Did you know that nearly 60% of sales and marketing leaders revealed that their businesses have experienced higher churn rates in the last year or so? Or that the average customer churn rate is 32% globally? This is alarming because business owners know that retaining customers is a sure-fire way to success.
After all, increasing your retention rate by 5% can lead to a 25% or more growth in revenue. You need a constant influx of business, and enhancing your customer retention strategy can achieve that purpose while requiring less work on your end.
Still, customer churn is a real issue that plagues online businesses everywhere. And while it’s important to attract new individuals to your site, you need a strategy that will win you back your lost customers.
What is a Win-Back Campaign and Why Do You Need It?
A win-back campaign is also known as a re-engagement or reactivation campaign. It’s basically any planned strategy designed to bring back lapsed or inactive customers.
Your lost customers aren’t gone forever. An effective win-back campaign can bring them back faster, more easily, and at a better price than if you were to focus on bringing in new customers.
But who are these “lost” customers anyway?
For most e-commerce businesses, lost customers can be those who haven’t purchased anything in months.
For subscription-based businesses, these can be customers who suddenly stopped paying or those who forgot to update their payment methods, which resulted in involuntary churn.
Read on to discover how to leverage the most effective marketing campaigns to win your customers back.
The Best Campaigns to Win Back Lost Customers
There is no “one-size-fits-all” strategy. Customers have varying needs, preferences, and behaviors, and it’s on you to determine the best course of action based on the intel you have on your customer base.
Give Your Lost Customers a Reason to Come Back Willingly
If your customers lapsed, it’s not the end! Give them a reason to come back. Sometimes, all it takes is a soft nudge.
Customers love piping-hot deals. Here are a few examples of how you can entice your inactive subscribers to come back:
- Discounts: Give your lost customer $20 off for six months or a bigger one-off discount
- Upgrades: If you’re a subscription service, you can try offering limited access to the next tier or package
- Bundles: Create different packages or combinations of your best sellers or items often purchased together
- Freebies: Try giving away a free month for a subscription service or free shipping for products
You can also explore non-financial incentives like a valuable piece of content or a free assessment, consultation, or strategy session.
One major thing to remember, though: Don’t cheap out! You want to win back lost customers, right? So make sure that the incentives are so good that they won’t want to pass up.
Leverage Social Media
Establishing your brand online allows you to see what your customers are thinking about you. Whether it’s positive or negative, they felt strongly enough to post it on a public forum. Use this to your advantage!
Create an approachable and engaging persona for your business on social media. Leverage the platform by posting updates, replying to customers, posting special coupons, or holding fun giveaways to encourage them to come back.
For its 50th anniversary, Tim Hortons’ “Bring It Back” campaign gave the company’s social media followers a list of five treats that used to be on its menu, and prompted them to pick one item they wanted to bring back. The item with the most comments was then returned to the menu.
The campaign got a lot of traction, pulling in hundreds of thousands of comments from social media followers (and increasing Tim Horton’s reach and engagement). Within five weeks, the company’s microsite had 300,000 unique views, and over 200,000 comments on social media.
The “We Fixed It” Campaign
The “We Fixed It” campaign is an absolute area of genius. It involves three major steps:
- Figure out why your customers are leaving.
- Fix the problem.
- Let them know.
Sounds simple? Let’s break these down.
Figure Out Why Your Customers Are Leaving
The first step to fixing anything is to get to the root of the issue.
Did you know that more than 96% of customers consider leaving a brand because of poor customer service? This is just one reason — there are many others, ranging from intentional to involuntary churn.
Try conducting surveys, or reaching out personally to see if there’s anything the members of your community are unhappy about. Social media and review sites will also give you some insights.
Fix the Problem
Once you identify the problem, it’s time to work on it. But what if there’s more than one issue?
- If there’s more than one problem to fix, evaluate which one will have the biggest impact when fixed.
- Take a look at how much (in terms of finances, time, and other resources) it will take to fix a particular issue.
- Determine a consistent time interval of when you plan to review and re-evaluate your progress
Let Them Know
It’s time to let your customers know you’ve fixed the problem! Create a marketing campaign to show them that you pay attention to them and that you care about their feedback.
It’s a great way to boost your image and reinforce a sense of loyalty among your customers.
Learn from Successful Brands
Domino’s Pizza gathered feedback from its customers in 2010 and found out that it had a problem with how pizzas tasted. The company made some changes in the kitchen and explained how it came up with the solution.
The Pizza Turnaround campaign discussed how Domino’s listened to customer feedback and ended up creating a better-tasting pizza.
Results? The numbers speak for themselves:
- Q1 2010 showed a 14.3% increase in “domestic same store sales”
- Domino’s stock shot up by 130% in a year
Craft the Best Win-Back Email Marketing Sequence
A win-back email is essentially an automated email or set of emails that will reach out to inactive or lapsed customers. If you don’t have win-back emails set up, you could potentially be losing a lot of revenue already. Need proof?
- The average open rate for win-back emails is higher than 29%.
- 45% of subscribers who receive a win-back email will go on and open future emails from you
Some Additional Tips for a Successful Win-Back Sequence
- Get customers’ attention with a scroll-stopper subject line
- Create a series of automated win-back emails and follow-ups, don’t just stop with one
- Segment your win-back emails for a more personal approach
- Offer incentives during your first win-back attempt
- You can also try promoting your high-value and high-impact content
- Get deep and personal with the “We miss you!” angle
- Try adding a video message — emails with videos get up to 65% higher click rates
Be Authentic
Another great campaign strategy is to wear your brand’s heart on your sleeve. Regardless if you plan on using a “We Fixed It” campaign or a win-back sequence, remember to be 100% sincere and genuine.
Insert your brand’s story, mission, or core values when you craft your email sequences. This will tug at your customers’ heartstrings and might nudge them to (re)visit your business soon. You can also take a very personal approach to the “We Fixed It” campaign. Be vulnerable and apologetic. Recognize the feedback given and thank your customers for helping you be better.
In today’s largely digital world, there’s no shortage of digital promotions and campaigns. Being authentic and showing your vulnerability is a step toward winning your lost customers back.
Prioritize Your Customer Experience
Whether you’re embarking on a win-back campaign, executing a failed-payment recovery sequence, or coming up with ways to prevent churn, there are always methods and systems in place to ensure that your customers are paying and that revenue is coming through.
At the heart of it all is a seamless customer experience. With a solid customer experience across all touch points, customer satisfaction will remain at a high all throughout.
Curious to see how you can improve your customer experience so that your customer lifetime value reflects it? Book a complimentary consultation with our world-class experts today.