In an ideal world, your customers would be loyal for life, but it doesn’t always happen that way. Valued customers move out of the region, change jobs, or just drift away. These customers don’t have to stay lost, though; it’s often well worth an attempt to reconnect with them. Even if your former customer no longer needs you, reaching out can produce valuable referrals, leading you to a new customer who will replace the one moving out of your sphere of influence. Here’s how your email marketing strategy can bring back leads you once thought were lost – and how to know when it’s time to say goodbye.
Who Is Your Audience?
Knowing your most likely respondents before you send out an email is vital. Armed with that knowledge, you’re able to target people precisely and make your approach from the best possible angle. A marketing automation system that tracks client files over time and gives you a good indication of where your lead’s interests lie is helpful, especially when combined with dynamic real-time personalization of landing pages and websites so respondents instantly see relevant information when they click through.
Your marketing team can also cleanse your email list of names that aren’t valid leads based on updated information from data appends. Merge/purge operations and routine email list management should happen before you start your re-engagement campaign so you’re spending your effort where it matters most.
Keep It Simple
It’s always a good idea to make your marketing emails focused with a single clear call to action and a subject line that supports it, but that’s absolutely essential for a re-engagement email. Someone who hasn’t heard from you in a while needs to know right away why they’re getting this email. A simple header advertising a comeback offer or showcasing a new product line that you know would interest this customer is a good bet. Keep the body of the email simple and brief too. Someone who hasn’t been in touch with you lately is likely to decide quickly what to do with your email, and you want to make quick action easy.
Make Offers Time-Sensitive
Building in urgency is important in all email marketing, but it’s especially meaningful when trying to win back former customers. The point of an email re-engagement campaign is twofold: First, you want to bring past customers back into your orbit. Also, you want to know when it’s time to move on to the next lead. Make your offer of exclusive webinar access, money back, or product samples time-sensitive to prompt respondents to reply quickly. To earn referrals from customers who are no longer able to buy from you directly but might still have contacts in your region, combine a time-sensitive offer with notification that it’s also available to referred leads.
Position Opt-Out and Opt-Down Links Prominently
Ideally, your email will win back a former customer, but there’s another important reason to embark on a re-engagement campaign: list hygiene. Regaining a customer is valuable, but so is knowing where to invest your future efforts. Some customers you contact with your win-back campaign will opt out, but a definitive opt-out does you a favor by freeing resources to put toward future campaigns. Even better than an opt-out, though, is an opt-down opportunity.
Opt-downs give you and your former customer more possibilities. They can choose to hear from you less often but only about topics that interest them, such as quarterly sales or newsletters. Some customers disengage because they feel overwhelmed by too much communication from a marketing team, and opt-down choices let them throttle back the flow of information to a level they find manageable. In the long run, this opportunity to gain control over communication rates actually produces higher response rates because recipients get only the information they want.
Don’t let a great relationship with a customer slip away. Work with a marketing team that’s experienced with re-engagement and win-back campaigns by connecting with Reach Marketing.
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