5 Reasons Customer Advocacy Should Be Your Next Growth Strategy

In a world where customer acquisition costs are rising and loyalty is harder than ever to earn, one group is quietly driving the most powerful—and profitable—growth: your advocates.

These aren’t just your best spenders. They’re the customers who recommend you to friends, share their experiences online, and help build trust that no ad campaign can replicate. And with the right tools, you can identify them, activate them, and scale their impact.

That’s exactly what Huel—a global nutrition brand—and Mention Me have done in partnership with SAP Emarsys. The result? Sustainable, cost-effective growth that starts from within.

In this article, we’ll show you why advocacy is becoming a core growth engine for top brands—and how you can harness it in five key areas.

Customers today are harder to convince. They’ve seen every offer, every ad, every social post. But one thing still cuts through the noise: a recommendation from someone they trust.

That’s why advocacy marketing is outperforming traditional channels—because it’s powered by real people and real experiences. Whether it’s a friend sharing a referral code or a customer posting about their latest purchase, authentic voices carry credibility that branded content can’t match.

📊 According to the SAP Emarsys Customer Loyalty Index 2024, 52% of consumers have switched brands due to a bad experience—and 57% due to cost. Loyalty is fragile. Advocacy earns trust back.

How Huel turned happy customers into powerful advocates

From the start, Huel’s strategy has focused on customer obsession. But with help from Mention Me, they took things further—activating existing fans and tracking their influence through referral data.

Rather than rely on costly paid channels, they empowered loyal customers to drive growth organically. One simple insight changed everything: people who joined through referrals were 3.5x more likely to refer others, creating a flywheel effect.

Here’s how to put this into play:

• Enable sharing in real life: Use tools like Mention Me’s “Name Share,” which lets advocates refer friends just by telling them to use their name at checkout.
• Celebrate customer stories: Feature authentic voices in emails, product pages, and loyalty communications.
• Unify your data: Platforms like SAP Emarsys help you track, segment, and activate your most valuable customer advocates across every channel.

Marketers everywhere are being asked to do more with less—less budget, less time, and fewer resources. But while paid media costs continue to rise, the most effective growth may already exist in your database.

Advocacy-driven acquisition doesn’t just reduce cost per acquisition (CPA). It attracts higher-quality customers, who are more likely to stick around—and more likely to refer others. That means growth becomes self-reinforcing, not dependent on media spend.

Huel’s referral results: Growth without paid spend

Since launching their referral program with Mention Me, Huel has:

• Grown referral-driven new customers from 10% to nearly 20%
• Identified and activated a new segment of high-value advocates
• Set a target for 27% of new customers to come from referrals in the next 12 months
  

Behind that growth is a test-and-learn mindset. By refining incentives, creative, and targeting using Mention Me’s insights and SAP Emarsys data, Huel has optimized referral performance—without touching their paid media budget.

Huel’s referral results: Growth without paid spend

Since launching their referral program with Mention Me, Huel has:

• Grown referral-driven new customers from 10% to nearly 20%
• Identified and activated a new segment of high-value advocates
• Set a target for 27% of new customers to come from referrals in the next 12 months
  

Behind that growth is a test-and-learn mindset. By refining incentives, creative, and targeting using Mention Me’s insights and SAP Emarsys data, Huel has optimized referral performance—without touching their paid media budget.

Ways to tap into low-cost, high-value advocacy include:

• Launch a referral program: Start simple, but test different incentives based on your audience.
• Track Extended Customer Revenue (ECR): Combine direct spend with referred revenue to see who’s really driving value.
  Integrate with Emarsys: Use advocacy data as a new layer in your CRM strategy—triggering personalized journeys for your top advocates.

💡 Tip: Referrers aren’t always your top spenders. Huel discovered that many of their most impactful advocates had modest order values—but drove huge indirect revenue.

Traditionally, marketers segment customers based on how much they spend—recency, frequency, and monetary value. But that lens can miss your most powerful growth drivers: the people bringing new customers to your brand.

That’s where Extended Customer Revenue (ECR) comes in. It combines a customer’s direct revenue with the revenue they generate by referring others. When you measure ECR, the picture changes—dramatically.

From overlooked to VIP: How ECR reshaped Huel’s segmentation

Before using advocacy data, Huel focused their CRM strategy on top spenders. But after analyzing ECR, they uncovered entire segments of high-impact advocates who weren’t spending much—but were generating significant revenue through referrals.

• These “hidden gems” were flying under the radar.
• Many had been considered inactive or low-priority.
• But with ECR, they emerged as key drivers of growth—and got the recognition and nurturing they deserved.

This new segmentation layer unlocked more meaningful CRM strategies: targeting advocates with early product access, personalized gifting, or tailored loyalty experiences.

📊 Customers acquired via referral were 3.5x more likely to refer others—creating exponential growth and lasting loyalty.

Ways to use ECR in your strategy include:

• Add ECR to your customer scoring model: Move beyond LTV and see who’s really influencing revenue.
• Create dedicated journeys for advocates: Don’t treat them like everyone else—use Emarsys to trigger unique messages, offers, and experiences.
• Refine your segmentation: Layer advocacy behavior on top of demographic and purchase data to unlock new segments, just like Huel did.

💡 Insight: Without ECR, you’re only seeing half the picture. With it, you can prioritize the customers who bring value beyond their own wallet.

Most brands rely on small internal QA teams or surveys to gather product feedback. But your advocates—the customers who already love your brand—can offer something far more powerful: real-world, unsolicited insights at scale.

These loyal customers are often the first to try new products, spot bugs, suggest improvements, and share unfiltered opinions. And because they’re emotionally invested, they’re motivated to help you improve.

How Huel uses advocacy to fuel smarter launches

When launching their Black Edition Ready-to-Drink product, Huel didn’t just target big spenders. Instead, they used advocacy data + behavioral insights to identify a segment of customers most likely to purchase and refer.

They sent those customers a free product pack—no strings attached—and let their advocates do the talking.

The results?

• 150% increase in social shares, including unexpected traction on LinkedIn
• 280% uplift in positive customer service messages
• 25% of recipients went on to refer the product to others

Here’s how to put that in action:

• Run exclusive beta tests: Let advocates try new products first—and share honest feedback.
• Use ECR to choose testers: Focus on customers likely to amplify, not just convert.
  Reward engagement, not just spend: Recognition builds loyalty—and generates more feedback loops.

💡 Bonus tip: Use Emarsys + Mention Me to track not only purchases, but the ripple effect of those purchases—who shares, who engages, and how it impacts future campaigns.

Products can be copied. Prices can be matched. But the trust you earn from your most loyal customers—the kind that leads to public praise, personal recommendations, and emotional connection—is nearly impossible to replicate.

That’s what makes customer advocacy a long-term advantage. It creates resilience during tough times and fuels growth during good ones. And unlike paid media or seasonal offers, it only gets stronger the more you nurture it.

Advocacy makes brands more resilient and more relatable

Loyal advocates do more than just refer others:

• They defend your brand during PR challenges.
• They create social proof when you launch something new.
• They even help you recruit talent by showcasing your customer-first culture.
  

It’s not just about growth. It’s about brand health, reputation, and longevity.

At Huel, advocacy is now baked into product launches, campaign planning, and customer journeys. With SAP Emarsys and Mention Me, they’ve built a system that consistently identifies, engages, and rewards top advocates—automatically.

Ways to turn advocacy into a moat:

• Recognize and reward top advocates: Offer early access, VIP experiences, or just a simple thank-you.
• Embed advocacy into your culture: Let customer champions be part of campaigns, feedback loops, or even product naming.
• Measure what matters: Use ECR to understand who your real brand builders are—and treat them accordingly.

💡 Insight: A loyal customer buys again. An advocate brings their friends. That’s the difference between repeat business—and exponential growth.

Sustainable growth doesn’t come from spending more. It comes from activating what you already have. 

Your happiest customers aren’t just buyers. They’re marketers, influencers, feedback providers, and brand builders. When you identify, engage, and reward them, you unlock a growth engine that’s more authentic, more cost-effective, and more scalable than any paid campaign.

That’s exactly what Huel has done with Emarsys and Mention Me:

• ✅ Acquired high-quality customers through referral
• ✅ Unlocked hidden value using Extended Customer Revenue (ECR)
• ✅ Turned product launches into social movements
• ✅ Built a competitive advantage rooted in trust

You can do the same—starting with a single question:

Who are your advocates, and what are you doing to empower them?

Ready to turn advocacy into your most powerful growth channel?

SAP Emarsys and Mention Me help you identify your advocates, personalize their experience, and scale their impact—automatically.

👉 Book a demo to see how you can grow faster with advocacy-first marketing.