Birchbox (B)

To turn profitable, the first initiative that Birchbox took was to tweak its loyalty program. Previously, when subscribers had reviewed the items they received from Birchbox, they had received 10 points for a review of each item. One hundred points were worth a discount of US$ 10 on the full size products sold through the Birchbox website. Points could be redeemed within a year. Customer reviews generated a buzz and social media was quite central to Birchbox’s marketing strategy from the early days.

The cash-strapped start-up put a limit on the points earned on writing reviews for products and the window for redeeming points was reduced to 6 months from a year. After the change in the loyalty program, points were offered only for the first five sample reviews of each customer. ..