Make no mistake, the competition is fierce for mobile apps. With shortening attention spans and over 5 billion apps to choose from, mobile marketers need to be both technologically savvy and strategic to keep users engaged.

The average mobile app will lose close to 80% of its daily active users (DAU) within the first 3 days of install. That attrition rate — or user churn rate — increases to 90% after a month and over 95% after 3 months.

So, what’s a growth marketer to do?

Win back their customers through strategic promotions and exclusive content that also succeeds in turning them into long term, active users.

What is a Win-back Strategy?

A customer win-back strategy is a calculated marketing plan that re-engages inactive users, retains them as active users, and helps decrease your overall churn rate. Implementing win-back strategies is an important aspect of a robust retargeting plan that aims to improve your app’s retention.

Why should you be thinking about win-back strategies? Because new user growth is not what drives the most revenue, as you might have heard us mention before. It costs 700% more to acquire new users than it does to retain existing customers. Simply bringing back 5% more of your existing customers can drive up to 95% more ROI for your brand.

Winning Customer Win-back Strategies

So, how do you craft a winning win-back strategy? The first step is diving deeper into your churn rate and the leaks in your sales funnel. Pinpoint what users are doing right before they drop off. The following strategies should be adapted to fit your app’s product and lifecycle pain points.

Discounts & Promotions

Did you know 4 out of 5 consumers would be encouraged to make a first-time purchase if they had an offer or promotion available to them? Offering an introductory promotion to first-time customers can be a simple way to nudge them to conversion.

Offering follow-up promotions at key moments can turn these first-time purchasers into long time customers. For example, if you’ve identified that users churn around the 1 week mark, add a promotion at that time in your lifecycle flow to prevent drop off.

Delivery apps could implement a $0 delivery fee on your first order. Subscription-based apps could offer a limited time discount on an annual plan. Game apps could provide free game coins or upgrades.

Loyalty Programs

If loyal customers drive the most revenue for your app then why not reward them with a loyalty program?

For a delivery or rideshare app, this might look like a pass that incentivizes users through points that can be used to buy a free meal or ride. You could also offer customers tiered purchase incentives, like a “buy 4, get the 5th ride free.

For a subscription app, a strategic customer win-back loyalty program is probably equivalent to a paid plan. With that said, make sure your premium subscription offers an ongoing host of exclusive benefits, content and resources to members. Promote these benefits to dormant free users as a way to win them back and turn them into long-term customers.

Seasonal Content 

There are holidays and seasons all year round that you can time your promotions around to help market your app’s products.

You might launch a fresh, summer-themed treatment for your game app or a series of promotions for your delivery app that play off the 12 days of Christmas. Plan your marketing calendar well in advance and identify the holidays, events, or seasons that your target users care about.

Additionally, amplify new content and changes to your app in your promotions. Did your food delivery app just add a host of summertime smoothie shops to its marketplace?  Promote updates by wrapping them in content, like blog posts and social posts, to extend their value even further.

Personalization

Of course, to strategically win back your customers and activate them into long term users, you must first engage them. This is where advanced retargeting campaign tools like smart bidding and personalization come into play.

Personalize your ad messaging to speak directly to a user’s experience and use deep links to lead them to the place in your app where they can take the next, converting step.

Retargeting

It’s smart to consider paid advertising campaigns when it comes to crafting a multi-channel customer win-back strategy. You should be retargeting from day one of launching your new user growth campaigns. Aim to create a fully intact sales funnel in which new users are acquired, segmented and retargeted seamlessly.

Takeaways on Customer Win-Back Strategies

The average mobile app will lose close to 80% of its DAU within the first 3 days of install; 90% after a month and over 95% after 3 months. Implementing win-back strategies is an important part of a robust retargeting plan that enhances your app’s retention. Simply bringing back 5% more of your existing customers using win-back strategies can drive up to 95% more ROI.

  • What is a win-back strategy? A calculated marketing plan that re-engages inactive users, retains them as active users, and helps decrease your overall churn rate.
  • What are some top-performing customer win-back strategies?
    • Discounts and promotions. Nudge new customers to convert by waiving fees or offering discounts on their first order. Keep your users engaged with discounts at key points.
    • Loyalty programs. These programs should create incentives for your most loygal customers to stay active. This could be by offering points for purchases or “buy x, the xth free” offers.
    • Seasonal content. Launch seasonally themed content and promote around holidays that your users care about.
    • Personalization. Segment your users and personalize your promotions to their point of view. Use deep links to seamlessly lead them to their unique point of conversion.
    • Retargeting campaigns. You should be retargeting on Day 1 of your paid user acquisition campaigns. Create a fully intact sales funnel in which new users are acquired, segmented and retargeted seamlessly.

Looking to win back your best customers?

From win-back strategies that fit your app’s content to help identifying your app’s key churn points, we’ve got you covered. Contact our team of retargeting experts to build a fully-optimized sales funnel.