Choose another country or region to see content specific to your location.

Request a Demo
fashion referral marketing

How referral works for brands like PLT, Seraphine & Ted Baker

Rhys Williams
By Rhys Williams — December 3, 2019 -

Fashion is social by nature. Consumers share, discuss and compliment one another on fashion and beauty items on a daily basis. Our buying habits and the brands we shop with are heavily (and often subconsciously) influenced by those around us.

Spread via social networks and driven by the enthusiasm of your brand fans, referral marketing campaigns are a natural fit for fashion brands seeking to boost engagement, find valuable new customers and foster a community of loyal customers, 

  • On average, fashion brands acquire between 10 and 30% more new customers via referral.
  • A huge number of referrals are the result of offline conversations, highlighting the importance of a customer referral programme that can capture informal recommendations. 
  • Referred customers spend 25% more, have 2x lifetime value are 3x more likely to refer others.

 

Why fashion brands use referral partnerships

Think of the last time someone complimented you on an outfit and asked where it was from. Or the last time you asked friends whether or not you should buy a new addition to your wardrobe. 

Getting inspired by your peers’ choices and tapping their wisdom for where to shop is how fashion lives and breathes. Equally, being treated as a go-to source of fashion advice feels amazing.  

That's why referral marketing works so well for fashion. Retailers as diverse as fashion brand PrettyLittleThing and niche retailers Seraphine (maternity) and Heidi Klein (swimwear) have made innovative use of their customers’ social networks to promote and build their brands.

 

5 ways top fashion brands use referral marketing campaigns

Simply being in the fashion sector isn't enough to achieve remarkable referral results. For that, you need a comprehensive referral marketing strategy that identifies those customers who are most enthusiastic about your products, nurtures them to the point where they will go out and tell all their friends about how awesome you are, and rewards them for the value they bring to your business. 

Mention Me works with hundreds of fashion brands to optimise their refer-a-friend programmes and effectively engage with their target audiences.

Here are some of the ways leading fashion brands have turned refer-a-friend programmes into a unique way to get closer to their customers and grow their business.

 

A/B test, test & test again

It’s crucial to test the content you serve. This is true in any industry, but in fashion, where ascetics matter more than anywhere else, learning what images, words, and combinations of content your customers respond well to has to be a top priority. 

 

PLT

A hugely popular brand amongst women aged 18-24, PrettyLittleThing  has achieved 250% growth since its launch in 2012. After a disappointing start with their referral marketing campaign, they partnered with Mention Me to develop a programme that could match their stratospheric rise. 

 

Testing out their ideas on audiences became the bedrock of their strategy. Within the first three months of launching, PrettyLittleThing ran 5 A/B tests to discover what resonated most with customers.

Some of their most significant insights were around discount messaging and copy length. They found:

  • Offering a discount of 20% off rather than £10 off made customers more likely to refer. 
  • Running longer, more descriptive copy that allowed PrettyLittleThing to incorporate signature brand phrasing was more effective than shorter copy.

These insights produced results: Amongst other achievements, they doubled the rate at which referred friends become new customers.

 

Seraphine

While Seraphine is a very different kind of fashion brand from PrettyLittleThing, they also benefited greatly from the insights their A/B testing produced. 

The maternity brand tested:

  • Offering a monetary discount versus a free gift 
  • Promoting sharing by email versus by word-of-mouth (captured by Mention Me’s Name Share® capability)
  • Running concise versus descriptive copy. 

As well as giving Seraphine a deeper understanding of their customers, the results informed subsequent iterations of the referral programme and helped deliver outstanding results.

 

Create a unique customer experience

Despite being powered by the same Mention Me platform, all our clients' referral programmes look entirely on-brand. This is crucial; customers are far less likely to pay attention to a  pop-up if it looks unrelated to the rest of the shopping experience.

Developing your customer experience is a process. You can use the results of your A/B testing to inform your referral marketing, creating different experiences for different groups of customers and boosting your CX. 

Creating customer segments based on customer referral data allows you to craft personalised experiences that are more relevant to individual customers and more likely to garner a referral action. 

 

Ted Baker

Leading fashion brand Ted Baker used personalised shopping recommendations and exclusive previews to proactively engage different customer segments, fostering a sense of partnership and exclusivity rather than a transactional relationship.

Compelling text and captivating aesthetics have been instrumental in strengthening Ted Baker's unique brand identity and grabbing the interest of customers. 

The referral program has yielded impressive outcomes since its introduction. On average, referred customers spend 34% more per order compared to other customers, place 7% more orders, and have a 16% higher purchase rate during peak months.

 

Tap into offline conversations

Many fashion brands know their products are likely to come up in conversation, but finding a way to convert these everyday moments into new customers can be a challenge. 

That's where Mention Me's unique name-sharing feature comes in.

Name Share® lets customers give their friends an incentive to shop for the first time by simply entering their name at checkout - a sharing method that capitalises on the huge volume of offline referrals.

For PrettyLittleThing and Ted Baker, the proportion of their referrals coming from Name Share is 40%. For Seraphine, it’s 50%. Even in our digital world, consumers love to share brands in conversation.

 

Use referral marketing for customer acquisition

Lastly, referral marketing drives significant new customer acquisition for fashion brands. And the type of customers that come from referrals are high-quality. Those referred by their friends are more likely to shop again, spend more and go on to recommend the brand to their friends more than other customers.

Children's clothing brand Frugi, for example, gets 27% of its referral revenue via customers' subsequent orders. Highlighting that referred customers aren't one-off bargain hunters, but people you can build a long-term relationship with.

On average, referral marketing increases new customer acquisition by between 10% and 25%. And this figure can be even higher if you spend time developing and optimising your programme.

So if you're a fashion brand ready to acquire more high-value customers who will happily recommend you, think about how referral marketing software can help you achieve your customer goals.

 

How to choose a referral program for your brand

With so much at stake, how do you know how to pick the right customer referral programme for your brand?

Look for programmes that offer: 

    • Strong referral data - using your referral programme to gather customer data and build a detailed picture of your customers is important for your ability to personalise your referral marketing. In the fashion world, providing a unique and memorable experience is all-important. 
    • The ability to segment by referral behaviour - Having the data is no good if you can’t use it to build customer segments. The Mention Me Customer Advocacy Intelligence Platform has all the capabilities you need to segment by likelihood to refer and target your marketing accordingly. 
    • Omnichannel engagement - Fashion shoppers don’t necessarily want to connect by email. Make sure you have a referral programme that allows you to engage with your customers on their channel of choice, be that WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram.

Fashion a referral programme to delight your customers

Referral marketing has proven to be a powerful strategy for fashion brands, capitalising on its inherently social nature. The ability to create a unique customer experience meant significant growth in customer acquisition and loyalty for fashion brands. 

A/B testing, personalised experiences, and offline conversations play pivotal roles in optimising referral programs. What’s more, the high-quality customers generated through referrals are more likely to become long-term customer advocates

When choosing a referral program for your brand, it's essential to prioritise strong referral data, segmentation capabilities, and omnichannel engagement to create a tailored and memorable experience for your customers. By harnessing the potential of referral marketing, fashion brands can not only acquire high-value customers but also create a community of satisfied advocates ready to spread the word about their products.

Read next: Powerful Mention Me features for boosting your referral marketing

You might also enjoy

customer loyalty
Loyalty -

Read time: 5 mins

From Air Miles to Brand Partnerships: Why we need to rethink customer loyalty

Dive into the world of customer loyalty programs and their evolution. Explore genuine customer loyalty and the importance of customer experience in 2024

optimise customer retention with a/b testing
Retention -

Read time: 8 mins

How to Optimise Conversion and Customer Retention through A/B Testing

Discover the power of A/B testing in optimising conversion and customer retention rates. Explore strategies and case studies from top brands.

customer retention vs acquisition
Retention -

Read time: 8 mins

Customer Retention vs Customer Acquisition: Why your existing customers hold the key to growth

Discover how prioritising customer retention over acquisition can unlock substantial growth. This blog reveals how transforming loyal customers into advocates powers organic expansion.

Stay in the know

Subscribe to our blog and get monthly emails packed full of the latest marketing trends and tips