To help you win back old customers, we asked marketing managers and business leaders this question for their best tips. From assigning a different team to the customer to reaching out with a time-limited offer, there are several strategies that you may adopt to help you re-engage and win back your old customers.
Maybe all your previous customers need is a breath of fresh air. This doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong or that your service quality is poor. It just means you’re changing tactics. By assigning a different team or professional to your disengaged customers, you’re giving the former a chance to gain experience, and the latter a chance to meet new team members. Providing a different experience from the initial one can make a customer relationship seem new again.
Blake Murphey, American Pipeline Solutions
If you haven’t heard from past customers in a while, why not drop them a line? You don’t have to do it with the intention of selling them anything at that moment. When you check in with old customers, make it about them. Ask how they’re doing, what’s new in their lives, how you can help ease any pain points, and so on. Your former loyal customers will remember the interaction and repay your kindness later on with their business once again. If you are reaching out through email, be sure to use subject lines that are personal and non-promotional.
Rod Cullum, Cullum Homes
Take advantage of the network you have built with your previous customers and make your business as impressionable as possible so that the next time they need your product or service, you’ll be the first they’ll think of. Keep your presence known and market new products or re-introduce your shelved products at a discounted price or with a more pleasant deal. This is important in maintaining long-term customers and retaining their support.
Give your customers a VIP experience. Introduce the perks that come with their patronage. A point system that allows customers to accumulate points and redeem them for freebie items or other benefits for their next purchase is an excellent way to encourage them to support your business.
Stephen Keighery, Home Buyer Louisiana
Sending a handwritten note to clients, letting them know that you were thinking of them is a great way to re-energize a potentially dead relationship. Tell the you’d love to reconnect and show how your product or services have changed, or just ask to catch up. We have some clients that send $5 gift cards for coffee and ask to meet virtually for a coffee to catch up too.
David Wachs, Handwrytten
There’s a chance that your past customers’ needs aren’t being met, so find out why. Re-engage with past customers and solicit their feedback. Through a feedback survey, you can ask about their past experiences and expectations. This way you can gain a better understanding of their needs and pain points. Based on their feedback you can reassess your buyer persona(s) to ensure you are fully equipped to meet their needs. These surveys may help to identify opportunities to improve your products or services with better, more refined resources. By reassessing past customer needs, and taking action, you can regain the trust and loyalty of old or past customers.
Candie Guay, Envida
There are many different winback strategies that companies can use to win back old customers. One strategy is to offer a discount or coupon to customers who have stopped doing business with the company. Another strategy is to send customers a personalized email or letter, thanking them for their past business and inviting them to come back. A third strategy is to launch a new marketing campaign specifically targeting past customers. Whatever strategy a company chooses, it is important to be creative and personalize the approach as much as possible.
Brandon Schroth, Reporter Outreach
The definite feature that has helped us engage past customers is using their first names throughout the email, and a friendly language tailored for humans. After suggesting they sign up for your newsletter, once you get that name and email address, you have to start sending personalized emails, tailored to that visitor’s, now user, needs, and interests.
You can use discounts sparingly to help an indecisive customer make their first purchase or get back to an abandoned cart, but not as an end-all save-all strategy.
Maryolin Restaino, Twibi
If you’re having trouble winning back old customers, try giving them an incentive through creating a referral program. There are numerous benefits to implementing a referral program, including building a strong audience of new consumers, and giving past customers a chance to interact with your brand in a beneficial way. You can offer promo codes, monetary rewards, gift cards or anything that could convince a past consumer to engage with your business. Remember, you have to give your consumers a reason to return, especially if your regular forms of engagement aren’t working.
Peter Robert, Expert Computer Solutions
You need to focus on innovation and improve your brand value. Unhappy customers stop buying your products that do not meet their increasing demands. They leave you and start shopping around your competitors that have better deals. However, when you innovate, you become more competitive with the prices and the quality you offer to your customers. Products with decent quality, relevant features, and reasonable value are enticing for most people. With these, you can expect your old customers to come running back to you. If that happens, do not let them go and use the power of innovation to keep them satisfied with your business.
Allan Stolc, Bankly.dk
Ironically, one of the most effective ways to win back customers is to recommend a competitor. When you don’t have a particular product or service that a customer is looking for, a recommendation to a competitor can create a “wow-worthy” experience for them. You build instant credibility in your customer’s eyes by showing that you’re willing to put their needs first. Consumers are used to having products constantly shoved in their faces in a highly-competitive, sales-focused environment. By recommending what you think will work best for them with no ulterior motives catches them off-guard and creates a memorable experience. They’ll view your business in a more positive light, making them more likely to return to you in the future for the products and services that suit their other needs.
Scott Lieberman, Touchdown Money
The best way to win back old customers is to reach out to them with a time-limited offer. This can be a discount for re-ordering, a premium for re-ordering, or even a completely new product you’re trying to promote. If you’re not sure what products/services they like and what attracted them to buy from you initially, you could use a service like SurveyMonkey to send out a survey or an email template to ask them what they liked about your business and what they’d like to see more of (and why) the next time they order.
Tomoko Harris, WinnerWinner
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