Based on our April 2021 interview with Bolden’s founders.
Bolden’s customers were already coming back and telling their friends. For the skincare brand, those recommendations were an important part of how the business grew.
Founders Chinelo Chidozie and Ndidi Obidoa saw an opportunity to encourage more of that sharing. In their 2021 interview with ReferralCandy, they explained why a referral incentive could help them build on the trust their customers already had in the brand.
About Bolden
The idea for Bolden began with a problem Chidozie experienced on vacation in Florida: sunscreen that left a visible white cast on her skin.
She and Obidoa set out to create skincare for women of color. Their Brightening Moisturizer combined a moisturizer and sunscreen formulated for darker skin tones, addressing a need the founders understood firsthand.
“We use our own products,” Chidozie explained. “We are our own customers.”
The challenge: Acquiring customers as advertising costs rose
Early press coverage helped introduce Bolden to new customers. The team also used Facebook and Instagram, working with influencers and bloggers and testing paid advertising.
Advertising was profitable, but acquiring customers was becoming more expensive. As Chidozie put it: “But in terms of cost of customer acquisition, it is going up.”
Performance could also be difficult to predict. An ad that worked a few months earlier might stop working, leaving the team to figure out what had changed. They kept experimenting with content and messaging for customers at different stages of getting to know the brand.
Why word of mouth mattered to Bolden
Bolden’s customers were knowledgeable about skincare. Many already had established routines, so trust mattered when they considered trying something new.
“It’s about trust. The people that I like and follow, if they like this brand, then I tend to listen.”
Chinelo Chidozie
Co-founder, Bolden
For Obidoa, the reason customers shared came back to their experience with the products. “Word-of-mouth ends up being strong when your product actually solves specific skincare issues.”
The approach: Encouraging referrals with ReferralCandy
Bolden saw ReferralCandy as a way to encourage customers who had bought and enjoyed its products to recommend them to friends.
The idea was simple: give those customers an incentive to share. In the interview, the founders described what they hoped this would achieve:
“If you made a purchase and liked our products, and if we give you an incentive, maybe you’ll refer us and that’ll accelerate our organic growth. That’s our hope.”
Bolden’s founders
From the April 2021 interview
That approach built on behavior the team already recognized: customers tried the products, stayed with the brand, and told other people about them. A referral incentive could give satisfied customers another reason to make that recommendation.
Start with the customers who already recommend you
Bolden’s story offers a useful starting point for other merchants: understand why customers recommend your products, then consider how to encourage more of that behavior.
For Bolden, the opportunity came from customers who trusted the brand and were willing to share their experience. That existing word of mouth gave the founders a reason to explore referral incentives with ReferralCandy.