AMiable Solution #176: Is Your Relationship Dead?

You know who they are: the accounts on your contact list who haven’t responded to your marketing in months, maybe years.  But you keep marketing to them because you know it’s easier to get a previous buyer or donor to give you money than a prospect.  And because sometimes you know, no matter how long it’s been since you’ve had contact from them, it’s hard to say goodbye to a client.

So how do you know when it’s over?  How do you know if a customer or donor or former member is just waiting for the right offer or if they’ve already moved on?

Like many answers in marketing, it depends.  It depends on your market.  It depends on your organization.  And it depends on your industry.  Here, however, are five points to consider when you evaluate the viability of inactive accounts:

1.      Your competitors.  Take a look at their offers, their new products and services, and their leadership.  Have they made changes that could be drawing your customers away? 

2.      Your offers, products, and services.  Are you marketing the same old stuff?  If you haven’t dangled anything new--new services, new benefits, new features, new products, etc.--in front of your previous buyers, then you haven’t given them any reason to buy lately.  An updated product, a new service, or a new group to help could reignite the buying fever.

3.      What type of buyers they are.  Look at your inactive accounts’ previous purchasing habits.  Were they strictly transaction buyers?  Were all their orders made at discounted rates?  If so, you may want to send them your best, discounted offers only.  If they have a history of regular purchases, however, you may have relationship buyers--your most loyal customers--at stake.  Before removing them from your mailing list, call them!  Find out what changed for them and what you can do to improve or win them back.

4.      Current events.  Sometimes, particularly with donors, the urge to contribute to a cause is driven by current events.  If the benefactors of your charity haven’t experienced a disaster or well-documented need in some time, then your “inactive” donors may be missing the desire and urgency to help.

5.      What you can afford.  Realistically, you can’t mail, email, or call your entire universe with every campaign.  You have to pick and choose which buyers--and how recently they were buyers--for each offer.  At some point, you almost have to treat unresponsive former buyers as prospects.  And that means applying that same line of reasoning when it comes to deciding how much you want and financially can invest in marketing to them.

Saying goodbye to a customer shouldn’t be easy.  Make sure you know the facts.