At some point, every business needs to look at its consumers not just from a standpoint of their potential value, but in terms of their impact on the cost of operations and marketing. Identify the cause. Regardless of your intent to keep or lose a customer, you must know why the customer is leaving. Conducting random exit interviews will give you advance warning of problems that, if left unresolved, could drive your customers to the competition in droves. Use a standard recapture process.
Standard processes ensure that critical activities take place in a consistent manner.
Create one method of contacting defected customers and make it a part of your daily marketing activities. David Friedensohn, CEO of the Internet video retailer BigStar Entertainment Inc., says his company is always focused on direct marketing. Then, based on how often they have purchased in the past and the time since their last order, the company sends out a series of targeted e-mails designed to reactivate their buying behavior. Measure the outcome of your efforts. Nothing improves unless it is measured.