Winning back inactive customers

A high percentage of inactive customers in a loyalty program means a loss of potential benefits for the program owner and distortion for the program's KPIs. Even so, winning back the inactive audience is far cheaper than acquiring a new one. Recommended actions for doing so are listed below in six simple steps:

Define inactive members – using all available data, create a segment of members who have been inactive for a specified period. This time period should be based on your business and the standard shopping behaviours in your industry.

Analyze the history of dormant members – skim through the data and, if possible, divide the segment into smaller groups based on any similarities you can find. More precise personalization will increase the efficiency of the whole initiative.

Create personalized offers – a small benefit like a discount for the next transaction can help you bring customers back. These offers should be available for limited times to push members to act as soon as possible.

Run the campaign – select channels and schedule prepared messages. All the details (e.g. channel, time) should match the preferences of the targeted group. You know them already!

Welcome back message  – assuming that the previous steps were successful, the majority of the inactive members were tempted by your offers and made their way back to the program. Congratulations!

Close inactive accounts – the part of the audience that continued to remain inactive. An all likelihood, these members won't return in the future, so closing their accounts may be an appropriate action.

A high rate of member activity is one of the most important goals in any loyalty program. Developing a process to re-engage members to maintain this KPI is the easiest way to increase program efficiency.

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