Customer winback is a subject that goes well with our most recent blog about customer retention. It is best to not lose quality customers to begin with, but there are situations when customers will be lost. However, all is not necessarily lost when a customer leaves. There may be options to bring these customers back into the fold. From a cost and revenue perspective, there is a bit of sensibility in this element, as customer winbacks are often known to be less expensive customer acquisitions than brand new customer acquisitions.

Don’t leave winback up to chance. Have a clear action plan.

The customer decision making process of whether or not to stay in a relationship with a brand is an ongoing process. Now more than ever, it is easier to check out other alternatives within a product category. Sure, there are always switching costs involved, but doing the legwork of research on whether to make a switch or not is easier than ever. Thus, clients are continually evaluating their relationship to your brand, whether they are fully cognizant of it or not. However, there are little things that a company can do to win someone back, or gain insight into why customer losses are happening, creating corrective action that can stem the flow of defecting customers.

The most important element of Distribion’s platform in terms of customer winback is improving communication. Through a multichannel approach, meaningful dialogue can be established or re-established, through communication channels like email, microsites and forms & surveys. Survey information about the customer experience is truly valuable to an organization. It is one form of market research and themes likely can emerge from extensive customer feedback. In real-time, a company can segment and analyze responses, then refine subsequent messaging strategies and boost re-engagement.

The reasons why a brand could be in need of a customer winback initiative are far reaching. Some of the scenarios have been touched upon in past blog posts. Perhaps the brand has not kept pace with the times and trends, and is in need of revitalization. Perhaps the company experienced some sort of brand crisis and didn’t adequately address it in the eyes of their target consumers. Winback initiatives provide brands a second chance to make a meaningful impact. This meaningful impact likely includes taking corrective action of some sort.

There’s a financial incentive to winback quality customers who’ve had a history with the brand. Customers that have some sort of history with the brand can remember the good times that they associate with your brand. Conversely, a brand that loses customers and doesn’t do much about it risks having negative brand feedback in the digital space, which can have a negative impact on future earnings.