In-Depth Tips on Win-Back Strategies That Work

Dos and Don’ts of Subscription Reactivation

Last week we discussed 5 proven win-back strategies to re-engage your lost customers.  This week we will take a deeper dive into what to do and what not to when implementing these strategies.

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1. The Automated Immediate Web Offer

• Don’t: make it too sweet or customers will be both resentful that you never gave them an offer this good while they were loyal and they will be incentivized to cancel.
• Do: put some fraud-protection in place - only offer this the first time someone cancels - or only if they haven’t cancelled in the past 6 months.  
• Do: segment this offer based on a cancellation reason given if possible.  If a customer tells you they are moving and can no longer get your service - this offer never shows - each company will have slightly different reasons - use logic to determine when to show an offer and what messaging to use around that offer. 

2. Customer Care Phone+Email Follow-Up

• Don’t: sell the customer - this outreach should feel like you are simply calling as a ‘helpful friend’ that is concerned about maintaining a good relationship.
  
• Do: segment your cancelled customers to those who had a negative cancel reason. 
  
• Do: have an all-star customer care team who really understands your customer’s problem and can speak to the benefits of your solution.  
  
• Do: go as far as having your customer care team think about the customer as one of their good friends - how would they speak to them about a solution they believe really meets that person’s needs?
  
• Do: have them follow-up with a quick email after the call, that explains again why they called - many times customers screen their calls or don’t expect to hear from a “virtual” business one-to-one. Regardless of whether contact was made or a message was left, reinforce that experience with a follow-up.
  

3. Timely Re-Targeting Ads

• Don’t: promote an offer - simply remind the customer about your relationship.  They may be finding that their routine is disrupted now that they are no longer receiving what you deliver.  
  
• Do: use display ads delivered on Facebook and other display networks. The content is about saying “We miss you” and the imagery reminds them of what they are missing. 
  
• Do: take into consideration the cancellation reason and make sure the customer hasn’t already re-engaged to avoid wasting funds and sending messages that don’t make sense.
  

4. Automated Email Series

• Don’t: send this to customers who took you up on your immediate web offer and then cancelled again.
  
• Do: make sure they can use the offer, so use your cancellation reason to understand which would be able to reactivate their service.  
  
• Do: send a series of 4 automated emails - start at 45 days post cancel, then 48 days, then 55 days, then 60 days. Before each email check to make sure they haven’t re-activated. 
  
• Do: use one consistent offer value, but use different coupon codes so you can more easily track the effectiveness of each email in the series.  
  
• Do: use short, concise emails and give them different reasons in each email to give you another chance - don’t just repeat yourself exactly each time.
  

5. Seasonal Email Campaign

• Don’t: include customers who have cancelled within the last 90 days - they are currently receiving your other win-back communications (or recently received them).
  
• Do: look for trends in your acquisition data to find the top seasonal time of year for your business. What is the top season that customers tend to look for a solution like yours - is it about getting healthy? Then it’s likely January.
  
• Do: align your campaign content with the seasonal customer need.
  
• Do: come up with a unique offer - something that inspires more than a one and done reactivation for a really good deal - is it BOGO, or pre-buy 4 orders to get a discount. 
  
• Do: make sure to keep the deal simple to understand for highest uptake, but also encourage retention of these win-back customers. 
  
• Do: create urgency - put a 2 week deadline on re-activating and redeeming the offer.  You will have a 5 email series that goes out during this 2 week time period. Use urgency in the last few communications. Use a countdown timer throughout - make sure the customer feels like this is a great offer and will help them come back to solving that problem they have.
  
• Do: take this opportunity to give the customer a refresh on why your service solves their problem - some of these customers may have been latent for quite some time. Have you introduced anything recently that makes you better than you were before? 
  

​Hopefully these tips give you a good starting block to get each of these campaigns going.  Need help with the details - schedule time with an expert in re-engagement.

Stay tuned for our next blog: "Which Growth Metrics Matter for Your Business & Are They Healthy?"

For an evaluation of your current customer experience/retention strategies and where to focus, fill in our Customer Insights & Action Plan request. There are often two or three quick wins you can implement within a few weeks to reduce churn or start winning back lost customers immediately. Let’s get started finding some revenue opportunities for you.