Marketing to your former customers can be one of the most efficient and impactful ways to generate new revenue without breaking your marketing budget. In fact, email and direct mail winback campaigns have routinely achieved the lowest cost-per-acquisition (CPA) or customer acquisition cost (CAC) for many of LIFT’s clients.
Here are some straightforward tips to help you maximize performance in your outreach to these former customers.
1. Embrace data and personalization
You had a prior relationship with these prospects; don’t treat them like strangers. Speak to them by name and acknowledge the past as specifically as possible. Leverage any other data points, including the length of the customer relationship, reasons cited for leaving, location, buying pattern, etc. The more relevant you can be in your communication, the better your message will land and connect.
2. Empower your audience
We Want You Back is a common winback headline, but the focus should be more on the You than the We. Use an empathetic tone and take ownership of the mistakes made on your end that led to why the customer left. Speak to how you’ve been hard at work to make things better for them.
3. Highlight what’s new
Coming back to the same experience is not a compelling sales pitch for your former customers. Highlight the new ways your company has worked on its product or service to open your prospects’ minds to give you another try. It may be an enhanced product benefit, feature, or something you’ve improved about their customer experience.
4. Demonstrate intent with a great offer
A compelling new offer is one of the best ways to prove your company is eager to win back these former customers. The more exclusive, risk-free, or non-committal the offer can be, the higher your response will be.
5. Consider Emotion
An approach that relates to your former customer on an emotional level can be a great response driver. Messages and visuals about the emotional disappointment in the state of “our” customer relationship have proven to work. Make your messages come from a person at your company. Messaging “Is it really over for us?” can perform very well for certain products and audiences.
Leveraging your former customer data presents a prime opportunity to re-engage and grow your customer base. Reach out to discover how our expertise can amplify your next winback campaigns.
