How to Win Back Customers

There is an old adage in business that it is more expensive to win a new customer than to retain an existing one. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t try to attract new customers, it just shows that creating customer retention should receive as much effort as acquiring new ones.

If your efforts to retain customers fail and you are finding that some of your most loyal customers are coming in store less, buying fewer products or using a competitor’s services, what can you do to win them back?

Why you have to follow up with lost customers

Returning customers are so important to your businesses growth. In the modern day, there are so many options available to customers that it can be difficult to retain and prevent them from moving to or trying similar products/services from your competitors.

When businesses lose customers, what once was a steady income is no longer there. The good news is that it’s far easier to sell your services to someone that has been a customer before. Here are some ways of getting back those customers that you thought had gone forever.

Find out why your customers are leaving

Was it something that you said? There are many reasons why a relationship with your customer might have broken down and they may be gone for now, but that doesn’t mean you should roll over and let them go forever.

It’s practically impossible to cater to every customer’s needs and to keep them all happy. It’s common for customers to feel the lure of competitors if they’ve had a negative experience with you.

If there is a customer that you’d want back, find out why they left. This is important as it will help you work out how to win them back. This can be done through surveys, emails, phone calls or even face-to-face.

Just by getting in touch with them, it gives the impression that your business values their custom. It’s a win-win situation. And if they reply, then you’ll know what areas of your business to improve.

Create a ‘we fixed it’ campaign

If the problem is widespread and if something led to a mass exodus of customers, do something about it. Identify the problem, fix it and let customers know all about it. Samsung is a recent example of this.

When there were a number of cases of the Galaxy Note 7 exploding last year, Samsung released ‘safe’ Note 7 replacements. When these began exploding too, even more questions were being asked about the quality of Samsung products.

Of course, the fiasco has severely damaged the firm but they are making efforts to reassure customers. Their recent campaign shows the extensive testing their products go under. This is a large-scale example, but any business can follow a similar message.

Give them an incentive to come back

We all like a little sweetener to clinch the deal! Using CRM software, you can identify inactive customers and segment them. Once segmented you can target each with an offer that is tailored to their needs.

You might not make as much money on the first return sale, especially if your incentive is impossible to turn down, but by doing so you’ll hopefully turn inactive customers into future repeat customers.