You've worked hard to get that email list up and running, and now that you've established your email marketing campaign, you've noticed that the number of subscribers clicking through has dwindled significantly!
In fact, losing a long-time customer can feel devastating, especially if you’ve spent all this time and energy in building a relationship with them.
Watching customers come and go can feel discouraging.
While it’s a normal part of doing business with people, it can make even the most experienced eCommerce marketer disappointed.
So, when it comes to emails, if subscribers are no longer opening your emails, or if they just drop off entirely, then something has to be done on your end, right?
Fortunately, there's no need to worry about losing customers.
The truth is, there are lots of ways you can bring those subscribers back.
What Makes A Good Win-Back Customer Email?
An email that’s purpose is to win back customers who left are … well, just that!
They’re win-back customer emails.
These emails are sent to re-engage inactive contacts who have stopped opening your emails. Whether they’ve signed up to your email newsletter before, or they’ve made purchases on your website before, then these emails are a courtesy way to say “We missed you, valued customer!”
With that said, a great win-back email is able to do the following:
- Interacts with recipients in a personal way (personalization)
- Is to the point in its delivery
- Offers appropriate incentives for recipients that haven’t been active, AND
- Uses calls-to-action (CTAs) to reinforce the message of your email
Helpful Tips
So, now that you know how important win-back emails are to you and your customers, it’s time to learn how you can reignite their interest.
Here are 5 great tips for creating a win-back strategy in your emails to customers:
1. Identify Dormant Subscribers
This is the first, and most important, thing you need to do if you're looking to bring subscribers back into the fold.
The good news is that it's usually quite easy to do.
Services like MailChimp, you can use presets in the system to look for any subscribers who joined your list before a certain date and haven't opened recent emails. You can create a new segment containing these subscribers, and so you can send emails targeting them specifically.
When you create these segments, remember that you may want to drill down a bit deeper.
For example, someone who's subscribed and never bought anything will need different emails to those who have bought from you in the past but haven't recently.
2. Offer A Deal
This is a highly effective strategy when you're looking to re-engage subscribers.
Offering a coupon for money off your products can be an enticing offer for anyone who gets one in their email.
In fact, around 60% of shoppers use them when they get them.
As such, if you're looking to bring the customer back, sending a coupon or discount is a really good way to do so; try sending out a coupon, and see what effect it has on your customer base!
3. Allow Customers To Set Content Preferences
One reason why customers will not engage with your emails is because they aren't interested in all the content that you're offering to them.
Obviously, that's not ideal for you, so you need to find out why they aren't interested in it.
“You can send out a short survey, to get an idea of what they're looking for” says Adrian McDonald, a marketing writer from Boom Essays and UKWritings. “With that feedback, you can start customizing those emails to better cater to them.”
Additionally, try allowing customers to set their content preferences.
Set up links in an email, and allow them to click the link of what they're most interested in.
That shows you just what they want to see.
4. Offer 'Opt-Downs'
You don't want to lose subscribers as they opt out.
However, some may feel it's the only way forward, especially if they think they're getting emails too often.
There is a way to keep them on the list and keep them happy though, and that's by using 'opt-downs'!
These allow subscribers to control exactly how many emails they get.
You can offer them the chance to get one consolidated email once a week, or to get emails only about the things they're interested in.
In this email, you should also give them the option to opt out. Having more options means they're more likely to stick with you with less emails, rather than opting out altogether.
5. Tell Them What's New
As an eCommerce business owner, you are always looking to update or add to your product lines.
You should use this to your advantage when you're re-engaging with subscribers.
“Showing customers what's coming down the pipeline could help pique their interest again” says editor Jen Rowley, from Ox Essays and Paper Fellows. “It can often be enough to bring them back, as they want to see what you can offer them.”
Highlight what's new, and show the customer exactly why they'll want to come check it out!
This is often more than enough to get customers clicking through.
You can add images of new products and other exciting visuals, in order to get the customers interested again in what you have to offer.
Email Templates You Can Use
If you’d like to start bringing back customers with a great win-back email, then now is the time to get started!
Here are 3 of the best templates to use (Keep in mind: You can always change up these templates to make them more unique):
- The Discount: As mentioned, you can offer incentives like a promo code or a discount code to inactive email recipients. This can entice inactive users to check out what you have in store for them when you give them opportunities to save money.
- The Intimate: Treating inactive users like a valued friend using friendly and familiar language can help bring them back in some way or another. You can say that there are more items in stock – especially the ones that customers have had their eyes on for a good while. This creates a personal connection between you and the recipient.
- The Freebie: Self-explanatory, and consumers love to receive free stuff!
Wrapping Up
Now, these are just a few ways you can engage with dormant email subscribers, and get them to come back to you.
It's often easier than you'd think to get them to click through again. While results won’t happen overnight, it’s still best to ramp up your email marketing strategy.
Try these tips to reconnect with these subscribers, and show them that you're worth listening to and buying from.
Guest Blogger
Madeline Miller is a writer at Essay Writing Service and Do My Assignment. She covers marketing tips and techniques.
She's also a blogger for State of Writing.
