8 Ways to Reactivate Lost Customers in Q4

Hi Team,

Four weeks until Black Friday—how are we doing? Thriving? Barely surviving?

For this week’s newsletter, I want to chat about the most slept-on BFCM tactic that can drive real profit, boost your retention rate, and reengage those lapsed customers hanging in the wind.

In fact, I’ve got eight practical ways to pull churned customers back in.

It’s the most lucrative time of the year for most ecom brands, so this is the time to go big or… miss out.

Before we jump in, a quick announcement:

This week, we launched a new Yotpo campaign that might be our spiciest one yet. 

TL;DR, we’re offering $1,000 for a qualified intro to folks at select brands—no strings attached. (Catch the video popup on our site for the full scoop.)

But no time to waste—we’ve got customers to reactivate.

Let’s dive in.

This week’s newsie is brought to you by PostPilot!

Need to add an extra 10% or more to your Q4 revenue? Direct mail is a machete to slash through the digital noise—for less than the cost of a click.

Yep, physical mail is back in a big way. And it works, really, really, well. 

I used PostPilot at Jones Road Beauty to generate a ton of revenue at a 10X+ incremental ROAS from the many customers and prospects we weren’t reaching with our emails. 

They make it super-easy. Their team is top-notch and takes care of everything from setup to creative. I barely had to lift a finger. You can go from concept to launch to your customer’s hands in days. And you can use direct mail at every stage of the funnel:

• Retention/reactivation: Re-engage customers who haven’t been active or purchased from you in years. You’ll be shocked by how far back you can go and get profitable returns.

• Retargeting: PostPilot can match email addresses from subscribers who still haven’t converted to postal addresses and send them a card. They can even identify people browsing your website who haven’t purchased or signed up for email.

• Prospecting: PostPilot has billions of data points on hundreds of millions of US consumers and can use their AI to build lookalike audiences based on your best customers. 

And it’s not too late for BFCM, but the deadline is approaching fast. Contact them today and let them know I referred you, and they’ll hook you up with up to 1000 free cards towards your first campaign for BFCM. 

If you’re thinking about adding a new channel for retention or acquisition, PostPilot is THE solution, used by thousands of top DTC brands from Jones Road to HexClad to GOOD AMERICAN and many more.  

8 Ways to Reactivate Lost Customers in Q4

1. BFCM Early Access:

Want to make your customers feel like VIPs? 

Give them early access to your BFCM sale with a personalized invite delivered straight to their physical mailbox. It puts you at the top of your mind before their inbox fills with BFCM emails from every other brand.

When you reach them first, you’re more likely to grab those early holiday dollars and get a repurchase (or two) in November and December. It’s a small move with a big impact on wallet share, helping you stand out amidst the year-end rush.

2. BFCM Sale Announcement:

Your biggest sale of the year needs to reach every single customer—and direct mail can help you get there. 

Pair email, SMS, and direct mail to achieve near 100% reach, ensuring no one misses out on your BFCM event. The great thing about postcards is that they won’t get buried in a crowded inbox, so your brand stays top of mind. 

Plus, a well-designed postcard can make a big impression when it lands in their hands, making your BFCM sale stand out that much more. 

Bottom line: all channels work better together, so don’t leave one on the bench.

3. Plain Text Outreach:

In a world of overly-designed, image-heavy emails, sometimes simple is best. A plain text email from a real human (or, better yet, the founder) can stand out as more genuine and less salesy. 

Keep the message personal and straightforward, asking if there’s anything the customer wished you’d done differently or if they’re looking for anything specific. 

Instead of hitting them with the hard sell, open up a conversation. Then, follow up with a unique offer a week later, making sure the whole interaction feels more thoughtful than transactional. 

Plenty of folks will say the only way to break through the noise is to send more emails. But, honestly, I’ve got a better idea:

SEND BETTER EMAILS. 🫠

4. Focus on Multi-Buyers:

When it comes to reengagement, not all customers are created equal. Going after multi-buyers—those who’ve already made 2+ purchases—is generally a lot easier than trying to pull back one-time customers. 

Why? You already know these customers liked your product enough to come back. With this group, your lift can be lighter. 

Consider reaching out with an offer that aligns with what they’ve purchased before, and instead of going cuckoo on discounting, try something like double or triple loyalty points or a store credit to use within the next few months. 

This strategy gives them a compelling reason to return and stick around for those loyalty rewards, adding a valuable retention loop into Q4 and even next year.

5. VIP Holiday Cards:

I often talk about creating magical, memorable moments for customers. With PostPilot, you can send handwritten holiday cards (using their fleet of pen-holding robots) to your VIP customers. 

Your top 10–20% of customers by number of purchases or total spend. Imagine receiving a real handwritten card in a handwritten envelope from the founder of a brand you’ve purchased from.

It’s a no-brainer to invest 2 bucks in your best customers. And a study showed these customers receiving handwritten notes spend more with you over time—a lot more.

6. Leveraging Quiz Data for Personalization:

If you’ve collected zero-party data from quizzes or surveys, now’s the time to leverage it. 

Use quiz insights to segment customers based on their preferences, pain points, or buying motivations to create a more targeted reactivation message. 

For instance, if a customer has mentioned they struggle with dry skin, a tailored message recommending a hydrating product could hit home. 

Or, if they expressed an interest in activewear, you could promote products that align with those preferences. Personalization works, especially in Q4, when shoppers are more intentional with their purchases. So dig into your data and reach out with a message that speaks directly to their interests.

7. Post-BFCM Follow-up:

Once Cyber Monday is over, Q4 isn’t done yet. To keep the momentum going through December, it’s key to stay visible. 

If you’ve got a group of folks that have browsed your site or subscribed to your emails but have not yet converted, you can use PostPilot’s SiteMatch and MailMatch to reach out. 

A follow-up postcard can make the difference with on-the-fence shoppers who just need a gentle nudge to finally hit that “buy” button. 

To maximize your Q4, you have to keep your foot on the gas all the way through the holiday season. 

8. New Year, New You:

Wellness and general self-improvement brands call it Q5 for a reason. Target customers when they’re making their fitness resolutions, looking to refresh their wardrobes or homes, commit to a hobby (finally), or generally turn over a new leaf. 

They’ll keep the mailer you send on their kitchen counter or desk as a reminder to incorporate it into their fresh start. I’ve seen this do super for some brands, so it’s worth checking out. 

On good deals:

1. If you shop online, like most of us do, you are leaving free money on the table by not going through a shopping portal.
   
   “Like Rakuten? We know that, Eli.”
   
   OK, pipe down. There are actually 50+ competitors to Rakuten, and some offer much better cashback than Rakuten. Instead of choosing one, go to Cashback Monitor or Cashbackholic and search for the store before shopping. Then either go with TopCashBack, Rebatesme, Retailmenot, Extrabucks, Befrugal, Mrrebates, etc. (you see, I’ve got a problem.) 

2. RetailMeNot or download Honey to make sure you use discount codes. If you are a student or medical professional, some other great options like id.me, unidays, etc. 

Points & Miles:

1. Unless you are strapped for cash or hate traveling, redeeming points for dollars is almost always a terrible idea.  Quite often, you get much better value for your points by transferring to partners. Or book through Chase Travel and get 1.25 cents per point. Always check all options before you assume. 

2. Unless you are specifically stuck with one airline and optimizing for the early boarding and free suitcase, getting an airline credit card is rarely a good idea. Go with a card like Sapphire (or Amex card with Membership Rewards), which you can use to transfer to most airlines without being stuck with Schrute bucks or Skypesos. 

3. Quite often, transferring points to an airline under the same “alliance” might yield a much better redemption than transferring to the airline you are flying directly. For example, United from Philly to Chicago might cost 28k miles, while booking the same United flight through a Star Alliance partner like Avianca might be only 8k. More on that next week!

That’s it for this week!

Any topics you'd like to see me cover in the future?

Just shoot me a DM or an email!

Cheers, 

Eli 💛

P.S. Looking for inspo on your next email/sms campaign?

I know you will love this.