Customer retention is key to customer success. You don’t want one-time buyers. You want people who buy your products for the long haul and become loyal customers. You want to maximize their lifetime value.
That’s why when customers no longer buy from you, you need to find ways to win them back and then retain them.
Fortunately, there are ways you can do this with the right content strategy. Targeted content, for instance, is content that aims to drive a response from a specific audience. It’s effective because it speaks to them and specifically addresses their pain points. As a result, targeted content increases a brand’s chances of generating a sale by 80%.
So how can you leverage targeted content to win back lost customers? Follow these tips:
1. Gather Data
Around 52% of customers agree that personalization improves brand satisfaction. For you to personalize successfully, you need to know your customer. That’s why every effective content marketing strategy, including one that uses targeted content to win back customers, needs customer data. You need the data to personalize your content and make it resonate better with your audience.
Use your analytics to determine who your customer is and their specific interests. Some of the other ways you can collect customer data are through:
- Surveys
- Subscriptions and registrations
- Online traffic
- Marketing analysis
- Monitoring social media
Content data from analytics can also give you a detailed view of what has worked for your business. See which content worked in the past and which didn’t. This can help you determine what content ideas or writing styles to use when creating your targeted content.
2. Identify the Reason Customer Left
Several reasons can lead to a customer leaving your brand. The customer may be unhappy with your product or can just be uncomfortable with your pricing. The image below illustrates the other reasons your customer may have left:
Your goal at this point is to identify why they left so you can strategize how to win them back through targeted content.
The first way to know why a customer left is to ask them directly. You can do this via email or text message. For example, let’s say a customer unsubscribes from a paid subscription service. You can send them a survey immediately after they have unsubscribed asking them why they are leaving. Check out the example below:
Another way is to use your data to analyze patterns. Check all churned customers and look at possible common patterns. For example, check at what point in the customer journey they fell off. You won’t know their exact reason for leaving your brand, but you’ll get an idea of where the problem lies.
For instance, if you’re a SaaS service and many of your customers never renew their subscriptions, then there must be something wrong with the product itself or customer support.
Once you know your customer’s reason for leaving, create the right content to win them back.
For instance, if your customer says the product was complicated for them, you can send them an email informing them about your website training resources. Something like this:
Image Source
You should check the data you previously collected to ensure your targeted content is personalized. So you can use your lost customer’s name and use the same writing style you found elicits more engagement based on your content data analysis.
3. Remind Them of Value You Can Offer
If you remind customers of your value through targeted content, you can reassure them that they made the right decision about purchasing your product. You also reassure them that they should stick with your brand.
One good way to reintroduce your value to customers is to restate how your product or service can solve the challenge they are facing. For instance, if you sell CRM software, you can show customers how your software solution can give them access to efficient CRM workflows at affordable prices.
You can send out targeted emails highlighting benefits and recent improvements in your products, like this one from DivvyHQ:
Also include images or a free demo encouraging them to explore the tool.
You can leverage social media content and PR, too, to remind customers of your value proposition.
4. Offer Incentives for Them to Stay
Incentives are an exciting way to activate your customer base, get them more engaged in your business, and win lost customers back.
Select an attractive customer incentive. You can go back to your customer data to see which incentive will more likely resonate with your lost customer. Some possible incentives are discounts, a special gift, or an offer. Check out this example from Skillshare:
Make sure you also set a deadline for the claiming of your incentive. If you don’t, your lost customer might think they have all the time in the world to avail of your offer. So, they won’t take your desired action then and there.
In the example above, for instance, Skillshare specifies that the offer is only for a limited time. The phrase “this offer ends soon!” also helps add a sense of urgency. This may prompt the lost customer to take your desired action.
Keep in mind that the more personalized your incentives are, the more effective they will be in helping you win back your lost customers. You’ll need to announce these incentives. So if you’re using email, like the one above, make sure your email is personalized, too.
How to Retain Customers
Let’s assume you’ve won back your customers. Great! Now you need to ensure they never leave again. Remember, the cost of acquiring new customers is five times more than that of retaining the existing ones.
How do you retain the customers you’ve just won back? Follow these tips:
- Again, provide personalized customer experiences: Use your customer data to create tailored experiences across all brand touchpoints to your customers. Don’t follow a one-size fits all approach. Around 66% of consumers expect brands to understand their individual needs.
- Send a newsletter: Just because you’ve won back your customers doesn’t mean you should stop sending them emails. Send your customers updates or offers. Make sure you segment your audience first if you haven’t done that just yet. Build customer personas that help you craft tailored content in the newsletter. You can then plan on creating a QR code for a PDF, making the navigation smooth.
- Ask for customer feedback: Send your customers surveys via email. Offer them incentives to respond to the surveys. The goal is for you to know how they feel about your brand. Once the results are in, you can make the necessary changes to your approach or even your product. For instance, if they say your software is buggy, you can ask your IT department to fix the problem.
Ultimately, you want to make sure you continue to build trust with your customers. That means you need to deliver on your promise to provide value. You need to be reliable, too. If you continue to find ways to understand your customers’ needs and go the extra mile to address them, you won’t only retain them. You’ll have brand advocates who will promote your brand for you.
In Closing
If you want your business to succeed, you need to make sure you don’t lose customers. So when a customer leaves, you have to find ways to win them back.
Targeted content can help you win back lost customers. Targeted content is aimed at driving a response from your specific audience. It’s effective because it directly addresses their concerns.
To leverage targeted content and win back customers, gather data about your lost customers first. You also need to identify the reason they left. Once you have your data and their reasons for leaving, you can create content tailored to their needs. Remind customers of your value, too. Also, offer incentives.
Finally, after winning back your customers, don’t forget to implement customer retention strategies.
Follow these tips and you’ll reap all the benefits. Good luck!
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