Inactive customers

How do you win back a customer who stopped ordering?

To win back a customer who has stopped ordering, give a Muzau agent the list of these customers, as a CSV, an Excel file or a Google Sheet. It writes to them one by one, to ten new customers at most per 24 hours. As soon as a customer replies, their follow-ups stop, and their row keeps the last follow-up, dated. Depending on your setting, each message goes out on its own or waits for your approval; your team keeps the relationship.

Why a customer stops ordering without warning

A customer who no longer orders has rarely slammed the door. Their contact changed jobs, their need went on hold, or nobody wrote to them when they would have reordered. Nothing flags it: no unanswered email, no quote waiting, just an absence that grows longer.

Winning them back takes little, but for each one: finding what they used to buy, writing a note that does not read like an ad, thinking about them again if they do not reply. On a few dozen names, that is a day nobody can find. Your team keeps the relationship; the agent takes the writing, the rhythm and the upkeep of the list.

How the agent goes about it

Input

The list of customers to contact again, as a CSV, Excel file or Google Sheet

It does

Writes to them one by one, at the pace you choose, and stops at the reply

It delivers

A list that is kept up: on each row, its last action, dated

The list of former customers, as a file or a Google Sheet

You give the Muzau agent a CSV or Excel (.xlsx) file, or you connect a Google Sheet. A connected sheet is re-read before each round: your additions and your statuses count. An Excel workbook stored in OneDrive connects the same way. Each row shows the agent's last action, dated: “message 2 sent”, “follow-ups stopped”. In a Google Sheet, this tracking is written in a “Muzau follow-up” column, reserved for the agent, without touching yours. This needs a “Reference” or “Number” column, and a connection that allows writing.

One message per customer, at the pace you set

The agent writes to each customer in your company's name, starting from their row: last order, product bought, contact. By default, a single follow-up goes out, the day after the customer enters the sequence. When you create the agent, you can ask for another rhythm, for example D+1, D+4 then D+8. It is instructed to quote only the prices found in your Company Brain. Depending on your setting on the Autonomy page, each message goes out on its own or waits for your approval. In Manage, you read each planned follow-up ahead of time, and you can save your own text in its place, which will go out word for word.

A long list of former customers goes out drip by drip

With Muzau, ten new people at most enter the follow-up sequence over 24 hours: a hundred former customers are spread over ten days at least. The same person never receives more than one scheduled message per 24 hours, all agents combined.

The follow-up stops at the customer's reply, or at their request

A customer's follow-ups stop as soon as they reply; an out-of-office message does not count. They also stop when someone on the team writes to them from the connected mailbox, Gmail or Outlook, or when their row moves to “won” or “accepted” in your status column. Each follow-up drawn from an imported file carries an unsubscribe option. If they click, or reply STOP, they go on your company's do-not-contact list, and no agent follows up with them again.

How to win back a former customer: the method

• Set the threshold from their usual buying rhythm: a monthly customer silent for a quarter is not in the same case as an annual one.
• Pull the list from your invoicing or your CRM, one row per customer: name, email address, date and subject of the last order, the person who handled them.
• Remove customers in dispute, those with an overdue invoice and those who asked not to be contacted.
• Choose the moment: near a renewal, at the time of year they usually reordered, or when something new concerns them.
• In the subject line, put the link rather than an offer: what they had bought, or the name of the person they knew.
• In the message, recall that link, give a reason to write now and end with a single question.
• Avoid “we noticed you no longer order”: the sentence sounds like a reproach.
• Decide in advance who calls them back if they reply: a customer who returns should not have to wait.

An example, to adapt: “Hello Claire, you took our annual plan with Paul. A new version has come out since, designed for the need you told us about. Would you like me to send it to you?” For a former customer, one or two follow-ups beat five: see how many times to follow up with a prospect. If your customers are in a CRM, see how to follow up with customers from HubSpot or Pipedrive.

What it does not do

• It does not spot on its own the customers who no longer order: you give it the list, pulled from your invoicing or your CRM.
• It sees neither a call nor an email sent from a mailbox that is not connected: if the customer got back in touch that way, write “won” in their status column, or cancel their next follow-up in Manage.
• An uploaded CSV or Excel file is a copy: what you change elsewhere does not enter it until you upload it again, whereas a connected Google Sheet is re-read before each round.

Frequently asked questions

How do you follow up with a customer after a trial or a demo?

List the people who did the trial or saw the demo, with a column saying what they tested. A Muzau agent writes to them one by one from their row, and stops following up with each as soon as they reply.

What do you say in an email to a customer who no longer orders?

Recall the link (what they had bought, with whom), give a reason to write now and end with a single simple question. Avoid pointing out that they no longer order: the sentence sounds like a reproach.

What subject line works to follow up with an inactive customer?

A short subject that recalls the link rather than an offer: what the customer had bought, or the name of the person they knew. A subject that looks like a promotion reads as an ad, not as a personal message.

How many former customers should you contact at once?

Few enough each day that you can answer those who come back. With Muzau, 10 new people at most enter the follow-up sequence over 24 hours: a list of a hundred customers is spread over ten days at least.

Can a former customer ask not to be followed up?

Yes. A follow-up drawn from an imported file carries an unsubscribe option that their mail client displays. If they click, or reply STOP or “do not contact me”, they are added to the company's do-not-contact list, and no follow-up goes out to them again, whichever agent it is.