What scenario should be put in place to increase the purchase frequency of inactive customers?

In this context, how can you engage your CRM base to make your brand stand out as the year comes to a close? We invite you to take a closer look at inactive buyers and create a segmentation based on purchase frequency, and reactivate them using a two-step strategy. Inactive buyers are high-potential customers who have already made at least one purchase through one of your sales channels but have exceeded the timeframe associated with your brand’s average purchase frequency—not to be confused with your inactive marketing list. Let’s get started!

Step 1: Create the segmentation and determine your average purchase frequency.

First of all, you need to analyse your sales to identify a major trend: the average purchase frequency, i.e. the average time spent between two purchases per customer.

This average purchase frequency can vary from even to double depending on your sector of activity. If you sell furniture, it is unlikely that you buy every two months. On the other hand, if your sector of activity is similar to ready-to-wear, your purchase frequency may be much less frequent.

Step 2: Set up a two-stage scenario.

Now that you have detected all your inactive buyers, it is time to set up an automated scenario to get them back into your active buyer base. Ideally, you should offer them two personalised emails:

The first on the anniversary of the last purchase: " One year ago you bought this little top,come and discover the new collection ". The aim of this email is to rekindle the flame through remembrance and personalization, like Bocage. And personalization pays off: 75% of Internet users visit a store and buy the products featured in a newsletter.**.

Obviously, if an inactive buyer opens one of these two emails and buys, they will automatically be reintegrated into your active customer base as they will meet the " purchased a product within the last X months " criteria.

Step 3: Sort out your inactive buyers.

But not everyone will buy the sequels to your script in two steps. What can you do to comply with the GDPR principles, avoid spamming your contacts and sending emails in the wind? Sort your buyer base, because a priori these very occasional buyers are no longer receptive to your products for the time being.

• If the contact does not buy but continues to read your emailings, you can assume that they will be less inclined to open/click on very promotional or product-oriented newsletters. This customer is part of what we call the neo-consumers, consumers who are loyal to your marketing actions, ready to talk about you to their friends and on their social networks, but who only buy very occasionally, if at all. You will therefore need to adapt the content of your newsletters for this segment by highlighting the more lifestyle/feel good character of your brand.
• If the contact no longer makes a purchase and does not open your emails, they will have to be deleted from your database after several years in order to meet the requirements of the RGPD.

Your inactive customers are a golden base as you are talking to contacts who have already purchased a product from your brand and for one reason or another have not made a purchase since. It would be a shame to lose them by not setting up a scenario to remind them of their liking for your products. After all, it's common wisdom in loyalty that keeping a customer costs 5-10 times less than acquiring a new one.*** And if you run out of ideas for building loyalty, it's this way !

* Criteo study, August 2020.

** SNCD

*** Quality Performance