Database : Take the Right Trails
Channel strategies for reactivation efforts
January 2010 By Keith PetersonMarketers using traditional customer reactivation strategies are struggling to deliver the results they once did. Drastic cutbacks in consumer spending and channel fragmentation have dampened reactivation efforts, forcing marketers to develop new approaches to maximize outreach to lapsed customers. Today's innovators are leveraging customer data, analytical tools and new customer touchpoints to fuel their remarketing efforts with dramatic results.
Start With the Basics
The fundamentals of remarketing haven't changed. Identify best customers and the attributes that make them the best. Analyze purchasing trends, patronage patterns and channel usage to illuminate key behavioral characteristics of the ideal reactivation candidates.
But don't stop there. Demographics, wealth data and online/offline transactional information should be used to enrich the customer profile. This data helps assess how former customers are spending their time and money today. In addition, this information is critical for assessing the value of former customers who had sparse purchase histories but may still be good candidates.
Last, match these reactivation profiles against dormant customer files to "pop" the segments most likely to yield a profitable level of response.
Reactivation efforts most often are targeted at customers who have not shopped or purchased in the last year or more. While these consumers may not be shopping with you, they are buying from someone. In today's fragmented marketplace, it can be difficult to determine from which channels and companies they are buying. Online purchasing increases annually, and in many cases, e-commerce operations have weathered current market conditions better than brick-and-mortar locations. Understanding former customers' online and offline shopping and purchase behaviors helps marketers with prospecting. Marketing analysts can overlay actual and modeled data to determine the best sales channels on which to focus for reactivation campaigns.
Reactivation Rundown
Reactivation is a form of advanced prospecting. By applying predictive scores to dormant customer files before fielding a reactivation campaign, resources can be prioritized toward those households with the greatest likelihood of response.
A good reactivation strategy encompasses not only who to target, but how to target them. In today's multichannel environment, far greater opportunities to blend print and digital media into an optimum delivery stream for each target segment exist. For example, leads might be generated via a print mail campaign. These leads might then be further qualified using lead scoring and either prioritized for rapid follow-up by phone for high potentials or routed to an e-mail lead-nurturing program for less qualified candidates. This blended approach can yield more profitable results than multiple print mailings and greater response than e-mail-only tactics. Marketers should choose the medium that optimizes reach and response, according to budget.



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