It is simply a “truth universally acknowledged,” to punctuation Jane Austen, that it’s cheaper to clasp aged customers than get caller ones. So wherefore don’t marketers bash a amended occupation of winning backmost customers who erstwhile spent wealth but person gone silent?

Email marketers ever archer maine they’ve tried reactivation oregon re-engagement programs, which conscionable didn’t work. They didn’t get those customers back, oregon the ROI connected their programs didn’t measurement up to expectations. 

The occupation isn’t truthful overmuch that reactivation programs don’t work. Rather, it apt was the reactivation programme was poorly designed. Maybe it didn’t usage the close data. Or, the marque sent lone 1 email alternatively of a series. It treated each departed customers the aforesaid alternatively of recognizing important differences among them and crafting programs to talk to those differences. 

A reactivation programme tin beryllium the trickiest of each your lawsuit programs to signifier and conduct. But it’s indispensable to get it close truthful you tin walk little of your fund connected acquisition and get a amended instrumentality connected what you’ve already spent. 

Re-engagement and reactivation are not the same

What you privation the programme to execute volition find whether you simply privation to aftermath up subscribers who haven’t acted connected your emails successful immoderate clip oregon to bring backmost customers who had purchased astatine slightest erstwhile but not again successful periods tied to your purchasing cycles.

The occurrence metrics are different, too. With re-engagement, you privation to spot radical doing thing with your email — opening it, clicking connected it, and unsubscribing from it. For a reactivation program, your extremity is to get erstwhile customers to travel backmost and bargain again. Seeing long-dormant customers acting connected your emails is nice, but that’s a collateral gain, not the nonsubjective of your reactivation program.

Lapsing, lapsed and dormant customers and wherefore they matter

Your reactivation programme volition absorption connected antithetic audiences wrong your lawsuit database. It’s indispensable to recognize your regular buying rhythm — however often radical buy, whether they repurchase astatine akin intervals but lone astatine definite times of the twelvemonth and different variables. Don’t disregard these differences, and instrumentality the clip to larn them. 

When I’m gathering a reactivation programme for a client, I look astatine 3 categories of customers:

• Lapsing: These customers are astatine the outer borderline of your buying cycle. If your mean buying rhythm is 60 days, these could beryllium customers whose past acquisition was a fewer days connected either broadside of that cycle. If you’re conscionable opening to usage reactivation programs, statesman with these customers due to the fact that they’re the astir precocious progressive and apt the astir interested.
• Lapsed: These customers person gone conscionable beyond your acquisition cycle. They mightiness beryllium 90 days oregon much past the past acquisition but person much caller purchases than the adjacent radical successful this list.
• Dormant: These customers person gone astatine slightest 2 purchasing cycles without buying. On a 60-day acquisition cycle, they mightiness beryllium 121 days overdue. This radical requires peculiar handling to pull attraction and debar deliverability issues. Customers who person fallen distant this agelong mightiness beryllium much tempted to click the spam fastener oregon to disregard your emails — 2 actions that tin wounded your sender estimation with the ISPs and support you retired of the inbox.

You tin spot wherefore acquisition information matters present and wherefore determination is nary regularisation of thumb for erstwhile to commencement a reactivation programme oregon however agelong it should run. As a marketer, you indispensable telephone connected the information and your cognition of your customers and their products.

Consider shopper personalities

Knowing what motivates your customers to bargain is different cardinal constituent of a bully reactivation program. Consider the 4 basal buying personalities arsenic defined by Bryan Eisenberg:

• Competitive. Fast-paced decision-making, logically oriented.
• Spontaneous. Fast-paced decision-making, emotionally oriented.
• Humanistic. Slow-paced decision-making, emotionally oriented.
• Methodical. Slow-paced decision-making, logically oriented.

It helps to cognize whether your customers, particularly your high-value shoppers, are much apt to autumn into 1 class oregon different due to the fact that you tin usage that cognition each done your email programs. 

Are they much apt to beryllium impulse buyers (the spontaneous ones)? Do they request to work each the good people earlier taking the adjacent measurement (methodical shoppers)? 

You don’t person to settee connected 1 personality, though. For example, I’m a spontaneous shopper for user goods. But erstwhile I’m successful B2B mode, buying for thing for my company, I power into competitory mode. The solution: Add thing that would fulfill each property successful each email you nonstop successful your reactivation sequence.  

Generative AI tin assistance you make these antithetic messaging modes successful this area. In experiments with ChatGPT, I discovered that the instrumentality could constitute a compelling connection utilizing connection designed to motivate each property successful the database above. 

Use recency-frequency-monetary (RFM) value

Get acceptable to dive into your data. RFM is utile for B2B marketers with antithetic parameters, lawsuit groups and purchasing oregon enactment cycles from B2C marketers. You’ll see however precocious customers bought, however often and however overmuch wealth they spent with you to operation your programs.

9 questions a reactivation programme should answer

Now that you’ve gathered your information and considered your lawsuit groups, it’s clip to commencement processing a plan. 

A reactivation programme has much moving parts than a re-engagement programme and takes much readying and preparation. Here are questions you’ll request to reply arsenic you physique your programme structure:

1. What’s your goal?

The constituent of your reactivation programme is not to support sending radical emails. A reactivation programme aims to person past purchasers backmost into progressive customers. (How you support them successful the corral is fodder for different portion of your program.) 

You could absorption connected lawsuit status, specified arsenic reactivating 10% of your lapsing oregon lapsed customers successful a year, oregon purpose to rise 20% of your email gross from reactivated customers. Be definite each facet of your programme focuses connected your goal.

2. Who should get the reactivation emails?

To reply this question, usage the information you stitchery to specify your lapsing, lapsed and dormant customers (see above). Bring successful different data, too, specified arsenic mean bid values, kinds of products purchased and more. 

Maybe not each of your customers volition request a reactivation programme if you privation to absorption connected customers with higher beingness values, specified arsenic those who bargain much often oregon bargain astatine afloat terms alternatively of waiting for sales.

The reply depends connected what you merchantability and however often your customers buy. Tennis balls are cheaper and get repurchased much often than tennis racquets. If you merchantability both, you whitethorn request antithetic reactivation programs for these 2 merchandise categories. 

When you deliberation astir it successful theory, this mightiness dependable similar a batch of work. But retrieve that these are similar personalized programs. They execute amended than broadcast emails due to the fact that they are tailored to the circumstantial characteristics of a lawsuit group.  

3. How galore emails should you send? 

A re-engagement programme could beryllium a one-off email you nonstop manually oregon trigger erstwhile a subscriber is inactive connected email aft a definite time. For a reactivation program, you’ll person much occurrence with a series. 

Testing tin assistance you find the close fig of emails successful the series and the intervals astatine which you nonstop them. Automation is indispensable present due to the fact that the trigger (i.e., X days past past purchase) and the connection contented volition alteration from 1 lawsuit radical to the next.

I precocious worked with a lawsuit updating retention-focused emails, similar cart abandonment and reactivation. I recommended opening with a bid of 3 emails sent a week isolated targeting the lapsing conception and past reviewing however they performed earlier expanding the programme to code the lapsed and dormant segments. 

4. Should you suppress promotional emails portion the reactivation series runs?

This is thing to see truthful customers don’t get mixed signals — receiving a promotion email from you 1 time and Email 1 of a five-email reactivation bid the adjacent — oregon an unexpected and perchance unwanted summation successful measurement oregon frequency.

Use your data, your email strategy and frequence and your lawsuit cognition to find whether you should power retired the regular promotional emails for a dedicated reactivation program. 

Don’t motorboat a reactivation programme simultaneously for each lawsuit successful a lapsing, lapsed oregon dormant segment. Instead, statesman with your lapsing customers due to the fact that they’re your astir caller purchasers and presumably your astir interested. Then determination connected to your lapsed and dormant segments.

5. How should your reactivation emails look and sound?

Keep 1 regularisation successful mind. Speak to your customers arsenic radical and admit wherefore they mightiness person stopped purchasing. Include acquainted branding elements similar your logo, marque colors, taglines and dependable and usage acquainted formatting.

But usage taxable lines, preheaders and connection transcript that marque your reactivation basal retired from your business-as-usual emails and talk to wherefore customers fell distant and what benefits they’ll get by returning.

The wide code should bespeak your marque dependable and absorption connected your customers’ needs and wants. That’s wherever galore reactivation emails spell disconnected the rails.

During a webinar connected reactivation emails my institution precocious hosted, panelist Kim Greenop-Gadsby of Proact IT AB said:

“When a narration falls apart, either the different idiosyncratic is the problem, oregon the occupation is me. Let’s accidental I’m successful a narration and idiosyncratic is perpetually talking astatine maine and telling maine however large they are and however large their institution is and however it’ll lick each my problems. I’m saying, ‘You don’t cognize my problems. You haven’t asked maine anything.’ But sometimes I’m the problem. I’ve moved oregon changed jobs, but the marque is inactive hammering connected that dormant horse. Just judge that a idiosyncratic is not engaging. Move them to a antithetic conception and determination connected with your life.”

6. What astir overt oregon covert messaging?

With overt messaging, your transcript acknowledges that you’re contacting customers due to the fact that they haven’t bought recently. (See the Bulletproof Coffee email successful the adjacent conception for an example.)

With covert messaging, specified arsenic the Staples illustration below, you mightiness item caller products, a streamlined bid system, a VIP-only connection oregon immoderate different subtle approach.

7. Should I adhd an incentive?

Maybe. Whatever you determine should beryllium based connected what you cognize astir your customers, what motivates them, their beingness worth and whether you tin expect to coup the outgo of that inducement successful a caller purchase.

If you see an incentive, prevention it for a aboriginal email successful your series. Suppose you nonstop a five-email bid with a budget-busting incentive. If you enactment that inducement to Email 1, you tin warrant galore much radical volition redeem it than if you adhd it to Email 5 and suppress anyone who converted from immoderate of the erstwhile 4 emails. Your extremity is inactive to gain arsenic overmuch nett arsenic possible, truthful don’t pb with your champion offer. 

8. What should I test?

Everything! Here’s a speedy database you tin usage to tally A/B divided tests connected each programme email:

• Number of emails successful the series
• Subject line/preheader
• Tone
• Incentive oregon connection — to usage oregon not and what it should be
• Content approach
• Emotion (fear of missing out, brand/product benefits, exclusivity, etc.)
• Overt versus covert messaging

Testing is indispensable erstwhile you’re gathering a reactivation programme from the crushed up. Perform regular A/B divided tests connected your programme for lapsing customers. When you state a winner, instrumentality it arsenic an automation.

Suppose you person antecedently reactivated customers falling into your lapsing segment. In that case, you tin either suppress them from this programme oregon fto them person it anyhow due to the fact that it volition person been a portion since they received your archetypal lapsing-program emails.

9. How volition I cognize my programme is succeeding?

Choose occurrence metrics that enactment up with your goals. If you purpose to summation gross from lapsed customers, usage revenue-based metrics specified arsenic full revenue. Other gross metrics, specified arsenic mean bid worth oregon gross per email, tin beryllium barometers for your emails’ occurrence astatine nudging customers backmost to buy.

Two things to remember:

Extend your reporting play to debar undercounting conversions. This is simply a bully signifier to travel with immoderate email programme you send. I often spot marketers halt counting clicks, conversions and gross aft a week oregon so. 

However, radical often click connected oregon person from emails agelong aft you nonstop them. A longer reporting play means you’ll get a broader presumption of your email’s performance. For example, support your reporting unfastened for 30 to 60 days to observe erstwhile clicks and conversions yet peter out.

Don’t expect conversion rates that comparison to your best-performing email programs. You mightiness get lone a 1% to 2% conversion connected a reactivation email, portion your business-as-usual emails routinely get 25% to 30%. Lapsed customers tin beryllium a pugnacious crowd. They’re radical who bought from you astatine slightest erstwhile but not lately, truthful you mightiness person a higher obstruction to cross.

Dig deeper: 7 cardinal email metrics to way beyond opens and clicks

Be inspired by these reactivation email examples

Adidas

Subject line: Take a peek – travel backmost and marque the astir of this connection 👀

We picked this email due to the fact that it had a grabber taxable line. It uses curiosity to pique involvement successful the connection and stands retired from Adidas’ accustomed taxable enactment format. 

The email is person to a re-engagement email due to the fact that it’s a stand-alone programme and doesn’t notation to the customer’s erstwhile purchases, if any. It’s besides an illustration of overt reactivation messaging successful that it refers to inactivity.

Note that erstwhile overt messaging similar this is used, it needs to beryllium based connected acquisition data, arsenic they whitethorn beryllium inactive connected email yet are inactive buying online oregon in-shop.

Staples

Subject line: Your spot for bureau supplies & truthful overmuch more.

Here’s different email that could acceptable into some re-engagement and reactivation programs. Staples goes each successful connected promoting its services and benefits alternatively of extending an connection to travel back.

Bulletproof

Subject line: Come Back And Save (a peculiar connection conscionable for you!)

Bulletproof sent 1 of the fewer existent reactivation emails we recovered successful our research. The transcript refers straight to a erstwhile acquisition and the email arrived precisely 7 months aft the purchase.

We besides similar the taxable line. While this stand-alone email mentions that an connection is involved, the taxable enactment soft-pedals the specifics, simply mentioning an accidental to prevention money. 

JustFab

Subject line: ❤️❤️We’ve Missed You! Come Back for 50% OFF ❤️❤️

If you privation to spot robust reactivation programs successful action, look nary further than subscription brands similar JustFab. Customer churn tin beryllium high, truthful galore brands person placed information signals everyplace to observe erstwhile lawsuit involvement is waning, oregon they’re astir to deed the “Cancel” button. JustFab leans connected nostalgia and FOMO to punctual lapsed subscribers astir what they’re missing. 

One absorbing point: JustFab indispensable person been doing immoderate email investigating the time the marque sent this email due to the fact that different relationship astatine Mailcharts, which supplied the email images successful this post, received an connection to get a acquisition paper successful speech for signing up for an affiliate survey program. 

Office Depot  

Subject line: We Miss You
Preheader: You haven’t been checking your emails!

Many different emails successful this postulation diagnostic overt messaging — contented that straight addresses the vanishing customer. This email from Office Depot, which arrived 60 days from the past acquisition date, is an illustration of covert messaging. (Except for that header, which could beryllium borderline creepy oregon judgy for immoderate people.) 

It doesn’t notation to past purchases, but it did get 60 days to the time aft the past purchase. We chose it due to the fact that it’s an all-purpose illustration of retention marketing. There’s thing for everyone, whether it’s a blessed lawsuit who gets rewarded for a affirmative remark with a coupon oregon subscription penchant options successful a layout that makes interacting casual connected a cellphone-size screen.

Final thoughts

Reactivation email programs instrumentality arsenic overmuch readying arsenic the astir analyzable automated email sequences. But the results tin assistance your email programme utilizing thing but a selling automation platform, possibly a CRM oregon spreadsheet and plentifulness of up-to-date lawsuit data.

That’s not excessively overmuch to inquire for, is it? But the payoff for each your occupation could beryllium huge. If you request much ways to clasp customers oregon summation revenue, a reactivation programme designed to scope lapsing, lapsed oregon dormant customers, look for speedy wins you tin usage to plug gross gaps and enactment connected to your higher-value customers.

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