“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.’
As the famous quote advises, you won’t always win on the first go-around. But there’s no need to get discouraged. What’s most important is that you just keep pushing on.
This is especially true when it comes to engaging customers online.
It’s understandable, of course. People get distracted. Or they need to do a bit more research. Or they just aren’t ready to engage with your content. That’s ok — that’s what a re-engagement strategy is for.
An effective re-engagement strategy can help you get in front of your website visitors again, entice them with personalized messaging or offers, and ultimately drive them back to your site. From there, you increase their chances of coming back for more and turning into a loyal audience.
Still, investing in re-engagement isn’t just good for building customer relationships. It’s also good for your bottom line. As Harvard Business Review reported, increasing customer retention by just 5% can increase your profits by 25-95%. Also, consider that it costs 5X more to attract a new customer than to nurture an existing one.
That’s why re-engagement strategies are so important for any publisher or marketer trying to grow and maintain their consumer base.
And that’s why we’re outlining three best practices to win back your website visitors— and, in turn, increase revenue.
1. Launch push notifications
Push notifications reach people directly through their mobile phones or web browsers, so you can deliver 1:1, personalized messages at just the right time. For example, you might send a push notification reminding a customer that they left their subscription in their cart. Or, once a hot story gets published, you can send messages to readers who’ve expressed interest in that type of content.
Just look at the numbers. A whopping 72% of consumers have enabled push notifications. Publishers have used them to drive over 20% user engagement each month. And over half of baby boomers enjoy using them to access breaking news stories from their favorite websites.
An added benefit? Push notifications are also prime for monetization. Publishers can sell ad slots to relevant brand partners, so they don’t just drive traffic back to their site, but they increase revenue at the same time.
Trivia platform GoGy games, for instance, launched push notifications to re-engage its 10-12 million monthly users with relevant content based on people’s profiles, exhibited interests, and online behavior. The platform even reached people with notifications about trending games that wouldn’t want to miss out on. From there, GoGy was open to exploring push notifications as an ad channel and driver for revenue.
“It has a lot of potential and is a great way to retarget users and create a new revenue channel,” said GoGy Games owner Tal Hen. “You really don’t need a lot of users to realize decent revenue from it.”
2. Deliver segmented email marketing campaigns
According to Statista, 88% of e-commerce shopping orders were abandoned in 2020, meaning people left their digital goods in the cart and never checked out. Publishers who sell subscriptions or drive purchases via affiliate ads can also suffer from this problem.
One of the best ways to encourage people to return to your site — and continue contributing to your bottom line — is to deliver segmented email engagement campaigns.
Harvard Business Review, for example, sends emails to former subscribers with the straightforward but effective subject line, “We want you back.” The targeted email provides a quick rundown of the subscription options and benefits, inviting recipients to have another go at signing up.
Beyond just driving purchases, marketers can also use re-engagement emails to:
- Gather direct feedback from customers through surveys and questionnaires
- Deliver special offers and discounts
- Promote contests, competitions, and giveaways
- Announce new product launches that are relevant to each audience segment’s interests
Publishers can also create unique audience segments like:
- Loyal subscribers who they can up-sell to with subject lines like “We thought you might like this.”
- Inactive subscribers who they can re-engage with subject lines like “We miss you. And you don’t wanna miss this.”
- Former subscribers who they can encourage to sign up again with subject lines like “Wait. How can we make it right?”
In all instances, the email content needs to be highly targeted to the individual recipient. The chances of re-engaging visitors with relevant content is significantly higher than one-size-fits-none, cookie-cutter emails.
3. Reward people for coming back
Having trouble reeling customers back in? Don’t forget to tell people what’s in it for them. Use your re-engagement channels — like email and push notifications — to send messages about special discounts, free trial periods, loyalty badges, and premium content. Let them know that you’re committed to treating your audience members right and, if they step their virtual feet back onto your website, they’ll be greeted with valuable content and special discounts catered specifically to them.
Snapfish, for instance, sends emails to potential customers who’ve created a design on their site but haven’t actually bought it yet. The email takes a friendly and encouraging tone with the copy: “You were onto something amazing. Here’s your chance to complete your unfinished projects!” And, of course, they throw something special in for the customer — 10 free prints and free shipping if they complete their order within a week.
The key to winning back your website visitors
The key to winning back your website visitors is that…well, there is no singular key. Really, the best way to ensure people keep engaging with your content is to launch a multichannel messaging program — one that spans across channels, allowing you to reach people where they’re already active.
That’s where Jeeng comes in. Our platform — built exclusively for publishers and brands — uses first-party data and advanced automation to help you tap into the most engaging channels on the web, like email, push notifications, and news readers. So you can deliver exactly what your audience wants and let them know they can rely on your platform for the content that meets their interests.
Ready to get started and put these best practices into action? Contact us today to begin re-engaging your audience.
