Referral Marketing for Fashion Brands: PLT, Seraphine & Ted Baker

Fashion is social by nature. Consumers share, discuss and compliment one another on fashion and beauty items on a daily basis. Our buying habits and the brands we shop with are heavily (and often subconsciously) influenced by those around us.

Spread via social networks and driven by the enthusiasm of your brand fans, referral marketing campaigns are a natural fit for fashion brands seeking to boost engagement, find valuable new customers and foster a community of loyal customers, 

• On average, fashion brands acquire between 10 and 30% more new customers via referral.
• A huge number of referrals are the result of offline conversations, highlighting the importance of a customer referral programme that can capture informal recommendations. 
• Referred customers spend 25% more, have 2x lifetime value are 3x more likely to refer others.
  

Why fashion brands use referral partnerships

Think of the last time someone complimented you on an outfit and asked where it was from. Or the last time you asked friends whether or not you should buy a new addition to your wardrobe. 

Getting inspired by your peers’ choices and tapping their wisdom for where to shop is how fashion lives and breathes. Equally, being treated as a go-to source of fashion advice feels amazing.  

That's why referral marketing works so well for fashion. Retailers as diverse as fashion brand PrettyLittleThing and niche retailers Seraphine (maternity) and Heidi Klein (swimwear) have made innovative use of their customers’ social networks to promote and build their brands.

The Power of Peer Influence

Fashion is built on social connection. We trust our friends when they say “you have to try this.” We ask for opinions on outfits, trends, and styling advice. Peer influence is a core part of the fashion buying journey — and it's what makes word-of-mouth one of the most powerful marketing tools at a brand’s disposal.

Referral marketing taps into these moments authentically. It gives your happy shoppers an easy way to champion your brand, whether they’re sending a friend a link, sharing a discount code, or just dropping your name into conversation. It’s native behaviour, amplified — and when done right, it drives high-quality, loyal acquisition at scale.

The Role of Fashion Loyalty Programs

A strong loyalty program can give customers a reason to stay and spend more — but not all loyalty is created equal.

Fashion customers are savvy. They expect more than points-for-purchases. They want to feel connected, rewarded and valued at every stage of the journey. That’s where layering referral into your loyalty program makes all the difference.

Referral isn’t just another perk to drop into your reward structure. It’s a proof point of real loyalty in action. When someone refers your brand, that’s not a transaction — it’s advocacy. It means they believe in what you stand for. And through smart loyalty design, you can reward that belief in a way that feels genuine, exclusive and brand-aligned.

Aligning Brand Identity with Word-of-Mouth

Great fashion brands aren’t just worn — they’re talked about. So when it comes to referral marketing, your brand identity matters more than ever.

Does your referral journey reflect your values? Does it look, sound, and feel like your seasonal campaigns, your voice on social, your packaging on delivery?

Referral shouldn’t feel like a bolt-on. It should feel like your brand’s natural next step — a way to extend the excitement of a great shopping experience and pass it on to someone else. When you get the creative, copy and customer flow right, referral becomes an extension of your brand expression — not a distraction from it.

5 ways top fashion brands use referral marketing campaigns

Simply being in the fashion sector isn't enough to achieve remarkable referral results. For that, you need a comprehensive referral marketing strategy that identifies those customers who are most enthusiastic about your products, nurtures them to the point where they will go out and tell all their friends about how awesome you are, and rewards them for the value they bring to your business. 

Mention Me works with hundreds of fashion brands to optimise their refer-a-friend programmes and effectively engage with their target audiences.

Here are some of the ways leading fashion brands have turned refer-a-friend programmes into a unique way to get closer to their customers and grow their business.

A/B test, test & test again

It’s crucial to test the content you serve. This is true in any industry, but in fashion, where ascetics matter more than anywhere else, learning what images, words, and combinations of content your customers respond well to has to be a top priority. 

PLT

A hugely popular brand amongst women aged 18-24, PrettyLittleThing  has achieved 250% growth since its launch in 2012. After a disappointing start with their referral marketing campaign, they partnered with Mention Me to develop a programme that could match their stratospheric rise. 

Testing out their ideas on audiences became the bedrock of their strategy. Within the first three months of launching, PrettyLittleThing ran 5 A/B tests to discover what resonated most with customers.

Some of their most significant insights were around discount messaging and copy length. They found:

• Offering a discount of 20% off rather than £10 off made customers more likely to refer. 
• Running longer, more descriptive copy that allowed PrettyLittleThing to incorporate signature brand phrasing was more effective than shorter copy.

These insights produced results: Amongst other achievements, they doubled the rate at which referred friends become new customers.

Seraphine

While Seraphine is a very different kind of fashion brand from PrettyLittleThing, they also benefited greatly from the insights their A/B testing produced. 

The maternity brand tested:

• Offering a monetary discount versus a free gift 
• Promoting sharing by email versus by word-of-mouth (captured by Mention Me’s Name Share® capability)
• Running concise versus descriptive copy. 

As well as giving Seraphine a deeper understanding of their customers, the results informed subsequent iterations of the referral programme and helped deliver outstanding results.

Create a unique customer experience

Despite being powered by the same Mention Me platform, all our clients' referral programmes look entirely on-brand. This is crucial; customers are far less likely to pay attention to a  pop-up if it looks unrelated to the rest of the shopping experience.

Developing your customer experience is a process. You can use the results of your A/B testing to inform your referral marketing, creating different experiences for different groups of customers and boosting your CX. 

Creating customer segments based on customer referral data allows you to craft personalised experiences that are more relevant to individual customers and more likely to garner a referral action. 

Ted Baker

Leading fashion brand Ted Baker used personalised shopping recommendations and exclusive previews to proactively engage different customer segments, fostering a sense of partnership and exclusivity rather than a transactional relationship.

Compelling text and captivating aesthetics have been instrumental in strengthening Ted Baker's unique brand identity and grabbing the interest of customers. 

The referral program has yielded impressive outcomes since its introduction. On average, referred customers spend 34% more per order compared to other customers, place 7% more orders, and have a 16% higher purchase rate during peak months.

Tap into offline conversations

Many fashion brands know their products are likely to come up in conversation, but finding a way to convert these everyday moments into new customers can be a challenge. 

That's where Mention Me's unique name-sharing feature comes in.

Name Share® lets customers give their friends an incentive to shop for the first time by simply entering their name at checkout - a sharing method that capitalises on the huge volume of offline referrals.

For PrettyLittleThing and Ted Baker, the proportion of their referrals coming from Name Share is 40%. For Seraphine, it’s 50%. Even in our digital world, consumers love to share brands in conversation.

Use referral marketing for customer acquisition

Lastly, referral marketing drives significant new customer acquisition for fashion brands. And the type of customers that come from referrals are high-quality. Those referred by their friends are more likely to shop again, spend more and go on to recommend the brand to their friends more than other customers.

Children's clothing brand Frugi, for example, gets 27% of its referral revenue via customers' subsequent orders. Highlighting that referred customers aren't one-off bargain hunters, but people you can build a long-term relationship with.

On average, referral marketing increases new customer acquisition by between 10% and 25%. And this figure can be even higher if you spend time developing and optimising your programme.

So if you're a fashion brand ready to acquire more high-value customers who will happily recommend you, think about how referral marketing software can help you achieve your customer goals.

Fashion Rewards Programs for Both Sides

One of the most impactful ways to grow advocacy is by making sure both the referrer and the new customer benefit.

Two-sided rewards — where referrer and friend each get something valuable — encourage sharing while immediately framing the relationship as a win-win. It’s a way to say “thank you” while bringing someone new into the brand experience on a positive note.

More than that, it sets the tone for long-term loyalty — not short-term incentives. You’re not buying attention. You’re building connection.

Why Two-Sided Incentives Work

Two-sided incentives work because they speak to human psychology. We help someone because it feels good — but we’re more likely to act if there’s also a reason to do so now.

From a behavioural science perspective, two-sided rewards reduce friction and increase the perceived value of participating. The person sharing feels their effort is acknowledged. The friend has a reason to say yes. And your brand gets the benefit of reach, revenue, and retention — without eroding margin.

Fashion-Specific Example

Let’s look at how this plays out: a customer loves your new-season dress and recommends it to her friend. She uses your referral link and gets 15% off her next order. Her friend shops for the first time and gets a welcome offer, too.

That simple, value-led interaction deepens the relationship with your advocate and kickstarts a new one — based on trust and experience, not just price. That’s how you embed lasting loyalty into fashion journeys.

How to choose a referral program for your brand

With so much at stake, how do you know how to pick the right customer referral programme for your brand?

Look for programmes that offer: 

• Strong referral data - using your referral programme to gather customer data and build a detailed picture of your customers is important for your ability to personalise your referral marketing. In the fashion world, providing a unique and memorable experience is all-important. 
• The ability to segment by referral behaviour - Having the data is no good if you can’t use it to build customer segments. The Mention Me Customer Advocacy Intelligence Platform has all the capabilities you need to segment by likelihood to refer and target your marketing accordingly. 
• Omnichannel engagement - Fashion shoppers don’t necessarily want to connect by email. Make sure you have a referral programme that allows you to engage with your customers on their channel of choice, be that WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram.

Matching Incentives to Your Audience

Not all customers are motivated by the same rewards. Younger audiences might be drawn to straightforward discounts. Others may prefer early access to new collections, invites to VIP edits, or a limited-run freebie no one else can get.

The key? Make your referral rewards feel like “you”.

Understand your audience personas and segment your referral offering where you can — personalising the benefit to match the customer. If you sell luxury staples, exclusivity may outperform incentives. If you’re fast fashion, urgency and social proof might win.

Either way, matching the message and the reward to your audience drives more shares, more conversions, and more long-term value.

Understanding Different Program Types (One-sided vs. Two-sided)

There’s more than one way to get referral right — but the structure of your programme matters.

• One-sided referral (where the reward only goes to the friend) can create a seamless introduction, especially for prestige brands that want to protect brand value or exclusivity.
• Two-sided (where both the advocate and their friend get a benefit) drives more participation and is often ideal for everyday or high-frequency purchases.

There’s no universal best option. It depends on your brand positioning, audience, and goals. That’s why our clients — from Frugi and Seraphine to PrettyLittleThing — A/B test different formats to find what works.

Fashion a referral programme to delight your customers

Referral marketing has proven to be a powerful strategy for fashion brands, capitalising on its inherently social nature. The ability to create a unique customer experience meant significant growth in customer acquisition and loyalty for fashion brands. 

A/B testing, personalised experiences, and offline conversations play pivotal roles in optimising referral programs. What’s more, the high-quality customers generated through referrals are more likely to become long-term customer advocates. 

When choosing a referral program for your brand, it's essential to prioritise strong referral data, segmentation capabilities, and omnichannel engagement to create a tailored and memorable experience for your customers. By harnessing the potential of referral marketing, fashion brands can not only acquire high-value customers but also create a community of satisfied advocates ready to spread the word about their products.

Read next: Powerful Mention Me features for boosting your referral marketing

Designing for Engagement and Ease

Your referral journey should feel effortless. No clunky forms. No confusing flows. No digging around for links that were emailed weeks ago.

Referral thrives when the experience is intuitive: a prompt at the perfect moment, a link that’s easy to share, a mobile journey that mirrors the purchase path. Don't create friction — create flow.

And always test. A/B testing your calls-to-action, copy and design can have a massive impact — often doubling your referral conversion rate when you get the little things right.

Keeping the Look & Feel On-Brand

Consistency builds trust — and trust builds referrals.

If your pop-ups, emails or referral pages don’t match the rest of your brand, they look out of place. Customers start to wonder if they’ve been taken to a different site, or if the brand is cutting corners.

That’s why every touchpoint of your referral journey should feel like the rest of your brand experience. From visual design to tone of voice, stay on-brand to stay credible — and make sure your referred customers have the same wow factor as your regulars.

Making Sharing Social and Seamless

Sharing isn’t limited to URLs and inboxes anymore. Conversations happen over WhatsApp, voice notes, Instagram DMs, and at brunch on Saturdays.

Your referral programme needs to match how your customers actually communicate. It should feel social, not corporate. Natural, not forced.

Mention Me’s Name Share® feature makes this possible — letting customers refer friends by simply passing on their name. Their friend can enter it at checkout, and boom: referral captured, reward triggered, all without needing to dig through emails or even open an app.

It’s smart, flexible, and built for how people really shop and share fashion today.

Conclusions

Referral marketing isn’t just a new channel — it’s a new layer of customer engagement.

For fashion brands, it offers a low-cost, high-trust way to drive acquisition and loyalty at the same time. It turns compliments into conversions. Conversations into community.

By designing a programme that fits your audience, your brand, and the way your customers actually share, you can build more than just sales: you can build a sustainable, social-led growth engine powered by your happiest customers.

Want to start a fashion referral program of your own? Get a free, no-obligation demo of Mention Me, the world's best AI-powered referral platform.