A referral program to boost customer acquisition in the US
What
When
Customer acquisition at an all time low
New customer growth had slowed massively. Referral marketing can drive significant new customer acquisition, with the potential to attract a loyal and profitable customer. The challenge was to create a refer a friend acquisition channel initially for the US market, creating extra value for our loyal customers (referrers) and incentivise new customers first purchases (referees).
Collaboration with a third-party referral marketing company
In 2016, an in-house ASOS referral programme was exploited in Russia, seeing customers duplicating discount codes and abusing the system. This bad experience convinced us to partner with a reputable referral marketing company called Mention Me. They had a set of pre-made user journeys that could be implemented into different areas of the ASOS experience. My job was to ensure that these experiences worked across our web, iOS and Android platforms. There was cross-collaboration between myself and designers at Mention Me, with weekly calls to discuss any issues and to align on next steps.
User flows to understand the referral process
The interaction between the referrer and referee was a complex process. With this in mind, I created mobile web user journeys in Overflow to grasp the different routes and depict all the edge cases that we had to consider. The flow delved into the intricacies of the referral flow, like how the sharing link would appear on Facebook and what pre-determined text would be pasted in when composing an email. The expansive flow depicted the complete journey from a referrer sharing a referral link, to a referee applying the code in checkout. The flow was integral for product managers and the development team to truly understand the user journeys for both referrers and referees.
Working with branding to source suitable imagery
The use of inviting and friendly imagery was a big part of the marketing program. Especially on desktop web, imagery was designed to take a centre stage and appeal to a prospective referrer or referee. I contacted the brand experience team requesting images that would fit this theme, making sure that the types of images evoked that sense of friendship. They gave me access to a range of studio images from the Collusion brand. These images worked well as the Collusion brand was a uni-sex clothing style, so the images portrayed male and female models posing together in a relaxed friendly manner. Preference testing was conducted to narrow down the variations of images that could be used. Images where the models were seemingly 'looking at the offer' were effective as the users eye-line would be drawn to the offer.
Referrer Screens
Below is a selection of high-fidelity designs that an existing ASOS customer would see at different points across the ASOS experience. This user is able to refer their friends (the "Referrer").
Referee Screens
The following selection of high-fidelity designs show what a prospective ASOS customer would see. This user has been referred by their friend and have never had an ASOS account (the "Referee").
User testing the referrer and referee flow
I conducted unmoderated user testing with participants in the US, with nine participants testing the referrer flow and another nine testing the referee flow. The following insights were gained:
The majority of users stated that the referral discount of 10% was too little. This made sense as the US is a discount-driven nation, especially with extreme discounting on Black Friday. As a result, the discount was increased to 15% for both the referrer and the referee.
Users were also confused as to whether they had to enter their details or their friends details when signing up to the programme. The copy had to be more straightforward. Header and subheading text was adjusted to ensure what information was required was clearly specified.
The 'share by name' feature also caused confusion, as users thought they could simply enter their friends name in the promo code box to apply a discount. This was not the case. It was clear that simply sharing a referral link and getting your friend to sign up and receive their code this way was a much more intuitive process. The 'share by name' feature was deemed as a secondary avenue, with more emphasis put on link and social media sharing.
The post-checkout referral pop-up to start with
It was agreed that positioning the offer in the post-checkout experience would be the best option to start with. I designed native pop-up sliders for both iOS and Android, as well as crafting a simple pop-up animation for web to indicate how the module will display when a user arrives on the post-checkout screen. Similar to previous projects, edge cases were taken seriously, and transient error messages were set just in case the connection to Mention Me's API was down. The referral programme is currently live to customers in the US. The next steps would be implementing the offer in other areas, such as the ASOS home page, as well as encouraging users to share more by giving them their very own referral dashboard in their My Account section (as shown in the image above).
ASOS Refer a Friend Live Web Experience
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