Launching referral marketing at Emma Bridgewater
Emma Bridgewater, the iconic British pottery and homeware brand, wanted to give something back to the loyal and happy customers who were referring them.
After just 6 months of collaboration with Mention Me, the Marketing Team at Emma Bridgewater have created a successful referral channel which already accounts for an 11% uplift in new customer acquisition. Download the referral case study to learn more.
Casual, friendly individuality is at the heart of Emma Bridgewater — and that extends to its fiercely loyal customer base. The brand saw huge referral potential in its community, but lacked the tools and expertise to make it happen.
With an outsourced e-commerce platform and limited internal bandwidth, Emma Bridgewater needed a referral solution that was:
- Easy to implement
- Highly customisable
- Backed by expert support and data-led insights
The goal: Launch a referral programme that reflects their brand values and drives new customer acquisition — without draining internal resources.
Emma Bridgewater partnered with Mention Me in 2015 to launch their fully-branded and customisable refer-a-friend programme.
With quick implementation and seamless integration, the team was up and running without heavy development input. Mention Me provided ongoing strategic support and A/B testing tools to help optimise the programme over time.
Early on, the Emma Bridgewater team:
- Enabled multiple sharing channels — email, Facebook, and word-of-mouth (Name Share®)
- Ran targeted reward tests to maximise sharing
- Used Mention Me’s real-time performance insights to fine-tune the programme
In the first six months of launching referral marketing with Mention Me, Emma Bridgewater saw:
📈 11% increase in new customer acquisition
🔁 29% of referred customers went on to refer again, creating a powerful advocacy loop
👥 35% of referred customers came via Name Share®, Mention Me’s unique word-of-mouth feature
🧪 21x improvement in results from ongoing referral testing
“We had been considering a refer-a-friend programme for some time, and the ease with which the Mention Me solution could be implemented made it really appealing. It also enables us to give something tangible back to our customers when they tell their friends about us.”
Greg Hockley, Trading Director at Emma Bridgewater
Referral marketing was a natural fit for Emma Bridgewater — a brand built on personality, quality, and emotional connection. By partnering with Mention Me, the team unlocked the full power of their happiest customers, turning brand fans into a scalable acquisition channel.
With AI-powered tools, strategic testing, and easy platform integration, Emma Bridgewater built a referral marketing programme that delivers long-term results — and continues to grow.
“We had been considering a refer a friend programme for some time and the ease with which the Mention Me solution could be implemented made it really appealing.”
Trading Director, Emma Bridgewater
