Pax8 is a cloud marketplace between managed service providers (MSPs) and software vendors, and it only grows if both sides do. Competitors were launching loyalty programs, and Pax8 had tried one before.
Pax8 · Voyager Alliance · 2025
Partners don't need the whole rulebook. They need their next step.
Voyager Alliance replaced a rewards program Pax8 paid for alone with a tiered one that vendors help fund. My job was making complicated rules feel simple.
- My role
- Senior Product Designer. Led research and the design of the partner, admin, and vendor experiences.
- Worked with
- Product, Finance, Vendor Ops, Engineering, Marketing
- Designed
- Pre-opt-in and enrollment, tier progression, eligibility states, partner dashboard, redemption, admin tooling
- Shipped
- MVP launched alongside Beyond 2025
Survey
72
people at MSPs surveyed, including partners who don't use Pax8
Usability test
100%
found Voyager Alliance from the left navigation
Naming
55%
preferred keeping the Voyager Alliance Rewards name
Program
5
spend tiers, from Alliance Member to Galactic. Rewards start at Ignite.
Entry point
$500
a month in eligible spend to start earning
Users
3
groups to design for: partners, Pax8 admins, vendors
Tier track · try it
Ignite
$500–$2,499 a month
+500 bonus points a month
Click the rocket to fly to the next tier, or pick a tier.
Context
What changed
The earlier program was funded by Pax8 alone, with partners as the only side taking part.
Voyager Alliance brings vendors in to help fund rewards, so there’s more for partners to earn and more worth redeeming, and the program can grow with the marketplace.
What was mine
The business set the model and the tier thresholds.
I owned everything a partner sees and does: their tier, what gets them to the next one, and what changes when they move up, down, in, or out.
Plus the research behind it, and the admin tools Pax8 uses to run it.
Research
We surveyed 72 people at MSPs, including partners who don’t use Pax8, and audited programs like TD Synnex Hyve, Ingram Micro Xvantage, Dell, and Microsoft’s partner incentives.
Partners liked programs that were easy to earn from, easy to spend, and paid out in things that grow the business. They tuned out narrow vendor perks.
Usability test
Two questions: could partners find it, and did the name work?
December usability test
Caveat: the research panel was a small slice of partner users, so we treated findings as direction, not certainty.
Three decisions
- Turn the tier rules into “spend → qualify → earn.” Partners see where they are, what to do next, and what they unlock, not the whole rulebook.
- Design for every state, not just the happy path. Welcome period, eligible, approaching, downgraded, and below Ignite, where earning pauses but points can’t look like they’ve vanished.
- Make the value clear before asking anyone to join. A pre-opt-in experience to compare tiers, read the terms, and preview rewards. A partner who joins confused becomes a support ticket.
The full case study covers these with the screens, plus keeping point balances accurate when points are money, the admin tools Pax8 runs it with, mobile, and the next iteration.
Launch
Partners joined fast. Getting them to redeem was the harder problem.
Launched alongside Beyond 2025, with pilot goals for both opting in and redeeming. Opt-in beat its goal within days; redemption took longer to build. The launch numbers are in the full case study.
Full case study
The screens are password-protected.
Voyager Alliance lives inside Pax8’s partner portal, which isn’t public, so the designs are in a private case study: enrollment, tier progress, every eligibility state, redemption, admin tools, and what’s live today.
Email me for the password, or for a live walkthrough.
Looking back
We got partners into the program quickly. Then an org change reshaped the team, just as we were turning to what comes after enrollment.
We had ideas for driving engagement: giving partners reasons to come back, not just a reason to join. That’s where I’d take it next.
