The Customer Reactivation letter - How NOT to do it

Continuing our discussions on generating leads for your business

Continuing our discussions on generating leads for your business

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This is Stuart Webb Business Success Mentor, Author, Podcast host, Speaker, CEO and Founder of the Complete Approach - with another 1 take video blog - all the mistakes stay in.

I have talked a lot in these blog posts about the importance of maintaining contact with customers and prospects.  The need is particularly acute when staying in contact with past-customers and getting them back to work with you.  Nothing is better than working with customers you know you have worked with before successfully.

Reactivating inactive customers is an inexpensive and excellent way to get dormant customers, clients or patients buying from you again. 

I use what I call the ‘Customer Reactivation Letter’ (a letter has far greater impact than an email). 

Used in accordance with my guidelines, you should be able to create a compelling letter that kick-starts many of your dormant customers into buying from you again (and again, and again). However, as always, there is a RIGHT WAY and a WRONG WAY to do it. 

Here’s the right way… 

STEP 1 – Check To Make Sure The Contact Details And Spelling Are Correct 

There’s nothing more infuriating to someone than if you get their details wrong. So double-check the contact details. 

STEP 2 – Personalise The Letter 

It doesn’t take much effort to use the name of the past customer. A nice touch is to use the customer’s name two or more times throughout the letter. Again this technique isn’t used often and always has a positive effect on the customer (we all like reading or seeing our name). 

STEP 3 – Use A Headline That Immediately Acknowledges The Customer Hasn’t Bought For A While

Make sure your headline communicates the fact that the customer hasn’t purchased from you for a while. For example, your reactivation letter can have a headline with something like: “Wanted: Information Regarding Missing Customer. Reward Offered.” Another approach is more direct. It starts out with: “We miss you! We want you back!” 

STEP 4 – Make An Offer 

In the text of the letter, remind the customer that you consider them ‘a valued customer’ - and you want them back. Give them a reason why they should return, and sweeten it with a great offer in the form of an incentive or reward for coming back, such as a discount or something free. 

STEP 5 – Put A Deadline On The Offer 

Be sure to ask them to take action and always use a deadline on the offer. 

STEP 6 – Always Sign The Letter In Blue Ink 

Don’t forget to sign the letter in blue ink. The reasoning behind this is that the colour will stand out among the walls of black text on the document while still being dark enough to read. Blue ink also indicates that the document is original and not a copy. And don’t ever let anyone ‘pp’ the letter! 

As long as you follow this simple FORMULA, you will get results—results that will surprise you. 

However, as always, it’s not WHAT you do—it’s HOW you do it.

I have seen many examples (often sent via email, which I have already said is not as efficient) of sending a questionnaire to try to reactivate the customer relationship.

Researching why customers stop buying is, of course, a sensible approach. However, you can’t ignore the fact that a well-written ‘Customer Reactivation Letter’ will always out-perform this approach. 

And too often people try to use humour to reactivate a customer  - trying to use humour to create a more lighthearted approach (I’m all for appropriate humour) — but instead of making customers laugh, it makes them cringe.

For instance - I have seen these starting with “Hello Stranger” referring to the fact that the customer has not been in contact for a while.  This start heightens the distance between customer and business.  When you write to customers (even dormant customers) - the rule is... ‘ALWAYS USE THEIR NAME’. ‘Hello Stranger’ is lazy and impersonal.  And never end the letter ‘from the team’   A letter like this should be signed by the MD or CEO. 

My advice… Be extremely careful when using humour in your marketing, especially when writing to customers! 

And remember, the Customer Reactivation Letter is an easy and very cost-effective way to make more money from the existing ‘assets’ in your business. 

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