What's Your Plan to Re-Engage Lapsed Customers?

You’ve worked hard to obtain great customers, and you have an ongoing direct mail program to help retain them. But what happens if those customers stop buying from you? Do you have a strategy to get them back? Here are three reasons direct mail is a powerful tool for doing just that.

1. Unlike email, mail always gets through.

Direct mail doesn’t have to worry about spam blockers. As long as your addresses are accurate, you’re good to go.

2. Customers can’t unsubscribe from postal mail.

People can get overwhelmed with their volume of email and disengage from marketing communications, even if they still like the brand. Using direct mail can be a great way to remind them how much they miss you and still want your products.

3. Mail doesn’t have to be opened to be effective.

Unlike email, recipients don’t have to click or open anything in order to see the offer. By sending a postcard or printing key points of your messaging on the outside of the envelope, your message gets seen right away.

There is a frequently cited case study on reactivating lapsed customers that gets attention—and for good reason. It comes from Belgian retailer Outlet Avenue, which found that 45% of its once frequent customers were no longer engaged and that its email subscriptions were down. Because it had postal addresses for these people, the brand sent these customers a postcard saying that they’d missed them and offered a very generous discount on their next purchase. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of these customers reengaged. That’s the power of direct mail!

So even if you use email for regular customer communication, make sure you have a postal address, too. Keep those addresses current, and keep track of which customers haven’t purchased in awhile (say, six to 12 months). This way, you can re-engage them if necessary.

Need help modifying your marketing list to keep track of lapsed customers? Let our database experts help!