"The Friendbuy experience is honest, it’s efficient, and it continues to evolve to meet our needs. With a partner this good,there’s no need to look anywhere else."
Rich Krolikowski
Growth Marketing Manager, eCommerce
Marketed as the ‘Peloton for weight training,’ Tonal muscled its way into the home fitness scene in late 2018 and soon took the U.S. by storm. The business grew quickly due to high interest and consumer demand—and in the midst of that demand, customers wanted a referral program.
Growth Marketing Manager Rich Krolikowski realized that referrals were necessary to drive growth and that many of Tonal’s customers expected a referral program. Rich also knew that referrals would bolster sales year-round, which otherwise tended to spike during the holiday season and slow down the rest of the year.
But achieving a top-notch execution was a challenge. Rich had onboarded referral solutions in the past, and he’d seen how a poor referral implementation could frustrate users. Furthermore, his scrappy marketing team was singularly focused on their existing initiatives to grow the young business; developing an in-house referral system was simply out of scope.
Rich needed a robust, yet turnkey solution. He needed Friendbuy.
“When I measured out the time and effort required to build a referral solution in house, I realized that nothing we could build within our target timeframe would come close to what we wanted. Choosing Friendbuy became an easy decision after that.”
Friendbuy worked closely with Tonal to create a unique referral implementation to meet their needs. According to Rich, onboarding and implementation went incredibly—unbelievably—smoothly.
Tonal’s team worked closely with their Friendbuy Customer Success Manager to design the referral program: customers who refer a friend get $50 to spend in the Tonal Gear Shop, and the referred friend gets $100 off of Tonal. They gated the referral offer so that only customers who had the Tonal mobile app could send referrals, thereby reducing the potential for referral fraud.
Best of all, Friendbuy’s flexible platform and APIs make it easy for Tonal’s team to manage their referral program as the brand scales, without sacrificing customizability. Whenever Tonal wants to change their referral offer, all it takes is a few clicks.
To date, approximately 10% of Tonal’s customers have used the referral program, and this number continues to grow.
“The dashboard is awesome, support has been stellar, and their APIs make the experience customizable and flexible. We launched it through the app and quickly had transparency
around successful referrals. It’s a no-brainer.
Referrals are currently one of the most powerful sales tools in Tonal’s arsenal. The Friendbuy-powered referral program currently has a 500% higher conversion rate compared to other channels.
It drives up to 7% of monthly revenue and that number is still growing month after month. This translates to millions of dollars in referral sales over the course of a year.
Other businesses are struggling to market products to customers who are pinching pennies during these uncertain times. Meanwhile, Tonal is turning happy customers into brand advocates—and using referrals to bring in a steady stream of new people who are primed and ready to convert.
“Our customers wanted a referral program. Given our price point and category, it’s not surprising that conversion rates in most channels trend lower, but the Friendbuy conversion rate is impressively high.”
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