It’s easy to give a prize to one lucky fan but there is an even bigger incentive when all of your fans can benefit. Rent the Runway has tried both methods to increase their fans and reward their customers. They share the secret to their Facebook fan success.
Rent the Runway (RTR) is a membership-only designer rental company where women can rent dresses and accessories from over 100 designers and brands starting at $40 and $10 for accessories.
In April of 2010 they did a promotion when they hit the 5,000 fan mark. Customers had to post the story behind a recent dress rental to win a $100 gift card toward their next dress rental. This promotion increased fans but also provided user generated content. Other customers could see how other woman, as opposed to models, looked in the dresses. (Full disclosure: I was the winner of this promotion. I’m not only a super fan of RTR but a regular customer).
“It’s also a great way to engage existing members and customers in our facebook fan community which is a fun extension of the Rent the Runway site and enables users to constantly share their Rent the Runway photos and experiences, styling tips, and fun fashion finds,” says co-founder Jenny Fleiss.
For the next promotion to increase fans RTR took a risk. When you offer a discount for everyone it can cut in to your profit margins but gaining a new loyal customer can be worth the trade off. So at the 25,000 fan mark they offered their next promotion.
“We did as a test to reach 25,000 fans,” explains Fleiss. “We encouraged our existing fan base to have their friends become fans of the Rent the Runway page, with the incentive being a surprise promotion at the end of the day. We offered a 25% discount and saw a huge boost in rentals. ” They got about 1,000 new fans.
The test was a success so they decided to do it again and increase the reward for customers. On Friday May 13, they offered $5 off for every 500 fans added. If you watched the Facebook page that day you could see the anticipation growing. Every time another 500 fans were added RTR would post a message encouraging fans to share the love of RTR with others and get a bigger discount. Customers had until 5pm to get their friends to like RTR and then the discount would be announced.
“We gained approximately 3,000 new fans with over 200 placing an order,” says co-founder Jennifer Hyman. “We love to offer our Facebook community exclusive offers as they tend to be some of our most loyal customers who are helping build Rent the Runway brand awareness.”
Adds Fleiss, “Giving back to our community with credits that let people have more RTR experiences is our idea of a perfect contest.”
For more on our 2010 – 30 Under 30 honoree Rent the Runway check out Inc.com.
