A curated lifestyle subscription box was facing increasing churn rates as the market became saturated. They needed a strategy to improve retention while growing acquisition through word-of-mouth.
Monthly churn rate of 12% eroding growth and profitability
High acquisition cost of $45 with 4-month average customer lifetime
Commoditized market with low switching costs for subscribers
Limited budget for traditional advertising to scale acquisition
Designed hybrid program combining referral incentives with traditional affiliate partnerships
Created tiered reward structure giving subscribers credits for referrals and retention milestones
Implemented Rewardful with custom retention logic tied to billing cycles
Built gamification elements encouraging sharing and long-term subscription
Integrated deeply with Intercom for automated engagement and share prompts
Launched VIP tier for high-referring subscribers with exclusive perks
Reduced monthly churn from 12% to 7.8% (35% reduction)
Referred customers showed 2.1x higher lifetime value than paid acquisition
18% of active subscribers made at least one successful referral
Achieved viral coefficient of 0.74, approaching self-sustaining growth
Referral program now drives 42% of new subscriber acquisition
Reduced customer acquisition cost by 38% while improving cohort quality
The referral program turned our subscribers into advocates. Not only are we acquiring customers for less, but they're staying longer because they're personally invested in sharing something they love.
Let's discuss how we can help you build a high-ROI affiliate program.
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