SHEKO, a popular health brand, achieves cost-effective customer acquisition and retention through Influence.io's referral marketing solution.
An established name in the health and nutrition space, SHEKO is already a popular brand in its home country of Germany. But as every successful business knows, popularity should never be taken for granted. It takes a strategic approach to maintain a healthy customer base, and for SHEKO, referral marketing is central to that strategy.
SHEKO has been selling its range of meal replacement shakes and supplements to the German market since 2014. In that time, it’s achieved success through multiple sales channels - including online marketplaces like Amazon and Galaxus, and European chain stores including DM, Rossmann and Globus.
But of course its primary focus is its own eCommerce store, and building a loyal customer base that buys directly from the brand itself.
The challenge it faces - like all eCommerce businesses - is the rising cost of acquisition. With soaring ad spend eating into its budget, it needed a more cost effective way to attract new customers, as well as to retain its existing ones.
SHEKO opted to introduce referral marketing - a strategy that typically sees a positive return because rewards are only given when a successful referral occurs, ensuring the marketing investment is tied directly to the acquisition of new customers.
To implement its referral marketing strategy, SHEKO needed a robust loyalty platform. The team compared the options available before settling on Influence.io, as it offered a feature rich solution at a fair price point.
The added bonus is that Influence.io is a REVIEWS.io product. Already a long standing customer of the latter, the SHEKO team had total confidence they’d receive the same level of customer support and the same commitment to continual product development.
“Influence.io was the right choice because it had similar features to expensive market leaders, but at a more affordable price. Based on my positive experience with REVIEWS.io, I trusted Influence.io's excellent customer support and reliable developers.”
- Idris Farjad, CRM Manager
SHEKO’s referral marketing strategy is pretty straightforward. Registered customers are sent their own personal referral link, which they can then forward to their friends and family.
Once the link is opened - and an email address entered - the new customer receives a €10 voucher that they can redeem against any SHEKO purchase made within two months that meets the minimum spend requirement.
With the referred purchase tracked to the referral link, SHEKO then leaves a period of 14 days (its returns window) before sending the original customer a €10 voucher of their own.
"In the face of increasing ad costs, we prioritize profitable customer acquisition. Our focus is on email marketing and leveraging one of the most powerful strategies available: referral marketing."
The whole process is automated using our advanced Klaviyo integration.
By leveraging Klaviyo’s powerful marketing automation and data-driven capabilities, brands can use this integration to create more targeted, personalized and streamlined referral campaigns, increasing their effectiveness.
They can also easily measure key metrics like referral conversions, revenue generated and customer engagement, gaining valuable insights for campaign optimization.
“The Klaviyo integration is by far the most useful feature. It allows us to set up automated email flows for our referral program so all our communications land at the right time, encouraging engagement and participation.”
Referral marketing works because it leverages the trust and personal connections of existing customers, and because it’s a win for everyone involved. The new customer gets introduced to products they’re likely to enjoy, the existing customer gets rewarded for their recommendation, and SHEKO gets both new customers and long term loyalty for minimal spend.
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There’s additional benefits to referral marketing too.
Referred leads tend to convert at a higher rate than leads generated through other channels, and referred customers are typically more profitable - spending more often and with higher AOV when they do.
SHEKO is still experimenting with its referral strategy, but is already seeing impressive results.
“We’re still testing how we can improve the number of referrals that we get from our customers. Right now we’re receiving about 20 referrals a month. Without the acquisition costs, our CLV on these referred customers is at least double as high as the CLV on a normal customer.”
As well as continuing to refine its referral marketing strategy, SHEKO intends to roll out a wider loyalty program to maximize its investment in Influence.io, and reap all the benefits of the features it offers.
“A loyalty programme can help us to retain customers & increase CLTV. By offering rewards & incentives for repeat business, our customers are more likely to choose our brand over competitors, increasing revenue & loyalty.”
Looking to invest in the growth driving strategy that is referral marketing? Check out our competitive monthly price plans or contact our loyalty experts for more info.