If someone placed an order once, this doesn’t mean they will stick with you forever. Even loyal customers leave, become dormant, or start purchasing much less than before. The average churn rate in retail, finances, and telecom varies from 21 to 27% within the US. In other words, 1 out of 4 customers will cut ties with your business.

Is there a way to prevent this?

Yes and no. You will never be able to keep each and every customer from leaving. Nevertheless, an effective customer win-back campaign can considerably reduce churn rates and reactivate dormant customers. Since engaging a new customer is much more pricey than remarketing, customer win-back campaigns truly pay off.

Even though social media, online ads, and email marketing are the most commonly used channels to target inactive subscribers, “We want you back” postcards are also a popular choice. They have great redemption and open rates, feel more personal, and make your marketing stand out from the crowd.

More about mail-based customer win-back campaigns in today’s article:

• What is a customer win-back campaign?
• How to get your customers back through different channels, including direct mail
• “We want you back” postcard case with an 18% redemption rate
• Tips on win-back business postcard design and content

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What Is a Customer Win-back Campaign?

Customer win-back campaigns (also called re-engagement campaigns) are a marketing approach used to re-engage lapsed customers who have become inactive and show no sign of interest in your brand. It’s a gentle way to remind them about your brand with convincing call-to-actions or special offers. Such campaigns are usually included in the automated marketing workflow and launched when the system detects that an individual has remained inactive for a specific time.

Why does a customer win-back campaign work?

A customer who has already ordered from you is more likely to convert than someone who knows nothing about your brand. A quality customer win-back campaign will not only reanimate your customer base but will also increase the profit.

Here’s how it works. Let’s say you’ve created a remarketing business postcard design and sent it to 3000 customers. Since the mailing lists are segmented by customer lifetime value, behavioral patterns, and preferences, you target only the most promising dormant customers. The business postcard design offers them access to an exclusive loyalty program with a 5% discount on all next orders. Provided with such an incentive, 20% of the dormant customers reactivate, and 25% complete a purchase with a $100 average order value within the next 30 days. It’s a $15,000 revenue from the one-time customer win-back campaign.

How to Get Your Customers Back Through Different Channels, Including Direct Mail

Customer win-back campaigns can be omni-channel. Yet, you must never be too pushy or obtrusive. If you have contacted a lapsed customer and they clearly showed they aren’t interested in your offer, don’t keep bombarding them with messages everywhere.

The combination of multiple channels is about choosing the right channel at the right moment. Some people are more responsive to social media communications, whereas others adore personalized postcards. Experienced marketers usually choose among one of the following touchpoints:

• Win-back email campaigns. Use custom subject lines briefly summarizing your offer, an eye-catching email design, and a strong call-to-action. You can email subscribers that haven’t renewed their subscriptions or offer incentives to inactive customers through e-commerce emails. Engagement emails also work to collect feedback from lapsed customers.
• Online ads. Tie the content of your digital ads to customer experience. You will need to use marketing automation software for tracking customer activity and building dynamic marketing workflows based on it. Digital ads are preferable remarketing options for online services and e-commerce.
• Social media retargeting. Since the majority of the economically active population uses social media, it’s a good place to attract their attention. For instance, Facebook supports the Custom Audiences feature designed for retargeting. You can segment the target audience by visits to a specific page and show them only the relevant ads. Like online ads, social media are mainly suitable for customer win-back campaigns run by online services and e-commerce.
• Mail postcards. Custom postcards are a universal remarketing channel that shows great results, especially when digital marketing falls flat. A nice business postcard design can retarget customers of both online and offline businesses. Moreover, thanks to direct mail automation, you can align “We want you back” postcards with your systems to include direct mail into your omni-channel marketing campaign.

To find out which of these channels (or a combination of several touchpoints) can bring back dormant customers, be sure to plan a customer win-back campaign in advance. Discover the case study of successful customer remarketing below.

“We Want You Back” Postcard Case With an 18% Redemption Rate

As a postcard printing and delivery automation platform, Inkit is a beloved solution for many businesses that run mail remarketing campaigns. Thanks to extensive integrations supported, it smoothly connects with CRMs and other marketing tools.

Bite Squad, a restaurant delivery service, is one of the companies that use Inkit for customer win-back campaigns. They have integrated the tool with their martech stack to trigger mail printing and shipment right from the CRM. Bite Squad has also created a custom postcard design offering the recipients to treat them with dinner. It has a call-to-action on the one side and a free entry coupon on the flip side.

Predictably, it turned out that many people were happy to receive such an offer. 18% has redeemed the “We want you back” postcard, placed an order, and turned into active customers. For more details on how Bite Squad used “We want you back” postcards powered by Inkit, read the full case study.

Tips on Win-Back Business Postcard Design and Content

When customers stop engaging with your brand, you have no room for mistakes. There is a chance they have become inactive because of a bad experience. And the next time you do something wrong, they will just leave for good.

That’s why we suggest that you do read through these professional tips and follow them in your next customer win-back campaign:

• Always segment your target audience before sending them a “We want you back” postcard or other communications. This will make your marketing efforts more personalized and cost-effective.
• Launch test campaigns before investing in a large-scale customer win-back campaign. A/B testing is the easiest way to estimate the ROI of your marketing strategy and make sure it’s profitable and benefits your business.
• Choose traditional “We want you back” postcards for B2C marketing and consider more advanced designs for B2B marketing. You can also enclose your business card when relevant.
• Use custom images and branding elements to create quality business postcard designs that can build brand awareness and promote your company.
• Know when enough is enough with content in your business postcard design. You don’t need to tell everything about your business on a “We want you back” postcard. A strong CTA and minimum information about the provided incentive will do.
• Connect business postcard designs with your martech stack through Inkit to automate postcard printing and delivery. No need to find a third-party printer, go to the post office and arrange delivery.

For more ideas on reengagement postcards, visit this article on proven re-engagement postcard ideas. If you are interested in full direct mail marketing automation with Inkit, get in touch with our team.