Department store retailerÂ’s customer recommendation campaign reaches 1.5 million social media users

Department store retailer’s customer recommendation campaign reaches 1.5 million social media users

Debenhams, the department store group, has reached almost 1.5 million consumers via social media channels, it has announced.

It recently reached this milestone following the introduction of the GoRecommend programme from customer experience management expert InMoment last year.

The application encourages customers to become advocates of the Debenhams brand by promoting positive retail experiences via social media channels using an automated referral process. To date, Debenhams has acquired more than 12,000 brand advocates who in turn have made recommendations to over 1.5 million friends and followers.

Incentivising band advocacy

Kate Whittaker, Debenhams strategy manager, said: “Late last year we decided to include a coupon voucher with every recommendation made by an advocate. During the two-week promotion, advocates delivered the voucher to their friends and followers on social media via GoRecommend. From those advocates, Debenhams received thousands of redemptions and sales.”

After customers complete a retail experience survey, the GoRecommend engine prompts those who were happy with their experience to make an online recommendation on Facebook, Twitter or email. The results generate a significant number of positive brand impressions, as the location-specific content can automatically appear on both a brand’s Facebook fan page, and a user’s profile page.

Gary Topiol, InMoment (formerly Empathica) managing director in Europe, Middle East and Africa, added: “The cost of reaching this number of people using conventional marketing would be significantly higher and less trusted by consumers than the results we achieved by leveraging genuine, personal customer recommendations via social media.”