How OwlCrate Drove 11X ROI With an Exclusive Fall-Themed Challenge
Running a challenge through LoudCrowd is incredibly quick and easy to set up, while also delivering results. OwlCrate's customer base is passionate, and having the OwlCrate Collective is an excellent way to engage with our customers through UGC.
Context
OwlCrate is a subscription service for book lovers, delivering beautifully curated boxes filled with special-edition novels and literary goodies. With a passionate and highly engaged community of readers, OwlCrate has built a brand that thrives on creativity, connection, and the joy of sharing stories. Their ambassador program, OwlCrate Collective, welcomes anyone who wants to join, making it easy for customers to engage with the brand, earn rewards, and share their love of books.
Solution
Heading into fall, OwlCrate wanted to harness the excitement of the season and inspire ambassadors to create cozy, bookish content. They designed an exclusive week-long challenge for their community, encouraging members to share autumn-inspired book stacks. Ambassadors could use books they already owned, styled with seasonal décor, or purchase new books using their earned rewards within the program.
The goals of running this exclusive challenge were to deepen engagement within the program and offer a fun, low-barrier way to participate.
To maximize awareness, OwlCrate announced the challenge via email and made announcements in their LoudCrowd Creator Hub, a place where creators can track their content and rewards earned. Several reminders were sent throughout the week to keep momentum high. To qualify, ambassadors were asked to include #OCFallVibes in their captions, ensuring OwlCrate could easily track participation and engagement within the LoudCrowd platform.
Results
The challenge sparked an enthusiastic response from OwlCrate’s community:
- 7.12% engagement rate on challenge posts, showing how well the content resonated
- +603% increase in member spend the week before the challenge kicked off, as ambassadors stocked up on new books ahead of time
- +266% increase in member spend following the challenge, suggesting participants eagerly redeemed and used the reward they earned
- 11X ROI from the campaign
Why it worked
OwlCrate knows its audience deeply. By tapping into the seasonal excitement of fall and leaning into the natural passions of their book-loving community, they created a challenge that felt authentic and fun. A few key factors made this activation successful:
- Low barrier to entry: Participants didn’t need to make new purchases to join, but many chose to, increasing member spend.
- Reward timing: Running the challenge right after the program’s monthly rewards were sent out drove even higher redemption and participation.
- Compelling incentives: Every participant earned points to shop on-site, while one lucky winner was selected at random to receive a bonus lump sum of points, keeping the challenge both inclusive and exciting.
- Strong communication: Multiple reminders and inspiring example posts kept the challenge top-of-mind.
OwlCrate’s challenge proves that with the right theme and thoughtful execution, even a small reward can generate an outsize impact. By fueling creativity, rewarding participation, and aligning with seasonal excitement, they turned a simple activation into an 11X ROI success story.