Want to regain the trust of your lapsed customers?

Winback campaigns can sometimes be overlooked, with acquisition activity seen as the priority in many businesses. However it can often be far easier to Winback a lapsed customer than acquire a new customer. Why? Because previous customers are more likely to engage, and respond positively – resulting in a higher conversion rate and a lower cost per conversion.  

By tapping into the reasons why they left and addressing their needs, businesses have the chance to revive previous relationships – converting lost customers into re-energised advocates of your brand.

One size does not fit all

Working closely with your insights team will pay dividends when it comes to understanding your lapsed customers. Once you have identified your inactive base, you can start to build in extra layers of segmentation such as reasons for leaving, features engaged with, offer acquired on, and channel preference – the list goes on. All of these will play a key part in how you segment and target your lapsed base. For example, a customer who has left due to the product being too expensive can be targeted with a deep, offer-led Winback campaign, such as offering discounts or loyalty points to entice them back. This price-sensitive cohort can be further incentivised through a well-thought-out offer strategy to maximise your Winback performance.

However, a Winback strategy doesn’t always need to rely on discounts or promotions – customers may have other reasons for disengaging with your brand. For those cancelling due to more product-related reasons, it could be an opportunity to educate them about other features they may not be aware of.  

Testing, testing, testing

Of course, the key to a successful Winback strategy is developing a supporting test and learn methodology . There are many additional variables that can be explored and tested when striving for Winback success – for example, the time window in which the  communications are deployed. We have seen with previous clients that extending this window, and increasing the volume of touchpoints as a result, has driven increased save rates amongst lapsed customers. Other more traditional A/B tests such as day of week, time of day, call to action (one click is a great option for a Winback campaign), messaging and cadence will all play a part in optimising the performance of your activity.

Make sure your channels are aligned

A common challenge within Winback is the potential clash between targeted Winback offers, and broader acquisition offers visible online. This can lead to confusion and understandable frustration for the customer – particularly if your acquisition offers are richer than your Winback offer. It’s therefore really important that if you’re sending a discount or promotional offer to your price sensitive customers, it’s either competing or superior to your acquisition offer (even if some companies still don’t do this).  

Developing a ring fenced journey for your lapsed customers is the obvious way to ensure a joined up journey throughout – whether that is reflecting the Winback offer they may have received, or it might be that they need a journey that focuses on your brand USP’s vs competitors  (this will be dependent on the level of insight you have on your lapsed base)

In summary

Bringing back lapsed customers is not only budget friendly, but also a way to optimise your overall Marketing ROI and increase your customer lifetime value. By really focusing on the reasons why they left, personalising your message and evolving through testing, you’ll have a real chance to rebuild trust, reignite their interest and win them back. If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you evolve your Winback strategy, please get in touch.

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