How BrandAlley Grew Their Business with a Brand Advocacy Strategy

Today’s retail landscape has fundamentally shifted—the most successful companies aren’t just selling products, they’re creating advocates. BrandAlley’s transformation exemplifies this shift that’s reshaping customer relationships across the industry.

Imagine building your brand not just by advertising to customers, but by having customers themselves spread the word for you. That’s precisely the shift BrandAlley made—transitioning from traditional marketing tactics to a powerful brand advocacy strategy. 

This online fashion retailer significantly boosted its revenue and customer engagement by harnessing customer loyalty, AI-driven technology, and precise data insights. 

Below, we explore how BrandAlley embarked on this journey, the impact of advanced partnerships such as SAP Emarsys customer engagement, and the tangible results of focusing on advocacy as a driving force for sustainable growth. Let’s dive in.

BrandAlley has successfully leveraged brand advocacy to drive remarkable growth and customer engagement. BrandAlley’s journey to success began with a fundamental shift in perspective on their customers and the impressive fact that 70% keep returning for more. 50% of them buy instantly, purchasing an average of three items, or £140.

This approach attracted a loyal base—but BrandAlley recognized that true expansion depended on leveraging customer advocacy. Placing satisfied shoppers at the center of the marketing conversation would amplify trust and attract new, high-value clientele.

This approach has allowed BrandAlley to attract a loyal customer base, but the company recognized that true growth lies in harnessing customer advocacy’s power.

Redefining customer value

BrandAlley adopted a new lens to identify its best customers, pivoting from viewing top spenders as the only “VIPs” to focusing on those who actively promote the brand. Hurney explains:

They began harnessing immense, organic potential beyond individual purchases by zeroing in on true brand advocates—people who champion BrandAlley to their networks.

How advanced customer advocacy works

For brands looking to harness advocacy at scale, advanced solutions merge first-party data with AI-driven analytics. SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement unifies user interactions—purchases, site visits, loyalty programs, even social mentions—into a single profile. 

By tapping into this real-time data, marketers can quickly identify top brand champions, automate relevant perks or feedback requests, and continually optimize their advocacy funnel. 

The result? A dynamic ecosystem where customers feel recognized, engaged, and motivated to share their positive experiences—fueling ongoing organic growth.

Word-of-mouth remains one of the most effective acquisition channels, with referred customers typically exhibiting higher engagement and loyalty. 

BrandAlley capitalized on this, realizing that satisfied fans become an unstoppable promotional engine, sharing their favorite deals and experiences organically. 

How word-of-mouth marketing works

When a happy customer shares a recommendation—whether through social posts, direct referrals, or in-person conversations—it carries a level of credibility that paid ads simply can’t match. 

This trust factor makes potential buyers more likely to investigate and purchase for themselves. On BrandAlley’s platform, these organic endorsements often manifest as referrals, product reviews, or social chatter around new deals and campaigns.

A well-executed word-of-mouth strategy can also create a feedback loop: the more satisfied shoppers talk about your brand, the more curious prospects discover it, reinforcing the organic growth cycle. 

By actively encouraging customers to share their positive experiences, BrandAlley effectively turned loyal fans into brand advocates—lowering acquisition costs and boosting retention.

To maximize the potential of customer advocacy, BrandAlley partnered with Mention Me, leveraging their Customer Advocacy Intelligence platform. This advanced AI technology allowed BrandAlley to track and gain detailed insights into customers’ advocacy behaviors.

How the AI-driven approach works

• Behavioral tracking: Mention Me’s AI automatically detects referral events (e.g., sharing discount codes with friends or family), capturing the channels used (email, social media, personal messaging) and the frequency of each advocate’s activity.
  
• Centralized customer data: Integrating with SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement, these insights merge with BrandAlley’s unified customer profiles—highlighting top advocates’ purchase patterns, loyalty status, and engagement history in a single view.
  
• Segmentation & personalization: AI-driven segmentation reveals the most influential advocates (regarding referrals or conversions), allowing BrandAlley to tailor perks or exclusive content based on each advocate’s impact. Personalized outreach (e.g., a “thank you” discount or early event access) further encourages them to keep spreading the word.
  
• Automated triggers: Real-time triggers let BrandAlley serve relevant messages at pivotal moments—right after a successful referral, for example, or when a new user completes their first purchase. This immediate feedback loop maintains advocate enthusiasm and sustains momentum.

Tips for implementation

Having observed numerous advocacy implementations, I’ve found organizational alignment is just as critical as the technology. Success requires executive sponsorship that communicates strategic importance, cross-functional alignment across departments, and employee engagement with the program. As a result, the most effective advocacy initiatives build internal champions before seeking external ones—when your team believes in the approach, that enthusiasm naturally extends to customers.

• Start with clear advocacy goals: Define what success looks like (e.g., more first-time buyers, higher average order value, expanded brand awareness) and measure your program’s effectiveness against these specific KPIs.
  
• Align your tech stack: Ensure the advocacy platform integrates seamlessly with your existing tools—like SAP Emarsys Technology Integrations—for unified data handling. Fragmented systems hinder real-time personalization and campaign orchestration.
  
• Reward advocates meaningfully: Tailor incentives (exclusive offers, VIP experiences) to resonate with your audience. A small gesture of appreciation often fosters deeper loyalty than generic coupons.
  
• Iterate & optimize: Track which referral channels and reward structures work best. Continue refining the approach, using AI insights to spotlight new opportunities or adjust messaging for maximum impact.

By combining advanced AI tools with strategic segmentation, personalized incentives, and seamless data integration, BrandAlley effectively scaled its advocacy program—turning enthusiastic customers into vocal brand champions while keeping acquisition costs in check.

As previously mentioned, BrandAlley integrated Mention Me’s platform with SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement. This synergy allowed BrandAlley to quickly build personalized campaigns that motivate fans to share and recommend more often. The streamlined data flow meant each advocate’s actions triggered timely outreach and relevant offers—further fueling the advocacy loop. 

What makes the SAP Emarsys platform particularly effective for advocacy strategies is its purpose-built retail data model that understands shopping behavior nuances across channels, combined with its robust ecosystem of pre-built integrations with advocacy platforms like Mention Me. This creates a foundation for sustained advocacy growth rather than just short-term tactical wins, allowing retailers to build upon success incrementally.

Measurable results

The implementation of these AI-driven advocacy strategies yielded impressive results:

• 25% increase in repeat purchase rate
• 12% more customers acquired organically through referrals
• £9.6 million increase in new customer revenue
• Referred customers spend 63% more in their first six months
• Referred customers are two times more likely to purchase again
• Referred customers are three times more likely to refer their friends

Additionally, BrandAlley uses the concept of Extended Customer Revenue to understand the true value of its customers. This approach considers not just individual customer spending, but also the value generated through referrals and recommendations. The company found that customers who refer are worth 4.5 times more to the brand than those who don’t.

Leveraging predictive marketing

BrandAlley’s achievements weren’t limited to advocacy alone. They also embraced predictive marketing, using AI to anticipate user needs. Their progress from “traditional marketing” to “AI-driven personalization,” enabling them to:

• Automatically surface tailored product recommendations to individuals based on browsing history and past purchases.
  
• Identify which segments respond best to certain promotions, refining marketing spend for maximum impact.

By blending machine learning algorithms and AI-driven insights into their e-commerce workflows, BrandAlley dramatically increased shopper engagement. 

This personalization approach triggered a 10% jump in average basket value, as relevant items and timely prompts nudged shoppers to add more to their carts.

Dynamic product recommendations

Another cornerstone of BrandAlley’s strategy was dynamic product recommendations informed by real-time market trends. Adapting fast to consumer demand—like focusing on home/garden categories during certain seasons—helped drive category revenue surges. This agility underscores the importance of constant monitoring and data-driven pivots.

In addition to leveraging advocacy and predictive marketing, BrandAlley continuously refines its email marketing approach to sustain high deliverability and drive conversion. By partnering with SAP Emarsys AI email marketing and Validity, the retailer improved email reach significantly—maintaining a Sender Score consistently between 99 and 100. This robust sender reputation opened the door to higher open rates, more click-throughs, and meaningful revenue uplift.

How SAP Emarsys AI-driven email complements validity

• Unified customer profiles: With data from SAP Emarsys feeding into email campaigns, BrandAlley can better segment, automate, and personalize. This ensures every email reflects a user’s latest browsing or purchase history, improving relevance and engagement.
  
• Real-time adaptation: SAP Emarsys’ AI monitors live campaign performance—such as open rates or bounce spikes—and adjusts messaging or content accordingly, while Validity safeguards deliverability.
  
• Higher engagement, lower churn: Clear, consistent messaging keeps subscribers active. Combined with Validity’s hygiene checks and Emarsys’s personalization triggers, BrandAlley sees fewer unsubscribes and more satisfied recipients.

Result: By pairing Validity’s deliverability insights with AI-driven email marketing from SAP Emarsys, BrandAlley turned their subscriber list into a formidable revenue driver—Learn more on how this was achieved. 

High-quality sends boost conversions and reinforce brand advocacy—customers who consistently receive relevant messages are more likely to shop again and spread the word about their positive experiences.

Looking ahead, I see three key trends shaping advocacy programs in retail:

1. The integration of social commerce directly into advocacy platforms, creating seamless paths from recommendation to purchase.
2. Advanced predictive modeling that identifies potential advocates earlier in the customer lifecycle
3. Enhanced measurement frameworks that more accurately capture advocacy’s full business impact.

For retailers evaluating their advocacy strategies, the time to act is now—the competitive advantage of authentic customer advocacy compounds over time.

BrandAlley’s success story demonstrates the power of brand advocacy in driving business growth. By leveraging AI-driven personalization, predictive marketing, and customer advocacy intelligence, BrandAlley has transformed its approach to customer relationships and achieved remarkable results. 

The company’s focus on identifying and nurturing brand advocates and its use of advanced technologies has significantly increased customer acquisition, retention, and revenue.

As the marketing landscape continues to evolve, BrandAlley’s strategy is a compelling example of how businesses can harness the power of customer advocacy to fuel growth and success. 

By placing customers at the center of their strategy and leveraging advanced technologies, companies can create a loyal base of brand advocates who contribute to revenue growth and play a crucial role in attracting new customers and driving long-term success. 

Discover how SAP Emarsys Customer Loyalty and solutions can enhance your brand’s advocacy and so much more.