Growing a high-quality, segmented email database can seem overwhelming or daunting at times, but the effort is always worth it. You’ll reap more awareness and sales with the right strategy. Yet along the way, some people may lose interest in your standard communications. That doesn’t mean you have to lose their interest forever.
Your customers receive dozens (possibly hundreds?) of emails daily, all fighting for their attention and limited dollars. You have to find a way to rise above the noise in order to reinvigorate their interest. Here are ways you can provide value and encourage customers to come back to you.
Offer a Limited-Time Exclusive Deal to Come Back
First, tempt them with their wallet! It can be that simple. Create a special deal just for stagnant customers of six months or a year+, depending on the nature of your business. The deal should offer a sizable discount for a short timeframe only. This sense of urgency can entice many customers to come back. A subsequent educational drip campaign can keep them coming back.
Create a Loyalty Program
Everyone loves a deal. A one-time deal can suffice in the short term, but a loyalty program supports repeat transactions.
Inviting disengaged subscribers to join an exclusive loyalty program keeps them interested in your content and products, even if they are not actively seeking them out or looking to make a purchase.
Research has shown 68% of loyal customers are willing to sign up for a loyalty program if they’re invited. Of course, the program’s benefits should be clearly explained in your re-engagement email. This could be exclusive content, early access to new products, special discounts or pricing, free birthday gifts and much more.
Get Personal
Most people don’t feel particularly moved to read emails in detail all day long. So how do you try to catch the eyes of disengaged customers? Personalization has aided many brands on their quest.
Personalizing your marketing emails, whether in the subject line, preview text or body, is a simple tactic if you’ve collected the proper data. According to Campaign Monitor, an email is 26% more likely to be opened when the subject line is personalized.
Further, customizing the content within the body of the email is also an effective way to win back customers. Segmenting email audiences based on product type or service offerings can help reignite your customer’s interest. In fact, Epsilon found 80% of customers are more likely to engage with a company that utilizes personalization.
Thorough personalization requires a robust marketing infrastructure and proper vessels to collect details about your customers, but it can pay dividends when the information is used to create a better experience for your customers through targeted content.
Simply Check In and Clean Out
There’s no need to beat around the bush. If you’ve already tried to keep customers engaged with promotional offers and valuable content, sending a simple check-in email can help. Asking whether they still want to hear from you can unearth those who may still be interested but haven’t engaged recently for one reason or another.
Another effective way to reengage customers is to send a survey to gather their preferences. Surveys allow them to select the type of content they want to receive and frequency. Asking for their preferences is a good way to show the customer you want to provide value. Companies will occasionally offer a discount or free gift with purchase to incentivize customers to complete the survey.
While it may seem counterintuitive to ask customers directly if they’re still interested in hearing from you, it is more beneficial than you may realize. Being able to weed out customers who don’t have a need or interest in your brand anymore can help improve the health and targeting of your email audience. The stale customers would likely unsubscribe. And that’s a good thing.
Growing email lists and attracting customers is no easy task, so reengaging existing customers is worth it. Even just a small increase in customer retention can lead to higher revenue. Learn how we can help set up the proper marketing infrastructure and execute inbound marketing strategies to ensure your customers come back for more.