How Rewards Influenced $200K+ in 1 Year for Rad Rev

Nothing says adventure more than being out in nature, whether in the ocean, a lake, or on a mountain. Rad Revolution (Rad Rev) is a bag shop that offers adventure, travel, wallet, and mini handbags all designed by entrepreneur Mallory Boren from the scenic lake Mallory lives on in Washington State. Rad Rev was born out of Mallory's search for high-quality, gender-neutral baby items, which led her to design bags of all types. 

The Challenge: Keeping the community you built engaged

Rad Rev launches new bags every Monday, keeping its customers excited for new product drops every week. Rad Rev has built a strong community with more than 235,000 Instagram followers and almost 5,000 members in their private Facebook Group.

The challenge with building a large community is continuously engaging with your members and incentivizing them to keep being a part of your community. Mallory wanted to entice customers to not only continue shopping but also attract and refer their friends and network to shop with Rad Rev. 

“Instead of offering codes to new customers, try rewarding the customers you already have,” Mallory says. Which became the thought behind introducing Rad Rewards to its customers.

The Solution: Incentivizing customers with rewards

With a large community across platforms, adding a loyalty and referral program was a natural fit for Mallory. 

“In my Facebook group, I can see them talking about saving up their points to splurge on something they may not have bought without the code. It has driven up my sales while also allowing me to give back to my supporters,” Mallory continues.

Rad Rev’s Rad Rewards offers customers 5 points for every $1 spent, as well as 200 points for celebrating a birthday and 50 points for Instagram and Facebook follows. Points can be redeemed for a discount between $5 - $20 off an order. Referred customers can earn $5 off on their first purchase. Rad Rev introduced a VIP Program to place customers further into different tiers for additional rewards. Customers in its highest tier can earn up to 50% off Rad Rev’s products.

The Outcome: 96% YoY growth in loyalty-generated value 

Compared with its loyalty program launch in 2022 to 2023, Rad Rev Rewards had a 96% increase in year-over-year growth in value generated by Smile.io This can be partially attributed to its redemption rate of 49%, well above the industry average of 13%. Customers are actively engaged in the rewards and VIP program and find value in the types of rewards they can earn. 

“I always tell people I have the best community. The kindest and most thoughtful group of (mainly) women who are badass and just genuine human beings,” says Mallory. “Once my customers buy a bag, they tend to buy them in every size and style.” Rad Rev knew its customers, what would interest them from a rewards perspective, and how to get them to come back and shop.

One key area that signaled its program’s success to Rad Rev was its repeat redeemers versus first-time redeemers metrics. A high proportion of repeat redeemers signals to any ecommerce store that customers are returning for repeat purchases and engaging in your loyalty program over time. 

The average 3-month ratio of repeat redeemers to first-time redeemers for Rad Rev was 78.38% vs 21.61%. People return to shop and spend points they earned over multiple purchases.

Knowing when to implement a loyalty and rewards program is key for every ecommerce business. But when you do, you can see the full outcome of a well-designed and intentional loyalty program that makes customers feel valued. With a growing community across multiple platforms and channels, Rad Rev harnesses the power of community by connecting them all through its loyalty program. Which has translated into repeat purchases, a high ROI on its loyalty program and an increase in growth.