Communicating with customers is harder than ever with many choosing to place orders on eCommerce sites as opposed to in-store. That being said, finding ways to communicate is key to driving them to either channel, which is why text message marketing is so powerful in today’s increasingly digital world.
This lack of communication also makes it hard to give customers a reason to come back. This is where the win-back autoconnectâ„¢ comes into play. The win-back autoconnectâ„¢ gives you the ability to incentivize customers who haven’t visited in a while to come back. In this article, we’ll be talking about the ins and out of the win-back autoconnectâ„¢ and how you can use it to its full potential.
Communicating with customers in a digital world
In the past couple of years, the cannabis industry has broken through various regulatory barriers and is finally catching up with other traditional industries. What was once a cash-only brick and mortar experience has evolved into a tech-driven operation that utilizes the latest cutting-edge sales and marketing software.
Cannabis consumers have enthusiastically embraced these developments. In fact, recent data from clients that have integrated eCommerce platforms into their businesses has shown that the average store has increased its revenue by 52% and up to 130% from January to April 2020.
With customers shopping online now more than ever, face-to-face contact is all but non-existent which makes it hard to retain customers and give them a reason to stay. This is why communication is so important.
Communicating with customers through text message marketing is fast, easy, and reliable. In fact, text message marketing has a 98% open rate, with 90% of those messages being opened within the first 3 minutes!
Text message marketing is made even more powerful with springbig’s autoconnectâ„¢ feature which allows you to automate your text message marketing campaigns to be sent out automatically based on a variety of behavioral triggers.
Today we’ll be talking about the “win-back” Autoconnectâ„¢
What is the win-back autoconnectâ„¢?
Between the “delayed after-visit,” the “after join,” and the 15 other autoconnectsâ„¢ you can customize, the win-back autoconnectâ„¢ may be overlooked and forgotten. Don’t let this happen to you, the win-back autoconnect is one of the most powerful autoconnectsâ„¢ you can use.
The win-back autoconnecâ„¢t allows dispensaries to reach out to members who haven’t visited in a while and entice them to come back. This autoconnect is fully customizable, you can determine at exactly what point in the customer lifecycle and how many times you want to reach out.
Think 30 days after their last visit is a good time to reach out? You can set up this autoconnect to reach out to all loyalty members who haven’t come in 30 days automatically. You can even set up the message to send at a certain frequency, and set a limit on how many days since their last visit is too long to reach out.
For example: Want to send a win-back autoconnect to dispensary members who haven’t come in in 14 days? Want that message to send every 14 days after that up until it has been 42 days since they came in for a total of 3 messages? You can do that.
Benefits of using win-backs
The win-back has two main benefits: First, it gives loyalty members who need that little extra push a reason to come in. And second, it shows your customers who haven’t come in for a while that they are still important and valued at your dispensary. This combination of incentive and appreciation is what really makes this autoconnect stand out from the rest.
For those loyalty members who enjoy visiting your dispensary but need a little extra push, the win-back autoconnect allows you to set up a string of messages that progressively get more and more tantalizing. For example, the first message that you send at 30 days may just let them know that you miss them and prompt them to check their wallet to see if they have any redeemable points, but the second message at 45 days may offer a 10% discount or a dollar pre-roll on their next purchase. In this way, the autoconnect allows you to slowly “win-back” a dispensary member that may have otherwise been lost.
On top of this, the win-back helps to make your customers feel valued. Loyalty members love knowing that they are a valued part of your dispensary, so letting them know that you miss them and want to see them back in your dispensary could be all the push they need to come back in.
These benefits have translated into profits for dispensaries. In fact, a study we did on win-back found the average ROI dispensaries saw from using this autoconnect was $3.72. That’s powerful.
How and when to use win-backs
How are dispensaries able to average such a high ROI from using this autoconnect? They’re using it effectively.
In order to use this win-back effectively, you’ll need to make the right decisions in regard to how you structure your win-back autoconnect and when it is sent.
How to use win-backs
When it comes to how to use win-backs many dispensaries see success by structuring them in threes, each getting more and more tantalizing to the customer as the time since their last visit increases. Take a look at the example win-back campaign below:
The first win-back of this campaign is set to be sent out 14 days after their last visit. That first message may only say something like, “We miss you here at ______! Come back soon!”
The next message you send is set to go out after 30 days. This message would be more aggressive and in include an incentive. For example: “We really miss seeing you at _____! Come in within the next three days and get 15% off your entire purchase!”
The last message you send is set to go out after 45 days. This message would be the most aggressive and contain the biggest incentive. For example: “We miss you so much here at _____ that we’re giving you 20% off your next purchase and a free pre-roll on your next purchase. See you soon!”
As you can see from this example of a win-back campaign, each message gets more and more aggressive as time goes on and provides more of an incentive. That being said, the time at which you send these autoconnects can have a big effect. So when is the best time to send a win-back?
When to use win-backs
The answer to that question depends largely on what you hope to accomplish. In our study, we analyzed hundreds of win-backs reaching over 1 million customers that generated millions in extra revenue for our clients. Our findings helped us to better understand exactly when the most opportune times are to send a win-back to your dispensary’s members.
45-day sweet spot
win-backs are most effective up to 45 days since the customer has last visited the dispensary. Up to 45 days, the average ROI per text remains above $2 per one cent text message and visit rates float well above 3%. After 45 days, the average ROI drops to $1.27 per text and visit rates fall under 3% into 2% and even 1% at 90 days.
This is why the example campaign we provided above was only set to be sent out up to 45 days.
The sooner the better
When sending a win-back, it is best to adhere to the rule: the sooner the better. For 14 day win-back, we see the average visit rate sitting 6.14%, for 45-day win-backs we see it sitting at 4.04%, but for the 90-day win-backs we see the average visit rate sitting at 1.93%.
That being said, depending on your goal you might want to send the win-back at a specific time. if you are looking to boost your average purchase size, our study found that the 21-day win-backs boasted the highest ROI and average spend with $4.41 ROI per text and an average customer spend of $91. If you’re just looking to get more traffic into your cannabis dispensary, the 14-day win-back boasted the highest average visit rate of 6.14%.
Winback compared to regular days
That being said, you really can’t go wrong with sending a win-back at any time. Our study found that 14-day win-backs had an average purchase that was 95.05% higher than regular transactions, and the 21-day win-backs were 75.44% higher.
In light of those stats, sending an autoconnect at any time is better than never at all.
Time to start winning customers back!
Now that you’ve got a comprehensive understanding of the win-back autoconnect, it’s time to start using the win-back and stop losing customers and possible sales.
As long as you structure the campaigns correctly and are mindful about what you hope to accomplish when deciding when the messages will be sent out, the win-back will do its job: win back customers.
At a time where seeing customers, face-to-face is becoming optional, customer retention and communication are key. The win-back autoconnect should be only a part of the different messages that you’re sending customers, and it most certainly shouldn’t be the only autoconnect that you’re using.
Want to see this in action? Schedule a demo today!
CEO and Co-founder of springbig
Jeffrey Harris