When you've been in business long enough, it is inevitable you will experience stale clients. A stale client is an inactive (old) client who has either stopped doing business with you or there is no recent activity on their account.
There are many reasons why clients go stale, regardless of the reasons, when trying to re-establish relationships with past customers, you need to be attentive to the process.
When developing a reactivation program, you first need to determine which previous customers you want to reactivate, then you define what reactivation specifically means for your organization and for your stale clients. Reactivation is not a one-time event for when times are tough. Reactivation should be an ongoing activity prioritized among other marketing efforts.
When reactivating old clients, some customers will be comfortable and feel as if they just conducted business with you yesterday while others will wonder why you went to the trouble of contacting them. The relationship dynamics are similar to that of a person who refuses to talk to another person unless the other person reaches out first.
Start looking at your past customers and commit to reaching out and re-establishing a relationship that is valuable to both side.
There are many reasons why clients go stale, regardless of the reasons, when trying to re-establish relationships with past customers, you need to be attentive to the process.
When developing a reactivation program, you first need to determine which previous customers you want to reactivate, then you define what reactivation specifically means for your organization and for your stale clients. Reactivation is not a one-time event for when times are tough. Reactivation should be an ongoing activity prioritized among other marketing efforts.When reactivating old clients, some customers will be comfortable and feel as if they just conducted business with you yesterday while others will wonder why you went to the trouble of contacting them. The relationship dynamics are similar to that of a person who refuses to talk to another person unless the other person reaches out first.
Start looking at your past customers and commit to reaching out and re-establishing a relationship that is valuable to both side.
8 Steps to Designing a Reactivation Campaign
While there are many ways to run a reactivation campaign, the following steps will set you on a straight path should you decide to launch one.
- Who is your target? Are these people who stopped buying from you six months ago? Three months? Twelve months? If you run a subscription service, are they people who canceled one month ago? Two weeks ago? Two years ago? Decide first who you want to try and reactivate. If someone bought from you four years ago and you're just now getting around to sending them an e-mail, it's probably too late. It's OK to run a few different variations of the campaign if you want to target several different groups from above.
- What's your goal? I'll take a wild stab and say your goal is to either have these consumers buy from you again, re-subscribe to your services, or otherwise reengage with your company. But, are there more specific goals than that? Maybe you want to introduce a new product line, introduce a new account manager, or upsell them on something they already own (or a service they already use)?
- Why did these consumers leave? Unlike a normal marketing campaign, you need to understand why your consumers left. Did they not like your products? Were you too expensive? Did you not have enough content in their particular field to keep them interested? Knowing the reasons they probably left will enable you to craft a message that addresses those issues specifically.
- What segmentation or persona data do you have? If you can segment these consumers either by persona or by purchase habits, you can make your reactivation campaign that much more effective. The rules here are the same as for any direct marketing: don't just send a mass "We want you back" e-mail. Instead, use whatever knowledge you have of the consumer in order to create a more relevant message.
- Split test offers. It's fine to offer a reactivation discount code to these consumers. They were effectively "dead" anyhow, so you aren't really losing a full-price purchase by offering them a discount. However, showing consumers that you understand them and have new offerings that meet their needs might just be enough. So, do a split test and create discounts for some percentage of the group, but not all of them. See how they do when compared to the group with no offer.
- Focus on your content. Instead of just saying, "We want you back, here's 15% off," make a real effort. Show your consumers you understand them. If they used to buy video games, talk about all the new things that have happened in video games since they last checked your site out. If you run a content subscription-based site (like E-Learning), highlight the new content you've added to your site since they were last members. Put the relevant content first. Consumers can get a discount anywhere if they try. It's your content and products (if they're relevant) that will be more interesting to them.
- Make it easy for them to come back. If it has been a while, there's a good chance your consumers don't remember their usernames or passwords. Either send them this information (or at least their username) in the e-mail, or make it really easy for them to find it. If their account has "expired," make it easy for them to renew without reentering all their information again. If you offered a discount code, make it very clear where they enter it.
- Reach out via different channels. Are these consumers on Twitter (and do they follow you)? If so, send them a direct message, not an e-mail. E-mail marketing is great, but try other channels if you have access to them.
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Nancy Beth is an Entrepreneur & Small Business Owner, Founder of Sweet Spot Marketing Canada and a Motivational Speaker for Women & Girl Leadership.
As an Internet and Digital Marketing veteran, Nancy Beth has vast experience in Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Online Safety and Protecting Your Digital Footprint. Since 2010, Nancy Beth has been highly sought after to share her message on being a Digital Leader, using the Internet & Social Media for good, and how to safely navigate the Social Web.
Keynote Speaker | Executive Coach | Training Consultant | Founder of Sweet Spot Marketing Canada (@sweetmarketing) |(@nbguptill) | Digital Leader | Women & Girl Leadership. To book Nancy Beth for your next event, or to discuss your training needs Visit: http://sweetspotmarketingacademy.ca/contact
