4 Sure Fire Ways to Win Back Customers with Email

 Every once in a while, a few subscribers stray. It’s natural. But that doesn’t mean they’re gone forever. We’ve got some tips to help you bring ’em back.

First, you’ll want to segment your list and send an email to those who haven’t opened your recent messages. The goal of this email is to re-engage with your subscribers.

What should this email say? Linda Pophal, who helps small businesses with online marketing through her company, Strategic Communications, advises the following:

1. Offer an incentive 

An incentive is marketing 101. Subscribers are more likely to come back if they have a reason, and saving money is a good reason. The email below offers a 20 percent discount as an incentive. The incentive doesn’t have to be a discount; it can be free shipping, a free white paper or a small gift with a purchase.

If you do offer a special promotion, give it a sense of urgency. Notice this particular deal is good for 30 days. Encourage customers to come back sooner rather than later by creating deal deadlines. 

2. Remind customers what they get 

To bring back an inactive customer, it’s a good idea to remind them how useful your product or service is. Netflix does this in the example below. Check out the bulleted list. It highlights all of the features that Netflix offers for a low monthly price. The “what you get” section makes up the majority of the text. It might be just the kind of nudge a customer needs to sign up for the service again.

“Consumers engage with a vast number of organizations on both a personal and professional level, and [they] can’t retain information about all of the benefits and features of those companies,” Pophal says. “That’s why reminding customers like this is a good idea.” 

3. Ask customers to update email preferences 

People change, and so do email preferences. If you notice a group of customers are inactive, send them an email asking them to update their preferences. It’s a great way to re-engage with customers. Wondering how to phrase it in an email? Check out the example below. L.L. Bean’s email acknowledges that its emails are going unopened, tells customers what they’re missing, and asks them to update their preferences. VerticalResponse offers this capability within your emails. 

4. Send a variety of emails 

Of course, one of the best ways to keep customers coming back is to prevent them from leaving in the first place. To do that, it’s best to send a variety of emails. From newsletters to promotional offers, you want to keep customers interested. Here’s a quick list of popular emails to send:

• Newsletter. A newsletter keeps customers in the know. From company news to upcoming events, you decide what to share with your customers.
• Educational emails. Teach your customers something about your product or service with well-written educational emails.
• Welcome email. Once a new customer places an order or signs up for your email list, send them a little note to welcome them to the crew.
• Promotional email. Encourage customers to place an order with a promotional email.

 For additional help, check out our guide: The 9 Emails Your Company Should Send.

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