How Cuts Earned a 5,457% ROI on Their Onward Loyalty Program Within 12 Months

Overview

Cuts designs performance apparel that looks professional at work and stylish on a night out — without sacrificing comfort. To achieve this, the performance apparel brand custom-engineered PYCA® fabric, which sets the standard for durability and breathability. The result? Cuts CEO and Co-Founder Steven Borrelli won the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2022, and the brand has become a leader in high-performance wardrobes.

The Challenge

Cuts needed to differentiate themselves in a crowded vertical

Following their 2016 launch, Cuts quickly gained popularity in the corporate and fitness spaces. But Brennan Eccles, the brand’s VP of Marketing, knew that no matter how great their sales were, Cuts would always exist in a competitive vertical. To maintain their long-term success, they needed to improve customer retention and unlock incremental growth.

Brennan knew a paid loyalty program was the best way to achieve Cut’s goals. With a credit or discount locked in, customers would keep coming back — no matter how loud the competition got.

For the brand’s first stab at a loyalty program, they signed up with a major provider. But the program added more complexity than value, making it hard to scale or adapt. The experience taught Brennan what Cuts really needed from a loyalty partner:

• A free membership option to attract new customers: Cuts offered a free tier, but it lacked structure and scalability. In a competitive landscape, they needed a solution to make this tier more effective, drawing in first-time shoppers and driving incremental revenue without added complexity.

• Flexible, plug-and-play discounts: Brennan’s team wanted a system that could support multiple paid membership tiers. Under their initial plan, even simple modifications (like giving members a 25% discount code) required a custom, internal engineering build. A turnkey solution would eliminate that extra lift entirely.

• Bespoke customization: The right partner wouldn’t just offer a one-size-fits-all loyalty template. Instead, they would provide hands-on support to fine-tune the program to Cuts’ specific needs.

• Streamlined experiences for customers: The team wanted a seamless flow from sign-up to redemption across free and paid tiers. The ideal platform would eliminate friction at every step without complicating the customer journey.

• Scalable support and real-time collaboration: Cuts’ loyalty setup required opening tickets for every update, creating delays and internal bottlenecks. The team needed a partner who could offer responsive support while moving as fast as they do.

Cuts investigated a variety of loyalty options, but no company could match Ineverate’s cashback memberships and tailor-made tiers. According to Brennan, “It was a no-brainer to start working with them.”

“We’re in a competitive ecosystem. We needed a paid membership program that locks customers in — and we knew Onward was the way to do that.”

The Solution

A retention program with credits that keep customers coming back

Onward’s streamlined interface and back-end operations brought Cuts’ optimal retention program, the Cuts Club, to life. Gone are the days of cumbersome, custom engineering — instead, Onward makes loyalty simple:

• Flexible membership options: Through Onward, Cuts offers a free tier (the Legacy Membership) and a paid tier (the Cuts Club). This gives new customers immediate value across multiple entry points, while encouraging behavior change and incremental revenue.

• Prebuilt tiers and customizable rewards: Brennan’s team doesn’t need to touch a line of code to offer customers value. Onward makes it easy to roll out multiple loyalty tiers with built-in credits and perks, eliminating the need for custom discount code builds or engineering workarounds.

• Tailored program design: With Onward, the loyalty program is built around Cuts’ needs. Brennan fine-tunes perks and structures to fit the brand’s goals, without waiting on support tickets or settling for default configurations.

• Frictionless customer journeys: Onward’s seamless Shopify integration ensures that sign-up, credit tracking, and redemption work smoothly across all membership types. Customers earn and spend credits with minimal friction — online or in-store.

• White-glove support: Brennan connects directly with the Onward team via Slack, where they respond quickly to questions and requests. Their support has been essential as Cuts continues refining their loyalty strategy and scaling the program.

The Cuts Club only costs members $120 annually, which they receive in $10 monthly credit increments (among other exclusive perks). Cuts loyalty members know that credits are waiting for them whenever they need new clothes — and the brand has seen a spike in member purchases as a result.

“With Onward on our side, launching and maintaining our loyalty program was easy. Every step is streamlined, and the back-end interface is no-lift.”

The Results

Cuts increases paid member purchases by 407% with their Onward-powered loyalty program

Launching the Cuts Club didn’t just increase purchases — within the first two months, VIP membership sign-ups were so high that they easily covered the cost of setting up the loyalty program.

The best part? It’s only up from here. Cuts plans to introduce new tiers, including a lower price-point paid option and a VIP path. Brennan is excited to keep rewarding their most loyal customers, and doing so with Onward — a company he considers “pioneering in the loyalty space.”

“Within the first few months, Onward paid for itself through VIP membership sign-ups alone.”