Customer Retention: Keep ’Em And Hold ’Em
With customer reactivation, ongoing communication combined with the right offer can reactivate lapsed buyers with surprising effectiveness, Valentino notes. She suggests that if your 12-month housefile growth is flat or declining year to year, you’d better start trying to bring older buyers back into the fold.
Looking back on buyers who haven’t purchased in more than 36 months, Valentino suggests segmenting by merchandise. If a customer’s last purchase was a large one-time purchase or from a category you no longer carry, that customer will be harder to reactivate. If on the other hand, it was a gift purchase, then reactivation might be worthwhile.
Once you decide to reactivate a certain segment, you’ll probably need some kind of incentive, Valentino says. Sometimes, however, that incentive can be remarkably inexpensive. “Although it’s somewhat clichéd, a ‘We miss your business’ message can be quite effective,” she points out.
As for the popular, “This could be your last catalog” message, although she considers it a loud-and-clear signal, Valentino feels it’s overused by the industry. An additional message helps. For instance, home décor and gifts cataloger Collections Etc. uses a “last catalog” message as well as an, “Everything in this catalog is $14.95 or less” message.
