It's better to invest in customer retention than winning them back, but losing customers is bound to happen at some point. In fact, most businesses lose 80% of their customers after a single purchase. That’s a huge missed opportunity because regular customers will spend ten times the value of their first purchase over a lifetime.
 

The lifetime value of a customer is approximately 10 times the value of their first purchase.

Why’d they leave? Ask them.

We live in an attention economy. You may lose customers because they had a bad experience or something else caught their attention. Either way, understanding why customers do not come back can unlock a big opportunity for your business.

• Customers that are lost to a bad experience are even bigger advocates when you make things right and win them back.

• Customers that are lost because they found better options elsewhere help you improve your business and remain competitive.

Win Back Tips

Easy and effective

Tip #1 - Ask for advice

Gathering feedback from your customers after every visit will help you identify unhappy customers before they are lost. And asking a lost customer to tell you why they left may start a conversation that leads them back. Unhappy customers are usually very willing to give feedback: it allows them to express their disappointment and makes them feel valued. Admitting a mistake your business made builds trust and shows that you’re interested in making things right.

Tip #2 - Make it right

There’s no better opportunity to build strong relationships with your customers then going out of your way to make things right. Some of the most loved businesses earned their reputation not because they made the least mistakes but by being fanatical about correcting them.

Tip #3 - Offer an incentive

It’s a lot less expensive to retain a customer than to get a new one, so don’t think twice about providing incentives to win customers back - it makes business sense. Creating special “come-back” offers and promotions that are tailored for lost customers can be a great way to get their attention and convince them to come back in.