Creating a campaign to reactivate lost customers is the second best method of increasing sales—only selling to current customers yields better results. Remember, unlike prospects that have never purchased from you, these lost customers already know you and at one time liked you and trusted you.
Most business owners just assume that the customer stopped buying because they were unhappy with something. Sometimes the customer left because their needs had changed, they could no longer afford you, or, believe it or not, they just forgot about you.
Very often they left because of one of your competitors beat your price, but now they are unhappy with your competitor’s service. They often won’t come back unless invited because they are embarrassed and don’t want to admit they made a mistake. Your job in your marketing is to let them know 1) they are welcomed back, 2) that you have made changes that have eliminated the reason they left in the first place, and 3) you have new products or services that they need.
I worked with a client a few years back that had a file room with over 6,000 files of lost customers that had left them over the last 15 years. We created a three-part direct mail campaign that brought close to a 12% response. I guarantee that no direct mail campaign to cold prospects will get you a 12% response.
When you are selling to lost customers, be sure to emphasize the changes you have made to resolve the issues they had. Let them know you care about their concerns and are willing to make changes to address them. Take this opportunity to sell any new products or services you have added to your lost customers. They may have left you because they no longer needed your old products, but the new product may serve a need they currently have.