You’re not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the lines it went south — some of your text message subscribers have gone silent and it’s up to you to get them interested again.
We understand how disheartening it can be to lose your engagement and want to help you get the participation rates you’re looking for.
Here are four tips to reactivate dormant text subscribers:
1. Figure out who your dormant text subscribers are
You don’t want to send out “come back!” messages to subscribers who haven’t gone anywhere. Having technology that will help you keep track of active and inactive subscribers can let you know which customers to reach out to when you aren’t getting your preferred level of engagement.
And understanding your customers’ journey can help get them reengaged. Once you have an understanding of your subscribers’ purchasing habits you’ll know how to communicate with them. What times of year do they visit your brand? What purchases do they make? Understanding this information will give you an idea of what content they’re more likely to engage with.
2. Offer valuable incentives
Getting dormant subscribers to pay attention to your SMS campaigns might not be as easy as you’d like. In most cases, your subscribers have gone dormant for a variety of reasons, including:
- They are no longer interested in your content
- There are other brands at their disposal
- They may have changed their number
If you’re fighting against the first two causes, it’ll be particularly important for you to remind your inactive subscribers why your content is worth experiencing. In short, you want subscribers to see the value of your text messages — attractive offers can help.
What’s considered a valuable incentive? We suggest trying SMS-only rewards that are reserved for unengaged subscribers who reengage with your text message marketing campaigns. Your subscribers will appreciate the exclusivity, the dedication you have toward winning them back, and as we know with consumer rewards, a worthwhile offer might be the deciding factor in whether or not a subscriber gives your campaign a second chance.
3. Send out a poll/survey
Remember those possible reasons subscribers go dormant that we listed above? While it’d be nice if there were only three causes for a loss of subscribers, your customers might have other reasons for walking away from your texts.
In order to truly figure out why they aren’t engaging with your content you have to get to the root cause of your subscribers’ dissatisfaction. A poll or survey around your subscribers' inactivity can help you do this. Don’t be afraid to ask your subscribers how you can better serve them or what they’d like to see from you in the future. This sort of vulnerability can let them know that you’re dedicated to their happiness and their customer journey (it may even give customers an inside look into your human side, which can be beneficial for your brand).
4. Use marketing psychology tactics
No matter why your subscribers aren’t participating in the campaigns you send their way, one fact remains true: They can’t deny their psychological makeup.
Marketing psychology plays into natural human responses held by consumers to help brands better resonate with their target audience. Using strategies like scarcity, FOMO, anticipation, urgency or competition can encourage consumers to redirect their energy back into your campaigns out of excitement for what you have to offer.
Having dormant text subscribers isn’t fun, but it doesn’t have to last forever. Reengaging your text subscribers will require you to be aware of any changes in participation, listen to their concerns and create relevant content that they’ll find interesting.
