Top Score Wins

Top Score Wins is a distribution structure where the entire reward pool goes to the single collaborator with the highest metric score when the distribution triggers. Nobody else receives anything for that period.

This is the most competitive distribution structure. When a distribution triggers on schedule, Siren compares metric scores across all collaborators, identifies the one with the highest total, and creates a single obligation for the full reward pool amount. Every other collaborator’s metrics are reset along with the winner’s, and the next period starts fresh.

How the reward pool is calculated

The reward pool for a distribution is based on a percentage of revenue collected since the last distribution. You configure this percentage when setting up the distributor. For example, if you set the pool to 5% and your site earned $100,000 since the last distribution, the reward pool for that period is $5,000.

With Top Score Wins, that entire $5,000 goes to a single collaborator. If three collaborators have scores of 850, 720, and 430, only the one with 850 receives the payout.

How metric scores work in this structure

Each distributor is configured with tracking events that define what it measures. As these events happen during the distribution period, Siren accumulates a metric score for each collaborator. Each event type has a configurable point value.

In Top Score Wins, these scores determine who takes the entire pool. The point values you assign to different tracking events shape what “winning” looks like. If a distributor tracks both site visits (1 point each) and product sales (10 points each), a collaborator who sold 20 products would score 200 while one who drove 150 site visits would score 150. The seller wins. Adjusting these values lets you define what the competition actually measures.

Where this works

Top Score Wins is built for competitive bonus programs where you want a clear winner. The monthly sales bonus recipe uses this structure to award a bonus to the top-performing affiliate each month. The milestone rewards program applies the same approach to reward the collaborator who hits the highest performance milestones in a period.

This structure works well when you want to:

• Run a monthly or quarterly competition with a single prize
• Motivate your top tier of collaborators to push harder
• Create a leaderboard dynamic where the reward is meaningful because it isn’t shared

Sales team bonuses are a natural fit. If you have a team of salespeople and want to award a monthly bonus to whoever generated the most revenue, Top Score Wins handles the tracking, comparison, and payout automatically.

When to avoid this

This structure only pays one person. If most of your collaborators have no realistic chance of winning, the incentive loses its motivating power. In programs with a wide range of contributor sizes, the same collaborator may win every period, which discourages everyone else.

If you want to reward all contributors based on their relative performance, use the Performance Weighted Pool. If you want equal shares for everyone who participated, use the Shared Engagement Pool.

Also be cautious about gaming. If the tracked events are easy to inflate artificially (for example, site visits that a collaborator could generate themselves), a winner-take-all structure amplifies that incentive. Make sure the events you track are meaningful and difficult to manipulate.

Comparison with the program-level structure

The program-level Top Score Wins works the same way conceptually, but operates on a per-transaction basis. When a customer converts, the full reward goes to the collaborator with the highest engagement score for that customer. The distribution-level version operates over a time period instead, comparing metric scores accumulated across all activity during the period and awarding the entire reward pool to the top scorer.