Did you know 80% of retailers identified email as the number one tool for customer retention?
That’s almost twice as many as the runner-up: social media! And there’s no doubt, customer retention should be a priority for your marketing strategy. After all, it costs five times as much to win a new customer as it does to keep an existing one.
Read on to learn how email campaigns can help you retain current customers, re-engage lapsed ones, and refine your strategy to serve all of them better.
What is customer retention?
Simply put, customer retention means keeping your existing customers coming back. Your customer retention strategy is everything you do to maintain those relationships. They’re worth their weight in gold. Maybe literally, when you consider increasing customer retention by 5% can increase profits by more than 25%.
That’s because loyal customers are much more likely to purchase from your business than new ones. And it makes perfect sense. Most of us would prefer to shop with a familiar brand than take a chance on an unknown. That’s also why customer acquisition is a challenge — it can be hard to win new customers who see your brand as a gamble.
What’s more, the value of a loyal customer is multiplied when they refer others to your business. Think about your favorite restaurant. How often have you taken friends there, or recommended it to others?
These referrals strengthen your reputation and grow your customer base. Word of mouth is still the most trusted source of brand information, which makes referrals even more valuable. Take care of your existing customers, and they’ll take care of you.
What Are the Best Customer Retention Strategies?
Okay, you’re convinced customer retention metrics are worth it. So where do you start? We did the heavy lifting for you and identified the most effective strategies below.
1. Get to know your customer
You know that hotel trick of greeting guests by name? It works because it makes people feel seen and valued. Everyone wants to be a human being, not a data point — which is also why we’re more likely to open emails from a person than a company.
Personalized emails are more than appreciated, they’re expected. According to McKinsey, 80% of shoppers want personalized retail experiences. To personalize the customer experience, you need to build robust customer profiles. Similar to personas, a customer profile is like a portrait of a typical customer type, backed by data.
Once you’ve established strong customer profiles, segmentation is the next step. By segmenting your email list, you can serve more relevant emails to both existing and potential customers. One caveat: always be transparent about how you’re collecting and using customer data. Trust is a big part of loyalty, so treat it with care!
2. Offer stellar service
Ninety percent of people prioritize the quality of service when choosing between brands. Put another way, bad customer service is one of the quickest ways to lose your customers.
There are a few key elements to great customer service, but it should be accessible, simple, and coordinated. And as with strategy number one, it should feel personal. Fortunately, if you’re collecting data on your customers, you’re building a foundation to provide them with the service they deserve.
3. Reward loyalty
If you want to keep people coming back, you have to give them a good reason. One surefire way to achieve that is through a customer loyalty program. A simple formula for loyalty programs: the more your customer spends with you, the greater the rewards.
In exchange, your customer is likely to provide you with referrals, repeat business, and positive reviews. How much more likely? Eighty-four percent of customers opt for businesses that offer loyalty programs. And nearly half of customers spend more after joining a loyalty program.
But remember your customers are people, not just wallets with email addresses. Your customer loyalty program should include more than monetary perks. For instance, offering exclusive experiences or championing social causes are other ways you can show your VIPs you care.
4. Study your failures
Don’t be afraid of the “f” word. Failure is part of growth. When you lose a customer, you gain the chance to learn why it happened and do things differently in the future.
You want to look deeply at your customer churn, or the percentage of customers who left you during a certain time frame. Three simple questions can guide this process: when are people leaving? Why are they leaving? How can you fix it? Here’s a great post to talk you through that analysis. By understanding and addressing those reasons, you can hang on to your customers in the future.
Want to know something these customer retention strategies have in common? Email is a cornerstone of each one. And we have 12 ideas for email campaigns your customers will truly appreciate.
The Top 12 Email Campaigns to Increase Your Customer Retention Rates
1. Welcome Emails
Start your relationship off right with a warm welcome. Of all the emails marketers send, this one is the likeliest to be read, with an open rate of 34%. (That’s 42% higher than other emails!) It also sets the tone for your customer relationship, so you want to get the messaging right.
Start with a clear, engaging subject line. This should be direct and friendly; the word “welcome” is a good place to start. You want the purpose of the email to be clear from the subject line. You’re a new visitor to their inbox, so the last thing you want is for them to hit delete or flag the email as spam.
Inside the email, you should be setting expectations for future messages. This can include a short description of the kinds of emails you’ll be sending, a little bit about your company, or the benefits of being a subscriber. Keep it short and sweet — this is only the beginning. (No really! Ideally, you’ll follow up with a strong onboarding email sequence.)
Here’s a great example from Rain People, a small retail brand from Vancouver Island. It includes a brief brand story, a summary of benefits to subscribers, and a discount code. These three key elements are complemented by the bright CTA buttons and a genuine, enthusiastic tone. You better believe I bought one of those sweet bonnets.
Here’s another one, from graphic design tool Canva. It includes the company mission, as well as a list of features to help new users get started.
More ideas for a warm welcome:
- Encourage the first purchase with a new customer discount code. Placement matters: welcome emails that mention small discounts in the subject line get less engagement. This may seem counterintuitive. But with the overabundance of promotional emails out there, it may well be reflex to ignore or dismiss a subject line that’s overtly selling something. The takeaway? Include your discount in the body of the email instead, and make sure your welcome email has more to offer.
- It’s never too early to start personalizing your emails! If you collected first names during the sign-up process, add that greeting to the welcome email.
- The design of your welcome email should reflect your company website for a seamless experience. This will start building brand recognition and make that first email feel familiar.
Related: How to Build a Winning Welcome Email
2. Follow-up Emails
Following up after a customer interaction is another way of taking your service above and beyond. This could include sending an automated email after attending a webinar or making a purchase.
Here’s an effective example from dance company BalletBC, which combines a thank you, an exclusive offer, and a simple CTA to purchase a membership.
Another important place to use follow-up email is after a live chat session. Conversational marketing helps to engage visitors and drive conversions. By continuing that conversation in a follow-up email, you can improve satisfaction by ensuring your customer has the answers they need.
Other ways to use follow-up emails:
- Providing customer education after purchasing a new product or service.
- Gathering feedback or reviews on a recent purchase.
- Ask for feedback on an interaction! Ninety-three percent of customers are happy to provide it, if requested.
3. Customer Feedback Emails
Customer feedback is invaluable. Not only does it serve as social proof for other customers, it also helps your company learn and grow. And people like to share their experiences! In fact, post-purchase emails have an 8.1% response rate, compared to 1% for most other emails.
There are a few key elements for a great customer feedback email:
- Include a strong subject line. This should be engaging but clear. Remember, customers like writing reviews. You don’t need to trick them into opening.
- Make it personalized. Instead of “Review your latest purchase,” try, “James, how are you enjoying your new shoes?”
- Send it at the right time. This will depend on the type of survey. For a support interaction, you want to send it right away, while it’s still fresh in their mind. For a product review, it should be within a month of the purchase.
- Make it easy. Short surveys get more responses than long ones for obvious reasons. Better yet, you can embed the feedback form in an interactive email template! Interactive forms get more than five times as many responses.
- Don’t forget to say thank you. Now that you know how important good service is to customer retention, this one speaks for itself.
Here’s a short and sweet example from Whole Foods, delivered the moment I closed the chat window with their agent:
And here’s another request for a review, which is helpfully personalized with my name and order details.
Want more tips on sending customer feedback emails? We have seven ways to get more product reviews, just for you!
Related: 9 Ways to Get More Email Survey Responses
4. Customer Engagement Emails
In a way, every email you send could qualify as customer engagement.
But here, we’re specifically referring to emails that provide value to your customers through content that’s interesting, informative, or helpful. This helps to build customer loyalty by ensuring their relationship with your company goes deeper than their latest purchase or billing cycle.
For example, Spotify celebrated International Podcast Month with a round-up of excellent podcasts. This email provides thoughtfully curated content, while also enriching the customer experience.
Another example is this email from Patagonia, which combines social responsibility with product education. Seventy-one percent of customers prefer to shop with brands that share their values, so show them what you care about through email.
Other ideas for engaging emails:
- Offer educational tips to help your customers get more out of your products, or teach them about new features.
- Share fun and informative content, like blog posts or letters from your founder. One of my favorite local retailers, Eugene Choo, sends an impeccable monthly newsletter with links and a few subtle product recommendations.
- Reinforce new routines. If you offer a product or service, encourage your customer to get the most of it. Peloton sends personalized summaries of activity to users, which are both interesting and motivating.
5. Customer Appreciation Emails
A token of appreciation goes a long way to making your customer feel special. A simple way to do that is with an email campaign that celebrates them. These are opportunities to delight your customer, and also recognize their loyalty. They don’t need to feel predictable.
For instance, Outdoor Voices surprises its customers with an email (and discount) on their half-birthday.
David’s Tea also sends anniversary emails to customers. They include a sincere thank you paired with a cute summary of the customer history. This is a perfect example of using personalized data to elevate your email campaigns!
6. New Feature or Product Update Emails
One major reason for a high churn rate is a lack of product engagement. Customers who aren’t taking advantage of product features, or who feel like they don’t know how to use them, are likely to split. That’s why emails announcing product updates and new features — and educating customers on how to use them — are essential.
These kinds of emails also reward customers who are highly engaged, by showing that you’re committed to continually improving their experience. I love this example from Asana, which combines a new feature announcement with product education.
This email from Strava is also an excellent example. They not only announce changes to their app, but also explain how they’re addressing customer concerns. It builds trust and credibility, while also stoking excitement.
Related: Product Update Emails: 7 Expert Tips and Examples
7. Reminder Emails
Even though you’re always thinking about your customer, they’re not always thinking about you. Their calendars fill up, or Netflix successfully entices them to keep watching another episode. It’s not personal, but it is easy to forget things. That’s where a thoughtful, timely reminder email can help keep them engaged.
Whenever your customer is approaching a key date, like an upcoming event or the end of a trial period, you should be sending a reminder email. This is also a good time to remind them of your many benefits and charming qualities:
You can also remind them of fun things, like time-sensitive offers. I appreciate Sephora’s annual birthday gift reminder, which is valid for one month.
Other reminders can be pragmatic, like letting them know to update their credit card information, or that their subscription will be renewed. And because all of these are linked to user data, they can be triggered automatically for each customer.
8. Abandoned Cart Emails
Abandoned cart emails are a proven way to drive more sales. I have plenty of anecdotal data to back this up — just check my credit card statement. But there’s quantitative data too. Salesforce found 60% of abandoned cart emails led to a sale within 24 hours.
This email from wellness brand Woodlot is a beautiful example. But abandoned cart emails don’t have to be fancy. The example from Still Life, below, is more straightforward and includes an enticing discount code.
But you don’t need to rely on discount codes to seal the deal. Cart abandonment is one of the most powerful use cases for AMP. That’s because interactive AMP emails effectively address the top reasons people abandon a cart: a complex checkout process and technical issues.
With AMP, customers can complete the entire checkout process directly from the inbox. This reduces friction and gives the customer an easy alternative to your website’s checkout process. And when you make things easier for your customers, conversions follow!
Related: 10 Tips for Crafting Abandoned Cart Emails That Convert
9. Promotional Emails
Promotions are a cornerstone of marketing because they work. Anyone who has ever entered an Instagram contest understands this on a spiritual level. But you want to use them sparingly.
The golden rule of marketing is that 80% of your content should inform or entertain, while 20% should be sales-oriented. Some experts say this isn’t as cut-and-dried as it used to be. But it remains true that you want to aim for quality over quantity with a promotional email.
Promotional emails are an opportunity to reward loyal customers through exclusive discount codes or early access. Here’s a short and sweet example from beauty brand Glossier:
If you can personalize your promotional emails, even better. This is a great time to use insights about specific products or interests your customers have to tailor the offers you’re sending. And doing so can increase sales by up to 150%!
Why? Because a personal recommendation will win out against a generic email blast every time. Promotional emails can also be a great chance to win customers back — more on that in the next point.
10. Win Back Emails
No one likes to be ghosted. But while there’s little you can do if it happens in a romantic context, it is possible to win back your customers with email.
Re-engagement campaigns can help persuade your customers to give you a second chance. They combine reminders, updates, and offers to get your customer rethinking their relationship with you. A strong win back campaign will help your customer remember why they were interested in you to begin with.
Here’s an example from Dropbox:
Some campaigns add an emotional plea, but others are straightforward. Here’s an example from Squarespace, offering a free trial extension to encourage a conversion:
This example from Avocode is also excellent. It acknowledges customer feedback and offers a discount code:
And if you find your customer can’t be persuaded, there’s value in a goodbye email. This gives you a chance to ask for feedback that can help you serve customers better in the future.
11. Automated Emails
Amplify the impact of your email campaigns through marketing automation. Automated emails allow you to reach customers with the information they need, when they need it — without having to put in manual effort.
And guess what? All ten of the email campaigns listed above can be automated. If you’re among the 49% of businesses who aren’t automating their campaigns, it’s time to level up!
Automation is a word we associate with robots, but a good automation platform actually makes your emails more personal. That’s because they can use personalized data (more on that below) to send each customer exactly what they’re interested in. This is a winning strategy for the 90% of customers who prefer personalized content.
Here’s a great example of personalization in action from Third Love, featuring a curated collection for this customer:
Some ideas for automated email campaigns include:
- Welcome campaigns, which can provide education and information to new users to help them learn about your products and services.
- Reminders and alerts, to let them know about events, subscription renewals, and other pertinent updates.
- Reports and summaries, like a year in review email or monthly activity log.
There’s no reason for automated emails to be dry or boring. They should still look and sound like your brand. Here’s an example of an automated customer report from Bulb that’s written in a fun, engaging tone:
Related: How to Craft High-Performing Automated Email Campaigns
12. Interactive Emails
Of all 12 campaign ideas, this is the one you’re probably not doing yet — but you should!
Interactive emails allow customers to engage with dynamic elements like image carousels or videos within the email. Here’s a cool example from Canva, with a drawing element right in the email:
AMP emails, a type of interactive emails, go even further: the content of the email itself is dynamic. With AMP, you can integrate live content, like surveys and RSVP forms.
If you’re new to the concept, here’s everything you need to know about AMP for email.
Interactive emails present a huge opportunity for brands, with endless possibilities. In fact, after surveying thousands of individuals, we found 60% were more likely to engage with an interactive email. And there’s no time like the present to start sending them!
With Dyspatch’s library of pre-coded, pre-approved AMP blocks, you can build functional, beautiful interactive emails with ease.
Additional Tips for Successful Customer Retention Emails
- Nail the subject line. Don’t let that great email go to waste — make sure people actually open it! Here are three simple tips for writing an irresistible subject line.
- Optimize your email design. Testing your email on desktop is like only checking your outfit from the waist-up. Around half your customers are reading on mobile, so make sure you’re designing an email that looks flawless on every device.
- Write compelling copy. Easier said than done, but we have some tips for killer copy. And don’t neglect the finishing touches, like footers and CTA buttons! It’s all about the details.
- Stay true to your brand. Your campaigns should be part of your digital ecosystem, with seamless transitions between your website, social and email. When in doubt, refer to your brand style guide.
- Tune in to the data. Each company is different. What works for everyone else won’t necessarily work for you. And what works for you today might not work for you next year. Each email is an opportunity to listen and learn, so make sure you pay attention to what it’s telling you.
The Bottom Line: Marketing Emails Are a Key Tool to Keep Customers and Increase Lifetime Value
From the very first welcome message, email is an invaluable tool for retaining customers and growing your business.
Your email strategy can help you reduce customer churn, increase revenue, and identify new leads. But it can also help you nurture relationships with your customers, built on trust and respect, through campaigns that add value to their lives.
Think of every email as an opportunity to deepen customer relationships, by delivering the right message at the right time.
Ready to turn your customers into lifelong loyalists through email? Request a demo to see how Dyspatch can help your team do just that with our custom email builder.
