At Mosquito Squad, our primary focus is on generating new leads and renewing current customers. However, an equally important yet often overlooked aspect is winning back or recapturing historical customers who have not signed up for our services this year. These customers have experienced our services in the past, valued them, and for various reasons, haven't returned. Winning them back reflects our commitment to customer satisfaction and helps build a more robust and stable customer base. This training document outlines a systematic approach to recapture these customers using ServiceMinder and Tableau data. For any assistance, feel free to contact your Business Advisor.
Please note that many offices, in the interest of freeing up their office staff to focus on new customer acquisition, offload their winback activities to our preferred vendor, Retreva, who've shown an impressive ability to winback a HIGH rate of previously lost customers at a very low yearly cost.
If you'd like to know more about Retreva, please contact your business advisor.
For offices planning to handle winbacks, in-house, here are the recommended steps for an effective winback process:
Step 1: Data Analysis and Segmentation
Begin by using ServiceMinder to generate a report of historical customers who have yet to re-engage beyond last year. You can use the historical data Excel tools from FranConnect’s Business Management and Tools folder. Once you have this data, start segmenting these customers. Prioritize customers who have had multiple treatments or those who didn't renew / perhaps cancelled due to reasons we can overcome. This targeted approach increases the likelihood of winning back customers.
- Identify the historical customers beyond last year who haven't re-engaged.
- Segment these customers, prioritizing those who have had multiple treatments or didn't renew due to resolvable issues.
Step 2: Develop Incentives and Offers
Create enticing incentives for these customers to revisit our services. This could be a free treatment or a significant discount on their first treatment of the season. Making the offer time-sensitive can create a sense of urgency and prompt immediate action. To win these customers back, we should consider these incentives our “lead cost”.
- Create a compelling incentive, such as a free treatment or significant discount.
- Make the offer time-sensitive to prompt immediate action.
Step 3: Craft a Consistent Message
Next, develop a consistent message highlighting the benefits of Mosquito Squad services and the special offer. Express appreciation for their past business and a sincere desire to serve them again. This message should be incorporated into a phone script for your sales agents' outbound calls, adding a personal touch to your outreach efforts.
- Develop a consistent message that highlights the benefits of our services and the special offer.
- Incorporate this message into a phone script for sales agents' outbound calls.
Step 4: Multichannel Outreach
While phone calls are the most effective outreach method, remember the value of emails and text messages. A combination of phone calls, emails, and text messages ensures a wider reach. Based on the customer segments created in Step 1, schedule touchpoints, prioritizing customers who are more likely to re-engage. Log all outreach efforts in ServiceMinder, including call interactions, email opens, and text message statuses.
- Use a combination of phone calls, emails, and text messages for outreach.
- Schedule touchpoints based on customer segments and track all efforts in ServiceMinder.
Step 5: Follow-up Process
Establish a structured follow-up process to ensure every historical customer is contacted multiple times. Use ServiceMinder to create tasks and reminders for follow-up activities, like sending a second email, making a follow-up call, or sending a final text message. Monitor these activities and adjust the frequency and content based on customer responses.
- Set up a structured follow-up process to ensure each historical customer is contacted multiple times.
- Use ServiceMinder to create tasks and reminders for follow-up activities and adjust based on customer responses.
Step 6: Tracking and Reporting
Keep track of the winback campaign's performance using ServiceMinder's reporting features. Key metrics to monitor include the number of reactivated historical customers, total revenue generated, and overall response rate. Make sure to tag these customers in ServiceMinder as "Winback" for future reporting. Share your campaign results with your Business Advisor to get feedback and improve your efforts. You can also use the "Recaptures" report in Tableau for tracking purposes.
- Regularly track campaign performance using ServiceMinder's reporting features.
- Monitor key metrics and share campaign results with your Business Advisor for further guidance.
Step 7: Continuous Improvement
Lastly, review the campaign's effectiveness and identify areas for improvement based on performance metrics. Adjust incentives, messaging, or outreach methods to optimize the winback efforts. Finally, incorporate the insights gained from the campaign and best practices shared by your Business Advisor into your action plan.
- Review the campaign's effectiveness and identify areas for improvement based on performance metrics.
- Adjust incentives, messaging, or outreach methods as required and incorporate best practices.
Step 8: Maintaining Relationships
Once you've won back your historical customers, it's essential to maintain those relationships. Regular, friendly communication can help keep Mosquito Squad at the top of their minds, even in the off-season. Consider reaching out with:
- Helpful tips for mosquito control
- Updates on our services
- Seasonal greetings or birthday wishes
Remember, customers appreciate businesses that show they care beyond just selling a service. Use ServiceMinder to schedule these touchpoints and track responses.
- Regularly communicate with re-engaged customers to maintain relationships.
- Provide useful tips, service updates, and personalized messages to show your care.
Step 9: Requesting Feedback
Another crucial step is to request feedback from these customers. Understanding why they initially left can help improve our services and prevent future customers from leaving. This could be done through a phone call or a short survey sent via email. Make sure to track these feedbacks in ServiceMinder to analyze and implement changes based on the inputs received.
- Request feedback from customers to understand why they initially left and to improve our services.
- Track these feedbacks in ServiceMinder for future reference and action.
Step 10: Sharing Success Stories
Sharing winback success stories can motivate your entire team and provide a blueprint for future winback efforts. Whether it's a customer who appreciated the special offer or someone who was thrilled to reconnect with our excellent customer service, these stories are worth sharing. They can also be a valuable tool for training new team members.
- Share winback success stories to motivate your team and provide a blueprint for future efforts.
- Use these stories as training material for new team members.
Step 11: Regular Evaluation
Finally, regularly evaluate your winback efforts. Set specific timeframes, perhaps quarterly or biannually, to review the success and challenges of your winback campaign. This regular evaluation will help you stay on track, make necessary adjustments, and set new goals based on your changing business needs and market conditions.
- Set specific timeframes for reviewing your winback campaign's success and challenges.
- Stay on track, make necessary adjustments, and set new goals based on business needs and market conditions.
By effectively implementing this action plan, you can successfully win back or recapture historical customers, contributing significantly to Mosquito Squad's growth and success. Keep in mind, ServiceMinder and Tableau are powerful tools to aid in this process, and your Business Advisor is always available to help. The key lies in staying organized, proactive and genuinely committed to serving our customers better. Your efforts today will yield fruitful relationships and a thriving business.