Switching To Stoked, Seeing Results: Bunch Bikes Case Study
How Bunch Bikes’ brand advocate program gained traction and increased sales after switching from a legacy provider to Stoked
“What is that thing?” That’s the question Bunch Bikes hears most often.
For Bunch Bikes, one major challenge is that their sales funnel starts way before brand awareness. The majority of their potential customers have never seen an electric cargo bike and may have no idea what it is, much less why they need to spend thousands of dollars on it!
A single playground chat with a neighbor who says, “Yeah, I use mine every day. Want to try it?” is worth thousands in ad spend. That’s the power of authentic advocacy.
But as a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand with no retail footprint, Bunch Bikes needed a way to scale those real-life conversations into a growing network of real-life advocates. Their solution: a community-powered brand advocate program the Bunch Squad. Their goal: build awareness and trust.
The missing piece? A smooth platform to facilitate those human connections.
That’s where Stoked came in.
Challenges and Pain Points
Before Stoked, the Bunch Bikes team tried everything to bring their advocate marketing vision to life.
They started super simple, with a handful of customers who loved their bikes and naturally told people about them. If an advocate lent their bike for a test ride, they would email the founder, who found a way to compensate them with merch or store credit. Some even printed their own business cards because they loved the product so much and would earn a small commission on sales.
Later, they tried adding a Google Map of advocates combined with an email forwarding system. The result? It was high-friction and unscalable. Prospects frequently got “ghosted” due to missed messages or advocates not seeing the outreach.
Then they switched to a legacy brand advocacy software. The look was better, but the functionality was still frustrating. Poor communication relay, irrelevant features, and a huge gap: no SMS relay. Their advocates, real customers with busy lives, were asking for an easy, private way to connect, and the platform couldn’t deliver.
The Painful Number: Over 60% of conversations between advocates and prospects ended in a missed connection - one party or the other missing the message, and the other feeling “ghosted.”. All that goodwill, wasted. Lelac, Director of Community and Inclusion, said they were wasting time: “We were spending hours a week trying to follow up on missed connections and work around the problems that the system was creating for us.”
They even considered building their own tool — but quickly realized it would be clunky, time-consuming, and far from the professional-grade experience they wanted.
The realization hit: Their brand advocacy program wasn’t a growth engine; it was a complex admin task. They needed a solution built for frictionless, high-value connection. They needed Stoked.
The Solution: Conversion Through Connection
Stoked isn’t just another referral link tool. It’s brand advocacy software designed for modern premium D2C brands. It was the perfect match for the Bunch Squad because Stoked focuses on connecting customers and their user experience.
Why the Bunch Squad Chose Stoked:
- The “SMS First” Experience: This was a direct answer to advocate feedback. Stoked delivers a seamless SMS-first experience, connecting prospects and advocates with convenience and privacy. This cut the friction that led to “ghosting.”
- Sleek, Intuitive Interfaces: We scraped the clutter. The interfaces for advocates, prospects, and administrators were individually designed to focus on their unique priorities. Advocacy became intuitive and simple.
- Powerful yet Simple Administration: The Bunch Bikes team gained powerful, configurable features like advocate tags, message templates, a task management inbox, and streamlined rewards—all designed to reduce admin time while increasing program power.
And most crucially, they worked closely with the Stoked team to make sure the arrangement met the client’s specific needs.
Now, approximately 90% of conversations are successfully “self-serve”—meaning the platform handles the connection seamlessly, reducing staff intervention and freeing up their time. And when they aren’t, there is a gentle reminder button that the Bunch team can use to stoke the conversation.
The implementation was fast, rolling out in March 2025. The results? They were loud.
The Results: The Brand Advocacy Ratio Skyrockets
The switch to Stoked didn’t just make the program easier—it made it a core revenue driver.
“The process was frustrating for our customers, our advocates and our team. Now with Stoked, it just works. We can focus on the joy and excitement around our product without losing time and goodwill to the logistics.”
In August 2025 alone, 40% of sales were directly driven by advocates using Stoked. This means the brand advocacy ratio is now dramatically higher, proving that real voices truly drive real conversion.
Despite a tough market with price increases and general economic headwinds, Bunch Bikes achieved 16% year-over-year growth in unit sales. This is powerful evidence that investing in authentic human connection builds a stronger base than any traditional ad spend.
The Bunch Squad Difference: Building Community, Not Commissions
What makes this program a true force for growth? It’s not just the software; it’s the heart of the community itself. Bunch Bikes deliberately calls their team the "Bunch Squad" not “Ambassadors.” Why? Because they’re building a community, not a multi-level marketing (MLM) structure.
- Real People, Real Talk: Bunch Squad members are real customers—people who bought the product, use it daily, and genuinely love it. They aren’t commission-driven sellers.
- Mission-Driven Advocacy: Their program goals go beyond the sale. They are actively promoting inclusivity and active transportation, giving advocates a higher purpose that resonates more deeply than a discount code.
- Respectful Compensation: Advocates are compensated fairly, but their participation always stays human-first — respectful of their time, privacy, and authenticity.
This focus on authenticity is what transforms a simple referral scheme into a powerful engine of trust.
Key Takeaways for Your Brand
The Bunch Bikes story is a powerful advocacy case study for any premium D2C brand looking to make trust the core of its e-commerce strategy.
- For Novel Products or Big Decisions, Trust is Your Base. If your product is high-priced, hard-to-differentiate, or new to the market, your brand advocacy program isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s your most potent competitive advantage.
- Listen to Your Advocates. The “SMS first” approach came directly from the Bunch Squad’s feedback. The right brand advocacy software should empower your customers, not complicate their lives.
- The Right Partner Turns Obstacles into Growth. Bunch Bikes was bottlenecked by their tech. By switching to Stoked, they turned frustrating daily admin into a measurable, scalable growth loop. This is a crucial case study brand advocacy software delivers.
It’s not about us being the hero. It’s about empowering your customers—the real heroes—to tell their stories.
Want your customer advocates to outperform ads?
The next decade belongs to companies that put real people in the loop. Stop wasting goodwill on clunky tools. Discover how Stoked can power your brand’s growth, turning your quiet customers into a choir of advocates.
Ready to build a scalable, high-impact brand advocacy program? Connect with us to discuss implementing Stoked and transforming customer goodwill into measurable results.
