ThirdLove Uses VIP Tiers to Create Lifelong Loyalty

Industry
Lingerie, Fashion
Platform & integrations
Shopify Plus and Emarsys
Challenge
How to get customers to grow with ThirdLove over time and reach new shoppers through referrals
Solution
A VIP program that uses perks (not points!) to build lifelong customer love & advocacy
Results
A VIP system that drove account creation by 400% & generated a 22.3% conversion rate from those who clicked the referral link

ThirdLove has become one of the fastest-growing brands for bras and underwear

Company

ThirdLove is on a mission to upend the lingerie industry, and bra-buyers are paying attention.

The brand’s commitment to diversity — offering half-cup bra sizing and promoting body positivity in their advertising — has helped them dethrone the once dominant Victoria’s Secret.

“The future is building a brand for every woman, regardless of her shape, size, age, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation,” said ThirdLove Co-founder Heidi Zak. Zak and her husband Dave Spector founded ThirdLove in 2013. They now boast a team of 350 employees across three locations in California and Argentina.

From the start, we’ve had a vision for a loyalty program that went beyond points. Yotpo has been a true partner in supporting all of the unique VIP tier benefits and functionality that we wanted our customers to unlock.

Erica Richey

Director of Customer Marketing

400%

Increase

in Account Creation

Challenge

The lingerie industry has a unique problem when it comes to loyalty programs. As Erica Richey, ThirdLove’s Director of Customer Marketing puts it, “You don’t just buy a bra every month. Many people wear a bra for one to two years before they need to make a repeat purchase, so it’s not realistic to expect someone to spend $600 every single year on bras.”

In addition to a better rewards program, ThirdLove also wanted to revamp their referrals program. The existing program was clunky and hard to use: “It involved copy/pasting discount codes, which led to a lot of customer service tickets, and discouraged shoppers from using the program,” Richey said. ThirdLove knew it was imperative to restructure in a more customer-friendly way.

22%

of Triggered Email Revenue

From Loyalty Program Triggers

Solution

ThirdLove leveraged Yotpo to build a tiered VIP program that focused on functional perks to deepen customer relationships. Rather than making customers buy a completely new bra drawer every year in order to retain their status, they built tiers that focused on customers’ lifetime spend.

ThirdLove also implemented a referral experience carefully tailored to encourage repeat referrals. “Our goal with referrals was to keep it simple, deploy the program in the highest quality locations onsite, and make it really easy to share and redeem,” said Richey. The new program allowed customers to refer friends via email and SMS and eliminated the need for coupon codes by allowing referrers to accumulate store credit and redeem it directly at checkout.

Results

Customers were immediately “Hooked.” Within 3 months of launching the program, account creation increased by 400%. Incentivized shoppers began returning to ThirdLove immediately after getting to the “Enthusiast” Tier, where not only would they redeem a free pair of underwear, but they would also add two or three additional items to their cart. Through Yotpo’s integration with Emarsys, loyalty program-related emails soon accounted for 22% of triggered email revenue, almost all of which was incremental.

On the referrals side, customers were sharing the brand effectively, and with the right people. Of those customers who clicked on referral links, 22.3% went on to make purchases. Many of those referred customers also ended up being repeat customers.

When we see customers referring to themselves as Devotees, we know we’ve built a level of affinity and a program that customers are excited to be involved in.

Erica Richey

Director of Customer Marketing

Advice

You need to build a complete marketing strategy around your loyalty program. The program won’t realize its potential without the email marketing as well as the surrounding messaging to keep customers informed.

Erica Richey

Director of Customer Marketing

ThirdLove Uses VIP Tiers to Create Lifelong Loyalty

Company

Challenge

Solution

Results

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