Customer acquisition is getting more expensive by the month. With paid channels saturated and platform costs rising, many brands are spending 3 to 5 times more than necessary to acquire customers who could have been won through advocacy.

Referral Marketing offers a smarter alternative. It’s not just a lower-cost channel. It’s a high-trust, performance-led strategy that delivers new customers at a fraction of the cost of paid media. When powered by the right tools and strategy, referrals let you do more with less, without compromising growth targets.

Why Acquisition Costs Are Soaring

The average cost per acquisition (CPA) has risen sharply across nearly every paid channel. In 2024, Meta CPMs rose by over 30%, and cost-per-click for retail terms on Google hit record highs. It’s never been more expensive to earn a click, let alone a conversion.

This is a problem for any brand with finite budgets and ambitious revenue goals. The more you spend to acquire each customer, the harder it is to maintain a healthy return on ad spend. And once those customers convert, there’s no guarantee they’ll stick around.

This is where Referral Marketing comes in.

Referrals Don’t Just Cost Less- They Convert Better

Referral customers aren’t just cheaper to acquire. They’re also more likely to convert and stay loyal.

At Soreto, we consistently see referred customers outperform paid-acquired customers across multiple metrics, including:

• Higher conversion rates
• Stronger average order value (AOV)
• Improved customer lifetime value (CLV)
• Lower churn rates

Why? Because referrals come from a trusted source: your existing customer. When someone receives a recommendation from a friend, it removes friction and hesitation. They already trust the brand before they land on your website. No need for retargeting, no need to nurture through multiple touchpoints. They’re ready to buy.

Cost of Delay: Every Week Without Referrals Is Lost Revenue

The longer you delay launching a Referral Marketing programme, the more you’re overpaying to acquire customers. Rising CPAs don’t just squeeze your budget. They compound over time.

Each week you wait:

• Your happy customers aren’t referring
• Your team spends more to achieve the same results
• Your competitors with referral programmes are gaining ground

Delaying isn’t just inefficient. It’s expensive.

Soreto Helps You Unlock Referral Performance Fast

You don’t need to overhaul your marketing strategy. You just need to tap into the customers who already love your brand.

At Soreto, we’ve built our platform to make Referral Marketing easy to launch, simple to scale, and powerful to optimise. We help brands build referral journeys that feel seamless, relevant and rewarding, both for customers and your bottom line.

Our solution includes:

• Post-purchase lightbox that appears at the peak moment of satisfaction
• Refer a Friend (RAF) page to keep advocacy visible across your whole database
• Pre Purchase Placement to reach your aspirational customers and convert them into advocates
• Sharing across WhatsApp, TikTok, Instagram and more
• A/B testing and creative optimisation to improve results over time
• Fraud protection to keep your programme clean and fair
• Referral Specialists dedicated experts who help maximise your campaign at every milestone

Why Now Is the Time to Act

If you’re planning for next quarter or heading into your next seasonal campaign, the opportunity is right in front of you. Referral is one of the only acquisition channels that gets more efficient as it scales. More happy customers mean more advocates, more referrals, and more growth without added cost.

You can keep throwing money at paid ads and watching your CAC creep up. Or you can build a programme that pays off every time a customer shares.

Final Thought: Scale Smart, Not Expensive

Soreto helps brands reduce reliance on paid media by turning their happiest customers into their most effective acquisition tool. You don’t need a bigger budget to grow. You just need a better strategy.

Book a demo here to see how Soreto can help your brand cut acquisition costs and grow faster, without paying for every click.