The lapsed customer. These are former customers who haven’t done business with you in some time – and aren’t likely to any time soon. It happens all the time.
Whether we’re talking about your business’s biggest fans, or someone who made a single purchase once on a whim, you’re going to have lapsed customers.
Why does this happen? Well, life gets in the way sometimes. It’s not always because the customer isn’t necessarily interested in your products or services anymore. On a purely personal level, there are plenty of businesses I would consider myself a “loyal” to that I haven’t made purchases from in years.
It could be because they switched emails and don’t get your newsletter anymore. It could be because they moved further away, and now the drive is ten minutes longer. Could be anything. The list goes on and on.
Every year, the average business can lose between 10% to 25% of its entire customer base, according to Marketing at Work. Sounds a little scary, doesn’t it?
The good news is that there’s a few things you can do to win them back (and keep them around). Putting in the extra effort can make all the difference between losing 25% or 10%.
Start by planning a reach-out campaign. You’ll want to cover all of your bases here. If you keep any sort of database logging customer purchases, construct a list of lapsed customers. Your goal should be to come up with some sort of appeal in order to attract them back to your business.
Here’s a few examples, each highlighting a different strategy you can take.
- An enticing deal, exclusively for customers who haven’t made a purchase in over a year.
- An exciting focus on new products. Ideally paired with the launch of something brand new and well-anticipated.
- A “see what you’ve missed” approach by highlighting a combination of brand developments. These could be new product lines, services, events you’ve held (or will hold), and more.
Another key to attracting a lapsed customer is finding the right point of engagement.
- SMS and Email. Assuming you’ve obtained their contact information at some point, reaching out to lapsed customers via text message or email can be particularly effective. There are unique advantages to each approach. A text message is immediate, personal, and far more likely to be seen. Email is less invasive, and allows you to highlight more visual elements. Always give customers an option to opt out of communications.
- Social Media. Don’t have their contact info? No problem. Social media is another great way to re-engage lapsed customers.
Keep Customers Engaged With CoGoBuzz
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Redefining your mobile experience, you’ll reach and engage your customers on the devices that they use most, both in-store and out. We create a fully-realized profile for every customer that logs into your in-store HotSpot. On top of that, our service comes packed with a fully digital, text-based loyalty program, allowing you to instantly engage and reward your customers with a simple text. CoGoBuz works overtime to make sure customers keep coming back, ensuring you won’t have to worry about lapsed customers.
Check out the rest of our website to learn more about CoGoBuzz!
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How does your business deal with lapsed customers? Sound off in the comments!