Let’s talk retention! So, you’ve put in all the groundwork to attract your “ideal” customer base – these are the customers who will get the most value from the product or service you’re selling. So now what?
Retention efforts begin with activation and follow-up, ensuring these customers become active users and continue to do business with you. I’m going to share the 5 best email marketing strategies that will help you increase your retention rates and bring in more revenue:
Customer Retention Email Strategy #1: The Activation or Welcome Email
This email goes to users who’ve taken an action step but haven’t completed your whole goal yet. Usually this is just a short email, delivered at the right moment based on actual behavior to help keep customers on the path to progress. This type of communication is very proactive and increases engagement. You can use it to promote an offer, or to remind the recipient of the value you offer, like so:
Don’t forget to follow this up with an additional email telling them a little more about the new product or feature they’re using.
Customer Retention Email Strategy #2: Capture Feedback and Reviews
Reviews and customer feedback can be beneficial for your business in many ways. They provide useful insights on your products, your service, and everything in between. What’s great about this, is that you’re not actually trying to sell your customers here, but instead encouraging them to share their important feedback AND go to your website and write reviews. It’s a win-win: you get to find out which of your customers are happy (and which need extra attention), and you get an opportunity to ask your happy customers to leave valuable reviews that can turn into new opportunities. Check out this timely follow up from our nearby salon:
Customer Retention Email Strategy #3: The Nurture
Customer retention is all about nurturing your relationship with your customers. That means communicating with them regularly about things that might interest them or maximize their usage of your product or service. A great way to tackle this is by using drip sequences or lead nurturing emails. This is an automated workflow that deploys based on a predetermined sequence. Use these emails to showcase your knowledge, provide value to the customer, establish credibility, and keep your business top of mind with customers. Or, as is the case with this email, use these nurtures to showcase new products at the exact moment your existing customers might need to upgrade:
Customer Retention Email Strategy #4: The Milestone Email
These types of emails can be important, because there is no better way to demonstrate the unique value your service is providing to each individual customer. Maybe it’s their birthday, or their 2-year anniversary as a client of yours, or even a variable-involved email that shows their consumption for the last month (think Fitbit or Lyft’s monthly recap). This makes the customer feel appreciated and helps to build a relationship that increases loyalty to your brand. These emails have no call to action or hidden sales pitch. It’s simply there to remind them that they’re important and encourages them to keep using your service. Check out this awesome mid-year summary from Southwest Airlines:
Customer Retention Email Strategy #5: The Re-Engagement Email
We all have those customers who go dormant, and sometimes this can happen because customers might not fully understand your product or service. Send them an email with an actionable tip or advice which will encourage them to become more active. You really have nothing to lose in this case, and hopefully save yourself a loss. Make sure to use an attention grabbing subject line, and a call to action in the copy. For example, check out the one we send to nudge our emfluence Marketing Platform clients who haven’t sent from the platform in more than a month:
Retention emails are not about creating a sales pitch or call to action. It’s about making the customer feel appreciated and unique. These types of emails are not out of the box, and don’t necessarily work for everyone. So, make sure to test different emails and strategies to see which works best for your audience.
PRO TIP: Make sure to segment your audience to help reduce low open rates. Retaining customers is all about sending the right emails to the right people.
Have more questions about email strategy? Send them our way at expert@emfluence.com.
