We hate losing customers! Working with an active customer is at least 6x less expensive than finding new ones! Winning back hearts and minds of those who have dropped off, is incredibly valuable.

Is there a Win-Back Strategy?

Yes. It takes a calculated marketing plan to move ex-customers back into an active role. It’s challenging to develop the best win-back strategy, but well worth the effort. Acquiring a new customer is super expensive and quite the journey from attraction through to getting an order. Re-engaging a dormant customer helps to improve your bottom line. Win-back campaigns are an effective way of reinvigorating your inactive list and improves your customer lifetime value.

Customer Win-Back Strategies

Identifying why a customer has stopped buying will help to map out a strategic plan for getting them back. The proper strategy gets attention.

Four win-back strategies for disengaged customers:

1. RFM Analysis

RFM is a fancy way of identifying: recency, frequency, monetary. This analysis is a way to understand the different segments of your customer’s behavior based on their order history. These metrics help decide which win-back strategies to use by looking at your best customers and see what you are doing well.

This analysis helps to answer questions like:

• Who are your best and most active customers?
• Who has the potential to become a more valuable customer?
• Which of your dormant customers are most likely to respond to win-back tactics?

Once these questions are answered, the analysis can help determine which declining customers need to be targeted in a win-back campaign. RFM is also helpful to gain visibility into who is loyal, and who can be targeted for other campaigns, such as reward programs and promotions.

2. Make a Generous Offer

Customers, whether dormant or disengaged, are best reintroduced by email. Tailoring messages with a special offer is a great way to remind them that you’re still alive. Customers are more likely to purchase if they feel they’re getting a special discount, especially if that offer is only good for a limited time.

3. Request Feedback and Take Action

Customer feedback is essential for growing and improving your business. Receiving feedback provides insights about user experience and what can be done to improve it. Typically, requests for feedback only get a 13% response rate, but that makes them a great tool to capture real-time feedback from active users. Make sure to send a personalized email to show you appreciate the time they took to provide feedback.

4. Personalization

Every customer wants to be heard. With the high cost of acquiring new customers, retaining your existing customers should be a priority. Within email marketing, always use personalization to let customers know that you’re paying attention to them. Include their name in the subject line and within the email to provide an individual experience. Also, know your customer! Offer discounts based on previous orders.

Win Them Back By Engaging Them

Acquiring new customers is the key to the success and growth of your company. Retaining existing customer base is equally important. Engage with customers who have gone dormant! Leverage past orders and personalize your win-back strategies to re-engage.

In our next blog, we'll discuss the basics of keeping customers happy with tips and suggestions on earning loyalty and increasing sales.