Customer Acquisition: Social Customer Acquisition Plan Yields Strong Results for Vintage Marquee Lights

Vintage Marquee Lights (VML), a Myrtle Beach, S.C.-based retailer of marquee lights available in letters, numbers and symbols, converted its website visitors into Facebook fans and brand ambassadors as well as drove customer acquisition thanks to a social commerce program it implemented this past spring.

The program used two apps, Get-a-Fan and Social Connect, from app platform provider ShopSocially. The Get-A-Fan app enabled VML to convert website visitors into Facebook fans. Users were offered a 20 percent off coupon when they became Facebook fans of VML. According to VML, 22.7 percent of users who were shown this app during the campaign — which ran from March to May — converted into Facebook fans.

To drive further engagement with VML, users were also offered a 25 percent off coupon via the Social Connect app. Users connected with VML through this app, sharing social profile information such as age, gender, location, likes and friend information. The entire interaction happened on VML's website, with users never having to leave the site.

Thousands of users connected with VML during the campaign. These users then created Facebook posts endorsing VML products as well as its brand. VML saw high clickthrough rates from these social posts, which drove word-of-mouth promotion for the brand. In fact, one shopper's post generated 83 referral clicks to VML's website. Fans’ social posts generated quality referral traffic that converted well on VML's website.

"Through Facebook referrals, this program acted as a customer acquisition tool for VML," said Jerrad Green, owner of VML.