SPOKE is an exciting disruptor brand in the menswear market. Founded in 2014 it was born from the frustrations of finding quality menswear with a good fit. Customers quickly discovered their great fitting products took the pain out of shopping. With such a loyal customer base, SPOKE realised the potential that referral marketing could offer.
SPOKE selected Mention Me to power their referral program, since the platform offered the elements they knew could make referral a key marketing channel; AB testing, innovative sharing options and a solution which could be tailored to suit their brand.
The SPOKE x Mention Me Partnership
To put their referral strategy into action, SPOKE turned to Mention Me.
Having already worked with Mention Me on referral programmes, the team saw untapped potential in their first-party data. With Mention Me’s Referral Engineering® capabilities, SPOKE began transforming referrer insights into high-performing paid social audiences — customers who looked like their most loyal advocates.
Working alongside agency partner Nest Commerce, Mention Me helped SPOKE test these new “referrer lookalike” audiences across markets. By moving away from generic lookalikes and toward customer-led targeting, the brand was able to rebuild its paid social strategy on a foundation of trust and performance.
“We were sitting on a wealth of first-party referral data. It made sense to inject that into our paid social strategy — especially since we knew our referrers had higher lifetime value.”
— Tereza Pigova, International Growth Marketer, SPOKE
Key Features of SPOKE’s Referral Program
From the outset, SPOKE applied its ‘test and learn’ approach to referral marketing. Some of the key components of their successful programme included:
- Referrer Lookalikes on Paid Social: Using referral insights from Mention Me, SPOKE built custom audiences on Facebook to target new shoppers who looked like those who had referred others — not just buyers.
- Integrated Data Flow: SPOKE used referral data to not only fuel paid social but began incorporating it across their marketing stack for more precise segmentation and targeting.
- Performance Benchmarking: With strong metadata from years of referral success, SPOKE used Mention Me to track downstream metrics like CPA, ROAS, and referral likelihood of new customers.
- Flexible Scaling Across Markets: SPOKE tested different lookalike percentages (e.g. 1% vs. 3%) to find the right balance between scale and efficiency in UK vs. international campaigns.
Results of SPOKE’s Referral Program
By replacing third-party lookalike data with referral-based targeting, SPOKE didn’t just recover from the iOS changes — they unlocked a long-term growth engine.
- 65% higher conversion rate than standard seed audiences
- 30% higher ROAS
- 12% lower cost per acquisition (CPA)
- 12% more likely to refer others
- 100% higher click-through rate
Within just a few weeks, SPOKE noticed that high-value customers acquired through the referral data were doing exactly what they hoped: making purchases and referring others — creating a virtuous growth cycle.
“Using referral data for paid social is low effort and improves key metrics. There’s a solid commercial business case behind it."
— Tereza Pigova, International Growth Marketer, SPOKE
The case study looks at some of the key findings from the SPOKE referral programme, including
- The likelihood of a customer referring the brand
- The increase in AOV of a referred customer
- How AB testing drives increased performance
You can download the SPOKE Referral Programme case study here.
We also have a host of other case studies from our lovely clients from a variety of sectors. Check them out here.
Conclusions
SPOKE’s results show that referral marketing is more than a retention tool — it’s a strategic asset for acquisition in an evolving digital landscape.
By leveraging Mention Me’s platform and first-party data, SPOKE didn’t just build a referral programme — they built a smarter funnel. One that powers growth across paid, email, and automation, all while honouring the loyalty and influence of their happiest customers.
In a world where third-party data is losing ground, SPOKE’s story is proof that your best channel might already be in your customer base.
Want to replicate SPOKE's success? Get a free demo of Mention Me today.
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