Case Study: Social Referral Program Helps J. Hilburn

Custom-tailored menswear seller J. Hilburn has traditionally relied on referrals from their personal stylists for new customer acquisition. But they knew their customer base was also generating referrals, and wanted a way to identify, empower and reward these brand advocates.

In September, J. Hilburn launched a formal social referral program with engagement platform provider Extole. The merchant offered a $50 store credit for the referrer and $50 off the first order for the person who was referred.

Customers could refer their friends via Facebook, Twitter, email and a personal URL and J. Hilburn promoted the program via its website, email marketing and through personal style advisors.

Within the first 45 days of the program:

• More than 1,000 brand advocates were identified
• Each advocate shared with an average of 12 friends
• The campaign generated more than 10,000 social shares across Facebook, Twitter and emails
• The referrals drove 600 new transactions, worth about $250,000 in sales, with an average order value of more than $135.

J. Hilburn promoted the program via its website, email and personal style advisors. The campaign has been distributed about 13,000 times to date, and email represents roughly 9,000 of that.