Trouva is the home of independent boutiques: a marketplace built to give small retailers a global shopfront and shoppers a destination for distinctive, hard-to-find products. Launched in 2015, Trouva rapidly built a network of hundreds of boutiques and curated more than 40,000 fashion and interiors products. In its first year alone, it grew an astonishing 3000%. In a market dominated by large marketplaces and D2C brands with deep paid budgets, Trouva needed a scalable, efficient growth engine that could strengthen customer relationships while acquiring high-quality new buyers. Because customers are more likely to recommend something original and distinctive, advocacy was a natural lever to power profitable retention, repeat purchases, and organic acquisition. This customer retention case study explores how Trouva used advocacy to achieve exactly that.
As a fast-moving business, Trouva needed to scale retention in step with rapid growth without diluting boutique authenticity. Paid channels were crowded and expensive, demanding a complementary engine that could convert enthusiasm for unique products into measurable growth. The team had to activate high-intent customers at the right moments, across devices, while continually testing incentives and messages—without tying up valuable in-house development resources. Crucially, they needed to go beyond vanity metrics and prove incremental uplift in retention, repeat purchases, and lifetime value.
Trouva partnered with Mention Me to build a retention engine powered by advocacy, personalised journeys, and uplift measurement. The Mention Me platform offered fast integration and robust A/B testing, allowing Trouva to launch quickly and learn rapidly which offers, messages, and channels resonated most with its audience.
Together, the teams aligned on core KPIs: retention, repeat purchase rate, share rate, and LTV. They segmented by lifecycle stage, purchase behaviour, and propensity to advocate to focus on the highest-intent cohorts from day one.
Trouva implemented dynamic, device-aware journeys tailored to post-purchase behaviour. Friction was minimised with Mention Me’s “name sharing” feature, letting referred friends redeem simply by entering their friend’s name at checkout. Simple. Effective.
The programme systematically experimented with headlines, CTAs, social proof, and offer framing to surface messages that drive both sharing and redemption.
One-off campaigns gave way to an evergreen advocacy programme. Continuous optimisation turned enthusiasm for distinctive products into compounding retention and revenue.
Likely-to-advocate segments were identified using behavioural and transactional signals. Messaging and placements were personalised by cohort and device to maximise share and redemption rates.
Rewards were iterated across type, sharer/friend split, and framing to balance generosity with unit economics. The goal was clear: optimise for repeat purchase and LTV, not just the first click.
Advocacy prompts were triggered at peak-intent moment: order confirmation, delivery updates, post-purchase emails, and loyalty milestones. Copy and offers flexed to context to keep momentum high.
Ongoing tests across creative, offer, and UX reduced friction and lifted performance. Over six months, testing delivered up to a 6x improvement versus early variants. In peak months, share rate hit 22%.
Beyond basic referral dashboards, Trouva tracked incrementality, cohort-level repeat purchase, and LTV uplift in real time. Referrals already account for 5% of new customer acquisition, with clear visibility on downstream value.
Advocate and referred cohorts retained at higher rates than non-advocates. The exact uplift can be shared on request.
Sharers and their friends showed stronger repeat behaviour, reinforcing the flywheel effect of advocacy.
High-quality acquisition plus better retention increased LTV for both advocates and referred customers. Sustainable growth, not just spikes.
Referral-driven acquisition replaced a portion of expensive paid media, improving blended CAC without sacrificing customer quality.
Personalised messages and optimised offer framing fuelled a 22% share rate in peak months and a 6x uplift against early variants.
An always-on system turned delighted customers into repeat buyers and consistent referrers—creating a self-reinforcing growth loop.
Personalisation meaningfully boosts advocacy. High-intent touchpoints outperform generic placements. Retention and acquisition are interlinked through advocacy, so measure LTV uplift and incrementality, not vanity metrics. Always-on testing compounds gains. For deeper context on strategy, see customer retention vs customer loyalty
Trouva can deepen personalisation with richer product affinity, timing, and lifecycle signals. Advocacy insights should flow into the CRM to orchestrate smarter cross-sell and win-back journeys. Multi-market activation—with localised incentives and language—can scale advocacy efficiently. Finally, tying referral and loyalty mechanics together will reinforce ongoing engagement and drive repeat purchase at lower cost.
Closing proof points: share rate up to 22% in peak months; referrals contributing 5% of new customer acquisition; up to a 6x uplift through testing; rapid time-to-value with low development overhead. As Mark Patchett, Marketing Director at Trouva, puts it: “We know our products are exceptionally shareable and that referrals should form a core strand of our marketing strategy. The Mention Me platform enabled us to get up and running quickly to capitalise on our fast growth.”
"We’ve tested 23 marketing messages using Mention Me's Repeat product. It's been fascinating to see the response. We are looking forward to seeing where it can go from here."
Senior Customer Marketing Manager, TROUVA
