How to Write Win-Back Email Copy

Can you rekindle the romance when the thrill is gone? In other words, can you re-engage your customers through writing insightful win-back email copy? 

To run a successful business, it’s important to keep long-term, loyal customers. After all, on average, 40% of revenue comes from repeat business. So, when your customers stop engaging with you, or unsubscribe from getting your emails, you don’t want to let them go lightly. You need a strategy to get them reengaged with win-back email copy. 

The good news is that win-back email campaigns work extremely well — on average, 24% read the first win-back message, and 45% of recipients who received a win-back campaign read a subsequent message But, if you want bigger results, you need to dedicate time to building a campaign, not just send one or two emails. 

Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating win-back email copy. 

First Email: Rebuild the Relationship 

• In your first email, you want to remind people of your brand and rebuild your relationship.
• If there have been significant updates to your services that these customers could take advantage of, that’s a great starting point to reintroduce your brand. Give them a glimpse of what they’re missing out on; it could be a new product feature, the latest collection, or a new line product line. 
• If you don’t have “big” news to share, that’s fine! Showcase your featured or best-selling products that they could be interested in, or highlight an awesome customer review to gain their trust and bring back the spark.
• You may want to acknowledge that you’re reaching out to them because they’ve been a bit quiet. A “Hi, haven’t seen you in a while,” kind of thing. Keep your copy light. 
• Invest time when creating your template. You want to create some excitement in these customers to try again your product or service. Try out some eye-catching designs and test personalized copy.
• Maybe show them something new from a product line they have tried out in the past or was abandoned in their cart. 

On how to create compelling email subject lines:

Second Email: Make a Stronger Offer

• If you aren’t getting any traction, you can try to make a special offer in your second email. Everybody likes a good deal, so you may want to try enticing them. Your incentive could be just about anything, including a discount, free shipping, or an upgrade. In case you can tie this promo to a significant event like “here is your 6 months anniversary gift from us,” it will feel more customer-centric and nudge these customers to engage. 
• Be sure to make an offer that will interest them personally. If they’re already a customer, you have data on their preferences.
• You can always try and create some urgency by making your offer time-limited. Make sure your CTAs are not too aggressive. 

For more on discounts and promotions: 

Second or Third Email: Ask for Feedback

Ask them where you went wrong — why are they giving you the cold shoulder? It may end up being something other than what you expected, and then you can address the issue in your next email.

If customers reply to this email, there’s still hope! Send them an email or give them a call to address their problems.

92% of U.S. consumers say they would return to a company after a negative experience if they:

• Received an apology from a higher-up
• Were offered a discount 
• Were offered proof of enhanced customer service

One Last Email

Send your disengaged customers who didn’t open the previous emails one last email. Tell them you’ll unsubscribe them from the list and that you’ll miss them. This will give these customers one last opportunity to jump back on board. Don’t burn any bridges and keep this communication personal and pleasant.

Remember To...

Keep it personal

Generic sales emails just don’t cut it anymore. People disengage for any number of reasons, and if you know why they lost the faith, address those issues. Also, show them products and services in which you know they’re interested.  

For additional personalization tips:

Keep it short

With so much media vying for our attention, most of us have a very short attention span these days. Most of us don’t want to read anything lengthy from a vendor, and particularly not from a vendor from which we’ve disengaged. So, try to pack some wallop into a few words to make an immediate impact. 

Make them laugh

In these trying times, people are more stressed than ever. If you can make them smile or even better, laugh, you’ve got their attention. Humor is a powerful force —  if it suits your branding, try to incorporate humor into your email marketing strategy. This helps people associate your company and products with positive energy. 

Reengaging Customers Is Worth It

Multiple studies over many industries report that it’s much more expensive to get a new customer than to retain an old one. Depending on your industry and your company, this could be anywhere from five to 25x more expensive. So, it’s worth your time to carefully plan the win-back email copy for a re-engagement campaign. Analyze your data to make your outreach as personal as possible. Be human. Be entertaining. Be real. 

Last updated on September 20th, 2023.