Turn “Old” Customers into “New” Ones

One customer that is often forgotten is the one that used to be a regular and for some reason stopped buying. I’m sure that if you think back, you’ll remember a few good customers who you haven’t seen in a while. Though we tend to focus on customers actively delivering the majority of our sales, as well as seeking new customers (of course), we tend to overlook those that haven’t made a recent purchase.

But what if you contacted those customers that, 12 months or more ago, were buying from you on a regular basis and now have stopped? What if all it took was some gentle prodding to get them back on your active customer list?

Customer Reactivation Campaigns are popular direct marketing programs, and Modern has helped many customers execute them with great results. It’s not unusual for the return on investment of reactivation campaigns to out-perform new customer acquisition campaigns. In fact, we ourselves are successfully reactivating some of our “dormant” customers by reaching out to them via direct mail or email.

The concept is quite simple. Create a campaign to re-engage some of your older customers in an effort to get them to return. Some simply need to be reminded of why they started doing business with you in the first place. Others leave because they’ve just fallen out of touch and don’t realize how your business, products or services have changed or expanded. Whatever the case, give them an opportunity to get to know your business again, and you may find that they’re ready to return.

A final bit of advice. We find that programs that include an aggressive “re-introduction” offer help pave the way for many former customers to return to your ranks. In an economy where every customer truly counts, try bringing back those that already know about you and have bought before. You may find it to be an unexpected source for a surge of “new” customers.