How to Win Back Inactive Customers With Direct Mail

Regaining customers who have seemingly bailed on your brand for good is one of the biggest obstacles marketers face. Considering that it’s more cost effective to maintain current customers than it is to replace them with new ones, reducing churn is a necessity. This is where knowing how to win back inactive customers with direct mail becomes convenient. If you’re new to direct mail, you can rest assured that we’ll provide you with all of the details necessary for making your direct mail campaign a winner. 

What Are the Benefits of Knowing How to Win Back Inactive Customers?

There are a myriad of reasons why strengthening your customer retention efforts needs to be at the top of your priority list. Some of them include:

• Lower Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC)

Overspending on customer acquisition costs is one of the biggest mistakes you could be making. If you’re unsure of what your customer acquisition costs are, add up the costs of your marketing and sales efforts and divide them by the number of customers you’ve gained. Your CAC should be three times lower than your customer lifetime value. If your CAC is significantly higher than that, you may be burning too much money on acquiring new customers.

 

• Stronger Reputation

Repeat customers have the potential to serve as your biggest advocates. Keeping current customers happy is an excellent way to collect strong reviews from them which can be instrumental in convincing new customers to give your brand a try. Great reviews from loyal customers is like getting free advertising, and making sure your one-time shoppers turn into repeat customers is the best way to begin collecting them.

 

• A Strategic Competitive Advantage

While your competitors are busy putting all of their focus into acquiring new customers, you can gain an upper hand on them by focusing on converting one-time buyers into lifelong customers. That’s because your competitors who are too focused on finding new customers are more likely to churn through current customers, which is costly. To maintain the competitive advantage you need, it’s vital that you have a plan to keep first-time customers engaged. And direct mail is one of the best resources available for helping you do that.

Some suggestions on how to win back inactive customers using direct mail include:

Providing Personalized Discounts

It’s no secret that offering a discount can go a long way. But don’t just stop there. Use the information you have stored about your customers to serve them with relevant discounts that they’ll actually appreciate and use. For instance, if you’ve got customers who purchased products or services from you, and you haven’t heard from them in a while, a postcard with a discount code unique to the recipient, along with a brief, clear call to action could be exactly what it takes to get them to shop with you again.

The reality is that there could be a dozen reasons why a customer makes a purchase, only to ghost you later on down the road. Sometimes, all it takes is a subtle “we miss you, here’s a discount” touchpoint to get them back. Postcards can be automatically sent once a customer hasn’t purchased after a certain number of days. That’s why they’re among the best resources available for winning back inactive customers.

Send Postcards That Provide Product Updates

If you’ve been hard at work improving your products and services, why not let your inactive customers know? That’s especially the case when it comes to products that they’ve purchased in the past. If the first version of your product was a hit, sending postcards to customers outlining the reasons why version 2.0 will be even better could be exactly what it takes to get them buying again. 

On the other hand, let’s say for instance that a customer didn’t have such a great experience with that product. If you mail them a postcard detailing why this version of the product blows the old one out of the water, that customer may be inclined to give you a second chance. After all, they won’t know you’ve made improvements unless you tell them.

Showcase Testimonials and Customer Success Stories

There are numerous reasons why customer success stories are a necessity when it comes to regaining lost customers. The biggest being that they allow customers to envision themselves having that same, desired outcome. Don’t underestimate the power of postcards featuring testimonials, reviews and other types of user generated content. Roughly nine out of ten shoppers need to read a review or testimonial prior to making a purchase.

Considering how much advertising consumers are faced with nowadays, you need to ensure that your messaging stands out. By providing buyers with content relevant to the products they’ve purchased in the past, you can ensure that your brand stands apart from those relying on generic, one-size-fits all marketing materials. One of the biggest obstacles regarding knowing how to win back inactive customers is capturing their attention. Marketing messaging that is relevant, yet different from your competition makes grabbing and keeping the attention of lapsed customers simple.

Offer a Sneak Peek of New Products or Services

Everyone loves feeling like a VIP. One of the most effective ways to make past customers feel like a VIP is by offering a sneak preview of new products similar to ones they’ve purchased previously. Offering past buyers a preview of upcoming products also allows them to prepare their budgets to begin shopping with you again, too. You never know why old customers stop shopping with you, but you do want to give them every opportunity available to return.

By sending postcards offering a preview of new products, you may pique the interest of dozens of shoppers you haven’t seen or heard from in ages. It doesn’t have to stop there, either. You can use this as an opportunity to combine direct mail with your digital marketing strategy by adding a QR code that takes visitors to a landing page. From there, you can have them sign up for a text or an email notification to purchase new items as soon as they go on sale so they don’t run the risk of missing out. Creating this type of experience could go a long way in turning one-time shoppers into lifelong, loyal buyers.

Learn More About How to Win Back Inactive Customers From GrowMail

The opportunities that come with using direct mail to keep customers engaged with your brand are undeniable. Schedule an appointment with the marketing specialists below to get more insights about how to win back inactive customers using direct mail today! Our team of friendly, knowledgeable marketing professionals has been helping brands like yours make the most of direct mail for more than 20 years. Start using direct mail to enhance your customer retention strategy by downloading a free postcard template of your choice today!