intended to be open to *everyone*. In the future, however, there will be the possibility to apply as long as certain conditions (e.g. minimum age of the account, minimum number of deals) are met. We honestly feel this is the fairest way to handle the situation.
We’ll be running the beta phase for the next few months - we’re positive the majority of our community members will be happy to see some well-known names in the test group but if you see anyone being harsh or unfair toward one another, please let us know via report!
We know this is a huge step into the unknown, and some users won’t be impressed by the plan - some may even feel excluded because they weren’t invited (yet). However, we have to start somewhere, and there’s no rule that we can’t scale the program or change the participants over time. We just have to see how it goes.
Our theory is that quality content is the keystone of a healthy community, so we hope our test will prove that theory and strengthen the community and its values for years to come.
As always, ready for the “tl;dr” comments but seriously, it’d be great to get your feedback and constructive comments.
Current Pepper Experts as of 23 December 2019
- thewrecker7477
- apur32
- mrswitch
- idontflycathay
- Zanyangel
- Devinn
- brutes
- mixmixi
- Tacavas
- reindeer333
- joeydeacon
- matwalaboy
- myusernamehasgone234 (starts 1/1/20)
- DealDroid (starts 1/1/20)
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786 Comments
sorted byThe posters I see mostly are @joeydeacon and @MrSwitch - I think this is mostly to do with what I’m interested in, games and technology. However it’ll be a bit of a loss to the community, I would think, if these guys (and others that are very busy on this site) didn’t get paid for what they do.
I don’t know the ins and outs of who gets paid what but for instance I post, typically, one kindle book a day - which is always of interest to me. I don’t expect to be ‘valued’ the same as Joey and MrSwitch because I’m not busy all day on the website. From a business point of view I think you will see a large dip in clicks if you don’t incentivise the searching for deals. I understand that you give out Amazon vouchers for people like me who just so happens to have the hottest deal of the day in a category. That is a amazing gesture for me and I see it as such. However for others this site has become a full-time job and a Amazon voucher isn’t going to put food on their table.
Do you see what I mean with this? Yes it’s their choice to be on the site all day but without people like them there wouldn’t be the HUKD that we all love and see as a great and supportive community.
Where would we be as a website without the banter of @Toon_army and the watch deals from @Tacavas for instance? Or the help from @matwalaboy ? The games from @joeydeacon or the phone deals from @MrSwitch ? It’s an amazing community and you don’t want to make these posters to think - what’s the point? (edited)
Thanks Louise, appreciate that.
I actually do recall you buying the mate 20x, and obviously the most recent 30 ultra, I'll be around here in some shape or form, I love hotukdeals, and I'm pretty much addicted at this point
And thanks for the lovely memento
Sad its coming to an end, but on to pastures new come January
Will be going on my new desk (when I find a decent one)
There must be a deals site around here somewhere
To add, I must say good luck to all my fellow experts, whatever you choose to do come January, it's been a pleasure to have you guys by my side in the program. (edited)
@sarden84
Its like you had a hobby that you enjoyed doing and were part of the community and genuinely wanted to help other save money. Then because you were good at it or spend a lot a time on here you were invited to a new programme that wasn't previously known about so you'd previously just been sharing to be helpful there was no incentive.
Then you got paid a salary for doing it, so you devoted more and more time and in turn became more skilled and knowledgeable about it. I don't think anyone really understood exactly how the PEP index worked, so essentially all you could was try and find and share the best deals you could find. Many PEP deals featured on the highlights page do members liked the deals posted.
Each experts would have developed there own ways of finding deals, no one was ever feed deals as some have insinuated. Experts have devoted an insane amount of time to this.
Then suddenly through no fault of your own your were made redundant, the company no longer requires your services. A very harsh blow especially when your deals are still doing will and nothing you did changed.
I'm genuinely surprised how the experts are still posting and goes to show that it wasn't just about money and they do genuinely want to help others. I doubt many people on here would continue to work for free after been made redundant.
I do think their posts will drop off considerably quite soon, but they are still in the habit of finding and sharing deals at moment.
My next point is that I don't think dropping the programme will stop those who were against it complaining or bring them back to posting or improve the site.
To me with the new statistics displayed and rewards for best deal in each category each day it's essentially made every regular poster on here an expert now and while this is of course a much fairer way than just rewarding a few select members and is a good thing.
I just don't think it will stop what the problems were with PEP programme, members didn't like seeing too many similar deals from the same posters or the same posters on the highlights page, they thought it was spammy.
I think the new system will dilute the quality of deals as more and more people will post anything just hoping for a reward.
I also think others posted a lot hoping to be invited to PEP, now it's no longer their as an incentive I think those people's interest will drop too.
To me the site does need new members to bring new fresh deals, but the site rules restrict that happening in my opinion as it's hard as many newer business don't meet the criteria for feedback and so on.
Will be interesting to see what the site looks like in a couple of months time.
You influenced my last two mobile phone purchases (I did a copycat Amazon Warehouse Huawei Mate 20X purchase during one of their % off promos when I saw your screenshot, and the recent Axon 30 Ultra - though the £100 off code clinched it. I'm not copying you, honest! ).
I think the Expert programme was confusingly-named - because, to casual browsers of the website, they'd assume the person posting has in-depth knowledge of all the items they're posting, or, at least, in one area.
But you are one member who IS worthy of the title Expert and I hope you remain on HUKD to share your knowledge of mobile tech.
Dunno about that my man, but again genuinely appreciate the words.
I often see the same people posting deals (i'd hate to be their employer!), so it should only be fair that those people get some kind of reward for all their hard work in tracking down and posting deals.
Unfortunately the deals I try and post have been posted by someone else usually, but if it encourages more people to track down deals, then surely we all benefit in the long run.
I think it's a great idea
PS Don't tell my boss i'm on here leaving comments when I should be working
I will likely have to scale back a bit, but not for the reasons that some might assume. I've been on systemic anti cancer therapies for the past year, a few of the PEPs and others were already aware of this, not looking for sympathy as it is what it is, during that time the PEP has been a welcome distraction however the timing of the Beta drawing to a close will be blessing in disguise, if I'm completely honest. I have thanked @Dan and the team personally but I'll do so again here, thanks for the opportunity.
I'd like to think my deal posting behaviours haven't changed in the main, in fact I'd like to think I have streamlined a lot of it over time e.g. collating many of the non-UK region-by-region PSN threads into one, this being a recent example..
hotukdeals.com/dea…631
This in particular took a great deal of work to achieve as there isn't a single PSN web based resource out there that does what the users on here want i.e. in side by side format and accessible at no cost, and we managed to achieve that in a community format on HUKD. I'd also like to point out that it wouldn't have been possible without significant input from non-PEP members, notably @BubaMan . I guess the argument here is could @BubaMan have been rewarded in some way? I guess so, the whole thing was incredibly time consuming to put together, he lent his coding expertise where my own was a bit lacking.
Would I have done the above had I not been in the PEP? Probably. But just to go over some old ground here, PEPs never asked to be involved in the Beta, we were all invited (personally hadn't seen it mentioned before the invite as I didn't regularly use the forums at that time). But the sheer level of criticism and personal attacks I've had to deal with at times has been way over the top creating a certain in-group out-group behavioural / social / psychological divide on the site which I don't think anyone at Pepper had truly anticipated, this has somewhat settled down over the past year mind.
So quality also includes things like not posting.
£33pp holidays/flights, when you have included children under 4 to beef up the numbers.
Post an identical deal to someone else but instead of a black washing machine, it's the white model (same machine, same retailer).
Finding the same deal with a different retailer then creating a new post with that deal. It's handy to know, but there should be a way to add a price matched retailer to the original deal.
Finally what constitutes as a deal? any saving? (1p off?) (10p off?) (£1 off). Trust me, if this site starts filling up with penny saving deals I would be the first to no longer bother visiting..
Anyways, good luck with your new program, hopefully we wont see any of the abuse above where people are trying to get accepted on it.
I have seen MANY site changes over the years mostly good ones.
I have showed work colleagues deals I've posted before that have went lava hot, and their like, do you get anything for that, and I said no and they said why do it then.
Did actually think about that for a bit, and whilst it's great to see some kind of rewards scheme being introduced, I've always LOVED just how community based hukd is and has remained.
The deals I have benefited from since I joined in March of 2005 have outweighed any rewards program.
Yes we have our trolls, spats with people defending apple over android and people arguing over a penny cheaper deal elsewhere, but the comments and reviews and previous experience of a seller or company is invaluable, and comes from genuine everyday people all with the same thing in common saving some money and getting the best price possible.
Here's to another 13 years of blistering hot UK deals, bring on black Friday!!
Don't be harsh on yourself!! Without shoppers and voters and comments there'd be no point in posting deals at all. We're all part of the machine (edited)
The way I'll do it from Monday is, see a deal, think its a good deal, post it..
I'm not gonna change, and I'm here to help if anyone needs it, just like I have done for the last two years or so. (edited)
It's important to know, that the only feeling better than knowing that hot button has been pressed, is knowing that you're actually saving people money, even more so at this time of year as we approach Christmas (and Black Friday) when we have no choice but to spend.
Congratulations to @Mrswitch (Mrs Witch / Mr Switch / Mr S W Itch...or whomever you actually are), well deserved and keep up the
goodFANTASTIC work! (edited)Thank you, Juliet and Pepper Deals Ltd. This is a huge honour for both @Chanchi32 and I - we can't stop talking about it.
Erm.... Too many
Put it this way, the below picture, was the scan of my suitcase the last time I went on holiday
It now just means I get some resemblance of life back, and I won't be stuck to the screen of my phone all day every day
Appreciated the opportunity for the last three years, so thanks to pepper and hukd for letting me have the opportunity, still very very sad at the decision.
Likewise received the memento today, well it was actually sat on my doorstep when I returned from a Christmas break (cardboard packaging didn't survive the bad weather sadly, but it was fortunately saved by the plastic wrapping inside the box!). This currently has pride of place on my office desk until I find a new home for it.
As others have said thank you for the opportunity, whilst everyone will have their own opinions or criticisms of the PEP it has been a welcome distraction for me though approx 2 years of aggressive cancer treatment and has enabled me to maintain a social circle, albeit online obviously, in the absence of being able to see friends, family and colleagues in the real world due to otherwise having to shield throughout the pandemic.
even if its a coffee voucher.
Given the couple of years you've had, you have devoted a hell of a lot of time and effort to this site and I think I speak for most when I say that your efforts have been greatly appreciated
I've seen a lot of the vitriol you get, especially for the overseas store posts and although you are usually quite diplomatic about it, it must wear you down!
I hope you find a balance that works for you after the beta ends - I'm always happy to help others on here and if I can find an excuse to flex my nerd, I usually will
This happens right now and honestly Pepper members are the worst part of the whole site for me, apart from the obvious ridiculous well known overreach of the modding. With the sheer amount of posts for money. Not all of them though there are genuine people posting deals in areas they enjoy or have expertise on or both. A PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo sale and then the Pepper members flood in like flies round **** posting every game from the sales lists. There are ones just posting though without the enjoyment in those areas or expertise and it’s the equivalent of a bot posting mining for money. Today one posting a game again they had already posted in their sale list on Thursday for those easy engagement metrics and money. That isn’t finding deals or being an expert. (edited)
You definately need to reward other members and not have a closed reward system. But you really need to look at keeping the experts somehow as their knowledge i think is extremely important to this site.
Thank you firstly to the HUKD's team for the opportunity it was a real honour to be selected to be part of the programme.
Secondly I would like to say a huge thank you to all the members who have supported me throughout the programme.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment and feedback on my deals, enter my giveaways and join in on the discussions or drop me a pm and leave words of encouragement.
Hopefully I've managed to help folks save some money.
Might be able to afford the mi 8 Pro now
*jokes*
It's all well and good everyone posting deals to try to get an amazon voucher but alot of people rely on trusted members of this community to offer impartial advice.
There's certain product lines where people really need good advice and i have concerns noone will offer that, there will just be people posting trying to get vouchers.
I really think you need Pepper "Experts" in certain areas.
My view of it, based on just 2 or 3 experts whose deals I saw frequently, was that it encouraged bot-like posting: a mass of deals posted in haste to beat the competition, with little to no detail or personal input, in order to get the rewards.
IMO @MrSwitch should be put on the payroll. Forget about Experts he would be one of the best editors on here.
As today is the last day the PEP scheme will be running, I just wanted to say a final thank you from all of us here.
The scheme definitely wasn't perfect, as we have covered above, and ultimately we have decided to try different loyalty schemes instead as mentioned above.
But none of this is a reflection of the experts themselves, who have given absolutely tons of time and effort and shared many phenomenal deals in the time the scheme has been live. We are hugely grateful.
Also, thank you to the vast majority of users who have engaged with this constructively, whether you agreed or not. We have had loads of incredibly useful feedback that helped us be able to analyse the scheme from all angles , and I'm sure you have helped the PEPs refine their deal hunting by sharing how you feel.
So a huge thank you to everyone, and a happy new year too!