Referral and loyalty tools are essential for direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands looking to build and nurture customer relationships. Referral tools enable brands to create programs that incentivize current customers to refer new customers, often offering rewards for both the referrer and referee. Loyalty tools, on the other hand, focus on rewarding repeat customers for their ongoing business, typically through points, discounts, or exclusive offers.
For DTC brands, these tools are important as they help foster a community of brand advocates and loyal customers. Referral programs leverage word-of-mouth marketing, which is highly effective and cost-efficient. Loyalty programs, meanwhile, encourage repeat purchases and can increase customer lifetime value. Both types of tools aid in creating a strong brand connection and enhancing customer retention.
Popular tools in this category include ReferralCandy and Smile.io. ReferralCandy is popular for its ease of setup and integration with various e-commerce platforms, making it a favorite for brands seeking to implement straightforward, effective referral programs. Smile.io is renowned for its comprehensive loyalty program capabilities, offering a range of customizable rewards and engagement options. Both tools stand out for their user-friendly interfaces and proven success in boosting customer engagement and driving sales through referrals and loyalty initiatives.
One the most powerful marketing weapons if used correctly. Brands in the apparel space such as Rothy’s rely on tools like Talkable and other like UNDERDAYS leverage ReferralCandy. Here’s the full list.
Storista enhances D2C brand engagement on Shopify by enabling the integration of Instagram content via widgets. Brands can embed Instagram Posts, Highlights, Stories, or Reels on their website, showcasing products in a familiar format to boost sales and engagement. The app allows for content synchronization, multiple widget templates for brand alignment, and performance optimizations to ensure a seamless user experience.
Affiliate marketing made frictionless. Social Snowball makes it easy to build, launch, and automate your word-of-mouth marketing programs. Whether you want to turn your customers into revenue-generating affiliates or launch a TikTok influencer program, Social Snowball is the control center that lets you configure programs, track referral sales, send commission rewards, and automate it all.
Superfiliate has built a platform that empowers brands to run end-to-end affiliate, influencer and referral programs, turning every link shared by a creator or customer into a co-branded landing page. Co-branded landing pages create a personalized experience for the shopper as every page has its own unique content, curated products and reviews from the creator, driving a higher conversion rate (by >20-30%) and deepening the sense of partnership between the brand and the creator. Superfiliate also handles campaign management, product seeding, payout management, tracking/ analytics, promotions and much more within the affiliate, influencer and partner workflows. Native integrations with email, sms, subscription, payment, analytics & measurement providers make it seamless to onboard, launch, accelerate growth and measure success.
Talkable is referral program software for eCommerce brands. Build the program you like from feature set, to the overall look and feel of it. Then A/B test it to adapt it to fit your customers' needs. Talkable is best for brands with $4M+ annual revenue.
ReferralCandy helps online stores attract new customers, increase sales and grow their brand with easy-to-setup and automated referral and affiliate programs.
High-growth brands can get more out of every customer with Friendbuy. With a best-in-class referral and loyalty program, brands can achieve at least 5-15% of new customer acquisition, with a 4x higher lifetime value. Friendbuy works with DTC brands like Casper, AWAY, and Outdoor Voices as well as Fortune 100-ranked companies like Walmart, Disney and Nestle. Plus, Friendbuy integrates seamlessly with your tech stack, so you can incorporate referrals and loyalty seamlessly into your customer journeys.
Viral Loops is a referral marketing solution for all. They pride themselves on simplicity to setup and their large database of templates based on past referral marketing successes. Viral Loops also offers no-code abilities to create landing pages to promote your referral program.
Conjured allows you to launch a "Refer-A-Friend" program quickly and easily. Encourage customers to refer their friends. If their friend buys, your customer gets a discount, and your revenue increases. Discount codes or Gift Cards are created automatically, so there's no need for manual entry.
BLOOP Referral & Loyalty is a comprehensive referral program tool designed for ecommerce brands to enhance word-of-mouth marketing and drive sales. It enables merchants to create customized referral programs that can be shared via email, social media, or unique links, helping to leverage existing customers' networks for new customer acquisition. With features like automated discount codes, performance tracking, and branding customization, BLOOP empowers brands to effectively manage and monitor their referral marketing efforts.
Everything you need to build a better D2C brand, business and tech stack.
