Maternity fashion brand Seraphine drives new client acquisition with referral.
Specialising in fashion-forward clothes for style conscious mums-to-be, Seraphine partnered with Mention Me in 2018 to support its ambitious growth plans.
Since then, the award-winning British brand has transformed referral into a key acquisition channel and gained interesting insight into the nature of sharing among soon-to-be and new mums.
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Access Challenges
Serafine faced the following challenges prior to launching the referral program:
- Competitive Market: Standing out in the crowded wellness industry where customer loyalty was low.
- Limited Brand Awareness: Despite quality products, Serafine struggled with brand recognition in new markets.
- Customer Acquisition Costs: As the cost to acquire new customers increased, maintaining the margins became challenging.
Goals
The referral program aimed to achieve the following goals:
- Increase Sales: To incentivise existing customers to refer others with a special promo code.
- Boost Brand Awareness: To spread the word about Serafine’s products through trusted recommendations.
- Nurture Customer Loyalty: Building a community of brand advocates.
Strategy
Serafine based the structure of their referral program on a concept where both parties in the transaction—the referrer and the new customer—would equally benefit.
- Referral Rewards: Customers who refer a new buyer receive a discount on their next purchase. Customers could also request referral rewards through customer service.
- First-Time Purchase Incentive: The referrers' new customers received a special discount on their first order when using the referral link. The referral incentives also included season-long sale events.
- Ease of Use: The program was fully digital, with referral links that could be easily shared via email, social media, or text.
The program was marketed through:
- Targeted Email Campaigns: Regularly sending reminders to existing customers about referral rewards.
- Social Media Promotion: Posts and shareable content that encourage users to participate in the referral program.
- Partnerships: Reach out to and collaborate with influencers and micro-influencers to promote the referral incentives.
Results
The referral program for 2018 has exceeded expectations with the following:
Sales Growth:
- The referrals in Serafine achieved a 38% rise in sales within the first six months of its launch. A huge bulk of these sales came from new customers referred by existing ones. Another promotional offer was that, by using this referral, one could get a discount while purchasing online and from any of the physical shops.
- Referred customers had a higher likelihood to repurchase, increasing the customer lifetime value by 25%.
Brand Awareness
- The program led to a 40% increase in website traffic as customers shared their referral links across social media platforms, helping Serafine gain a larger audience. Additionally, the program included interactions with third-party websites, which further amplified the reach.
- Social media followers grew by 50% during the program, with posts featuring referral links gaining significant engagement.
Customer Loyalty and Retention:
- In the referred customer scenario, the rate was higher, as 60% of the referred customers made a repeat purchase within three months.
- That added a lot to the community feeling, where the customers got more involved with the brand and its products through the referral program.
Conclusion
Serafine's 2018 Referral Program was highly successful in driving sales and building brand presence and customer loyalty. Serafine has been able to strike the right balance between short-term sales growth and long-term brand development by leveraging the power of word-of-mouth marketing and rewarding customers for doing so.
This case study highlights the importance of customer advocacy today and how referral programs will drive sustainable growth by fostering a community of loyal supporters.
