People don’t share products they like. They share products they love.

So when New Republic, a men’s fashion brand, came to us in early 2022, we jumped at the opportunity to help them attribute and amplify their word-of-mouth sales.

Like most e-commerce brands, New Republic is learning to navigate a post iOS-14 world and a rocky economic climate. Whereas some brands have been decimated by the increasingly difficult landscape, New Republic has built enough equity with their customer base by providing high-quality, professional apparel at an affordable price. It’s a recipe for success that can weather a storm.

Bluntly, we don’t believe every brand should seek word-of-mouth as a sales channel (we’ll save that for another blog post).

In this case, it was a no-brainer for us to partner with New Republic for our limited beta and help them capitalize on the brand equity they’ve built over the last 15+ years.

We’re going to pull the curtain and share our successes, failures, and opportunities.

How do New Republic’s customers get a Groupshop?

Following a purchase, a New Republic customer will see two different sections on the Thank You Page, prompting them to either keep shopping at a discount or earn cashback through sharing. They will also receive an e-mail post-purchase with their order summary.

With one-click, customers are taken to their own personalized store with New Republic’s products. It includes their name (Paul’s Groupshop), their recently purchased products, and rewards they can earn from their order. It feels like a customized shopping experience, just for them.

Why (and how) do New Republic’s customers use their Groupshop stores?

Upon landing on their Groupshop store, customers are immediately exposed to their rewards (which New Republic chooses). This is intriguing enough for customers to see what it is and how it works.

See it in action on this IG Post.

Big Stats: New Republic users, on average, spent north of 3 minutes on their Groupshop store over the last month. That means 3 more minutes shopping, sharing and engaging with your brand. 

Customers quickly find out they can earn rewards in one of two ways.

1. Keep shopping at a discount
2. Earn cashback when a friend buys from their store

Other than rewards, customers can curate their Groupshop store by adding their favorite products, which show up as ‘Popular with the Group.’ This new form of product discovery is from friends, not algorithms. 

It’s not shopping—it’s social shopping.

What are the early results from New Republic Utilizing Groupshop? (AKA show us the data!)

I’ve always believed case studies without data is like mashed potatoes without gravy; underwhelming and unfulfilling.

Let’s first highlight a few individual use cases (from real people) then share some of the bigger picture results. 

Sam shared his swag with Simon

Work in marketing long enough and you’ll hear people trust their friends over ads or influencers. Intangibly we can see it, but marketers have always been hard-pressed to attribute recommendations from friends. 

1. Sam bought a pair of shoes for $49.90.
2. Why keep the secret for yourself? Sam shared his Groupshop with Simon who bought a different pair of sneaks, but with 20% off. For his referral, Sam earned some cashback. 
3. Sam 🤝 New Republic 🤝 Simon ➡️ Your classic win-win-win scenario. 

Here’s our scorecard…

• Order Value: $49.90—>$87.33 
• A 75% increase in order value, 1 new customer, and $37.43 in additional revenue. 

Mike bought from his Groupshop store 5 times

We’ve generally talked about Groupshop as a tool that can turn 1 customer into 5.

We may have to alter that after Groupshop converted 1 order into 5, from Mike, who made 4 additional purchases from his Groupshop store.

1. Mike’s first order was $84.
2. All in all, Mike ended up spending $236.25.

Here’s our scorecard…

• Order Value: $84—>$236.25 
• A 281% increase and $152.25 in additional revenue.

How is Groupshop performing for New Republic?

While we are still in limited beta, New Republic has generated an additional $1,697 in revenue over the course of the last month through Groupshop.

That’s an increase of 43% over the prior month, thanks to some conversion rate optimization. 

Customers viewed products 1,154 times. 

There were 45 unique shares.

Customers made 35 purchases. 

All in all, a great start with plenty of room for growth. 

Opportunities for optimization

When we started with New Republic, our post-purchase emails were generating a 3% CTR. Over the last two months, we’ve tripled the click-thru-rate, obsessing over testing and messaging. 

Just recently, New Republic has doubled down on our partnership and included a link in their email flow that makes it easy for New Republic customers to access their Groupshop. 

This has provided a major boost and shows what’s possible when brands recognize and take action on the opportunity word-of-mouth and Groupshop presents.

How your e-Commerce brand wins with WOM

First off, make great products. We can’t do that for you. 

What we can do is simple:

• Increase AOV through upsells 
• Reduce Customer Acquisition Costs by leveraging your customer base and increasing referrals
• Grow revenue
• Further nurture & engage your community by making them partners in your brand
• Be on the forefront of the next great marketing channel, social commerce, expected to grow from $492 billion to $1.2 trillion by 2025. 

‍