logo
Solution
How it works
Features
Use Cases
InfluencerCandy
Pricing
Partners
Agencies
Affiliates
Become a Partner
Resources
Blog
Case Studies
Guides
The Ultimate Referral Playbook
Referral Program Checklist
Help Articles
Contact Us

Latest from blog

See all posts

What is a Referral Code and How Can You Use it for Your Ecommerce Business

Read more

How Agencies Can Improve Their Clients' Net Profits Using Referral Marketing

Read more

Everything You Need to Know About Referral Tracking (& Free Template)

Read more
  • Login
  • Sign Up Free
Product
How it works
Features
Use Cases
Influencer Candy
Pricing
Partners
Agencies
Affiliates
Become a Partner
Resources
Blog
Case Studies
Guides
The Ultimate Referral Playbook
Help Articles
Contact Us

Latest from blog

What is a Referral Code and How Can You Use it for Your Ecommerce Business

Read more

How Agencies Can Improve Their Clients' Net Profits Using Referral Marketing

Read more

Everything You Need to Know About Referral Tracking (& Free Template)

Read more
← Back to blog

Supplements Referral Program Example: Powder City

2019 marketing dates
Case Studies
Referral Marketing
May 26, 2015
Visakan Veerasamy
Supplements Referral Program Example: Powder City

In this article

Example H2
Example H3

In this article

Example H2
Example H3

We had a chance to speak to Nathan Smeltzer, the owner of Powder City. We chatted about the company, their challenges and their experience with referral marketing.

Powder City is an ecommerce store for health supplements.

They sell all sorts of supplements, with categories including "Nootropics", "Energy", "Relaxation", "Pre-workout" and more.

powder-city-landing-page

They have a team of about 40 people, most of them involved with warehousing, fulfilment and manufacturing.

The rest of the team is the office, working on marketing, legal, finance and so on.

Like all supplement stores, Powder City faces logistical and regulatory challenges.

Managing the lead times of importing products from overseas can be tough. But that's something tonnes of ecommerce merchants have to learn to deal with.

What's unique about Powder City is that they operate in a relatively new, unregulated market.

This has a couple of implications:

  1. The team always has to be on their toes for any new FDA announcements or regulations that might affect their products.
  2. Without regulations, Powder City has to do their own quality control. They hired an in-house advisor with a chemistry background to help vet product quality, and they also do 3rd party lab testing.

What's it like doing marketing for a supplement store like Powder City?

  1. PPC is not an option. PPC for the weight loss and supplements categories are highly saturated already, so any terms they purchase would either be too expensive or too limited.
  2. Organic SEO helps. Powder City leans heavily on organic SEO with blogposts and the like. They also buy up other websites (blogs, content sites) in order to keep building traffic.
  3. Content has to be conservative. Powder City's product pages read almost like scientific journals. They play it safe to stay on good side of the FDA. While this might impact conversions, Powder City prefers to be conservative in this area.

Why referral marketing? Trust.

Nobody's going to risk their health by consuming supplements from companies they've never heard of.

Customer referrals allow Powder City to build credibility with potential customers– we're far likelier to try something if a trusted friend says they're satisfied with the experience.

powdercity-referrals
Powder City sends referral emails to its customers only after they've made a purchase.

‍

Powder City does also do affiliate marketing, and that works for them. However, ‘not everyone has a high traffic blog or a big social media presence’ and ‘people have to know HTML’.

So there are naturally many "missed referrals".

Referral marketing allows everybody to be a "micro-affiliate"– when it's so easy to share and get rewarded for sharing, more people do it.

How did Powder City choose ReferralCandy?

"We searched on the Shopify app store and found you guys. Gave it a shot, worked seamlessly, saw that it worked, so we stuck with it."

shopify-app-store-referralcandy
ReferralCandy on the Shopify app store.

‍

"Can you tell us about how you set up the incentives in your referral program?"

  • Friend Offer: 10% off – This is consistent with the standard discount they give in other cases.
  • Referral Reward: 6% cash reward – They initially gave 3% as a cash reward to advocates, and then later doubled that to 6%. This gave them a notable spike in their referral rates.

"What do you like about ReferralCandy?"

“I would rate ReferralCandy 10/10 - I really have to take a while to think about what I would improve." – Nathan Smeltzer, Powder City owner

  • High ROI: "I’m barely in the app. It’s so easy to use. It’s the least labor intensive marketing task that we have. It runs itself. For virtually no labor, I get so many sales - at least $10k this month.”
  • Helps provide a great customer experience: “It’s so easy for the customer. It’s easy to share their referral links, it’s easy to collect them. Nobody needs to set up a website. It just works, and I get sales.”
  • Helps build customer relationships: “I like that you can see when customers post links on social networks."

_____

Looking for a referral program example from another industry or vertical? Check out our Epic List of 47 Referral Programs!

Share this article on
Visakan Veerasamy

Visa is ReferralCandy's former Blog Editor [2013–2018]. He also co-founded Statement.sg, a fashion ecommerce label selling witty t-shirts. He's mildly Internet-famous for his elaborate Twitter threads. He hopes to enjoy a glass of scotch onboard a commercial space flight someday.

Share this article on
  • View all posts

Valuable tips
delivered to your
inbox monthly.

Thanks for signing up to our newsletter!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form. Please try again!
You may also like

What is a Referral Code and How Can You Use it for Your Ecommerce Business

How Agencies Can Improve Their Clients' Net Profits Using Referral Marketing

Everything You Need to Know About Referral Tracking (& Free Template)

© 2022 All rights reserved.
ReferralCandy is a product of Anafore Pte. Ltd
(Reg. no: 200903073C).

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Bytes of Candy

ReferralCandy

  • How It Works
  • Pricing
  • Blog
  • Setup Guide
  • Case Study

Partners

  • ReferralCandy for Agencies
  • Partner with Us
  • Affiliates

Resources

  • Ultimate Referral Playbook
  • Best Practices and Guides
  • Support Center
  • API

Company

  • About Us
  • Jobs
  • Contact Us
  • InfluencerCandy

Most Popular Posts

  • How to Build a Referral Program That Works in 2022 (With 80+ Examples)
  • How to Choose Referral Program Incentives (With Examples)
  • 22 Successful Shopify Referral Program Examples
  • The Ultimate Referral Widget Guide to Improve Referrals
  • 45 Best Shopify Apps That Increase Sales
  • Here’s What Great Referral Email Campaigns Look Like
  • 20 Examples of Beautiful Referral Email Design
  • 10 Small Business Referral Program Examples
  • How to Set Up a Referral Program for Your Ecommerce Store in 6 Steps
Cookies with the candy
By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the use of cookies to enhance your browsing experience and to analyze the site traffic.
AcceptDecline