Problem

Zulily’s brand team approached the creative team to refresh the look and feel of the referral program. The creative team proposed a refreshed referral program to introduce new customers to the brand while also offering existing customers an incentive. 

Goal

The primary goal was acquisition, with a secondary goal of repeat purchases by existing customers. KPIs were measured by sign-ups, sales, and social follows through the launch of a referral program across marketing channels: SMS, paid ads, email, and social.

Creative Approach

The full suite of creative used simple yet playful language to encourage sharing and shopping with friends. The two audiences of the referral campaign required two different user journeys. My first order of business was to create user flows for the creative team to understand the messaging required.

For the friend referring to Zulily, the primary message was to promote the $15 they could earn when their friend purchases from Zulily in email, social, onsite, and SMS. For the referred friend (the most valuable customer here), the goal was to encourage them to go shopping, but we only had one opportunity to communicate with them: through email. The email featured brand education and lots of ideas for what Zulily sold.

Results

The referral program stretched across all marketing channels to spread awareness and excitement about the new campaign. The campaign drove repeat purchases by existing customers and and increased new site visits by 40%.