How Spoke Captured Customer Advocacy with Referral Marketing

Spoke is a fast growing fashion disruptor

In the wake of Apple’s iOS 14.5 update, which limited the use of third-party tracking data, menswear brand SPOKE faced a new challenge: reach and acquire high-quality customers without relying on standard paid audience targeting.

Rather than scramble to rebuild paid social from scratch, SPOKE found a smarter opportunity – leveraging referral marketing data from its most loyal customers to power smarter targeting and long-term growth.

The Challenge

When Apple gave users the ability to opt-out of third-party tracking, it profoundly affected how brands like SPOKE used lookalike audiences in paid social.

SPOKE needed a new, privacy-safe way to target valuable shoppers and cut through the noise.

That opportunity was hiding in plain sight — within their existing referral programme powered by Mention Me.

"We were sitting on a wealth of first-party referral data.
It made sense to inject that into our paid social strategy."
— Tereza Pigova, International Growth Marketer, SPOKE

The Solution

With strategic guidance from Mention Me and agency partner Nest Commerce, SPOKE began using AI-powered referral insights to:

✅ Create high-performing referrer lookalike audiences on Facebook
✅ Test new targeting strategies quickly and at scale
✅ Tap into smarter, privacy-compliant data for long-term growth

This "test and learn" approach helped SPOKE shift from chasing unreliable external data to doubling down on trusted, high-LTV customers at its core.

And it paid off. Fast.

The Results

Within days, SPOKE began acquiring better customers. Within weeks, those customers were referring others.

Across six months, results confirmed that referral-powered audience targeting outperformed traditional lookalikes:

📈 65% higher conversion compared to standard lookalike audiences
💰 12% lower CPA
📊 30% higher return on ad spend (ROAS)
🔁 12% more likely to refer others

With performance this strong, targeting referrer lookalikes is now a permanent part of SPOKE’s growth strategy.

"We’re constantly making sure our data informs everything we do – from referral to paid social and email. It’s absolutely integral to our business."

Customer Testimonial

"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

Thanks to Mention Me’s platform and strategic support, SPOKE not only mitigated the impact of iOS data restrictions — it unlocked a repeatable growth engine that scales with confidence.

SPOKE now plans to feed referral data into additional tools, including Klaviyo, to create deeper segments, more targeted automations, and continue building global brand advocacy.

Conclusion

SPOKE's experience highlights why referral marketing isn’t just about word-of-mouth — it’s a smarter data strategy for modern performance marketing.

In an era of tightening privacy and rising acquisition costs, top brands are leaning on the power of their superfans. With Mention Me, referral data becomes actionable across every marketing channel — from paid social to loyalty to email.

Want to see how referral marketing can power next-level performance for your brand?