Like the splendid Sephora win-back email we explored above, Kenneth Cole also utilizes the urgency and exclusivity of a discount to entice lapsed customers back into its ecosystem.
A good win-back email benefits both the sender and the recipient – and this one does both. The customer scores a freebie on their birthday. While Starbucks benefits from more accurate records, enabling them to tailor and target further marketing communications.
The familiar? Offering customers 20% off their next purchase, along with a deadline to convey immediacy and urgency. It’s more subtle, but the copy – ”Redeem your promo code” – also feels personal and tailored since the promo code is for the individual recipient, and them alone.
We think it does a pretty good job – do you agree?
So read on for our top nine win-back email examples – from some of the world’s biggest brands.
This win-back email from Duolingo also tugs on the heartstrings, with Duo’s tearful visage constituting a soft guilt trip encouraging lapsed customers to “get back on track”.
The email is extremely easy on the eye, too – with striking, sensuous close-up images of the brand’s makeup overlaid alongside the text.
This Airbnb email highlights to hosts how much they’ve earned so far through Airbnb – $0 – and uses local suburb data to show how much they could be earning through the platform. The email is packed full of compelling copy that speaks to the benefits of hosting through Airbnb (“paying bills, funding dreams, saving for the future”) and concludes with a CTA prompting the host to “finish [their] listing”.
Like Duolingo, Google Local Guides knows that animals – particularly ones that look sad – tap into the deepest wells of the human psyche. But it’s not just a full-width image of a doleful pug that makes this win-back email example so effective – it’s the compelling CTA just below.
Duolingo’s win-back email is simple and stripped-back – and that’s precisely what makes it so powerful. Unlike the above examples from Sephora and Airbnb, Duoling doesn’t rely on discounts or data – just a couple of lines of copy, a vivid CTA button, and a design language centered around Duo, the green owl who serves as the brand’s mascot.
Alright, Netflix. You’ve got us!
It runs the risk of being a little OTT, but the clever, campy design – and the fact that this email never takes itself too seriously – means the campaign just gets away with it!
This email is a triumph of design – with an endearing, cartoon-like mockup of an iPhone conversation. Through the email – which Urban Outfitters sends when a customer opts out of its mailing address – the brand asks its customer a series of questions:
Popular home decor and furniture brand Anthropologie opts for an approach that mixes the familiar with the unfamiliar – and the results are striking.
Urban Outfitters demonstrates why win-back email effectiveness isn’t just about what you write, but how you write it – and how it looks.
But how do you go about encouraging customers to give you those details? The short answer is: incentivize them. And Starbucks provides some handy inspiration!
Here, Google uses positive, imperative language (“add a photo today”; “contribute now”) to make its CTA actionable and intuitive, while a big, blue button simply screams – ”click me!”
Reinforcing this? A bold, unmissable CTA button, in the classic Netflix red, with a straightforward directive – ”Rejoin Today”.
Our favorite of Airbnb’s superb suite of win-back emails opts for a different tack, and it’s a tried-and-tested one – showing customers exactly what they’re missing.
On top of this, Anthropologie also gains important insights to help them refine and reinvigorate their approach. It’s an email that kills multiple birds with one proverbial stone – and a win-win situation for all parties involved!
Kenneth Cole pushes the boundaries with an edgy, effective win-back email that makes no apologies. Brusque, compelling copy tells the recipient: “You left something behind. Time to make it right”. It’s a cool, commanding tone that gels seamlessly with the images of well-dressed models, all chiseled jaws and high cheekbones, staring aloofly into the distance.
The coffee giant’s win-back email reminds customers that it’d hate to miss their birthday – and that a free treat awaits them when they next turn a year older. The only caveat? The customer needs to enter their birthday first. Fortunately, it’s something they can do right here, right now, via a link in the email to update their account.
After the loud, colorful vibrancy of that Urban Outfitters example, Netflix’s win-back email might come across as a bit bland in comparison. But actually, this email is an instructive lesson as to why less is, more often than not, more – and how a no-frills, no-nonsense design can actually be a more effective approach.
In Netflix’s case, this is by simply restating the benefits of being a subscriber – to quote: “watch what you want, when you want, on any device you want”. By stripping the email of any other disruptions (except a small image), Netflix keeps the focus on what they want the recipient to do.
When it comes to crafting your own win-back emails, there’s no better place to start than the brilliant businesses already killing it in the win-back email game.
In 2023, collecting and maintaining accurate customer data and records is vital in business. After all, relevant demographics help you understand how to segment your mailing list, tailor your messaging, and target customers with the most effective communications and incentives.
“Where’ve you been?” Sephora’s win-back email asks, approaching its recipient in the conversational, convivial manner of an old friend. “We’ve missed you!”
The less familiar? Anthropologie’s win-back email requests the customer’s feedback on the recent changes it’s been making to its website and catalog. This way, the brand isn’t simply treating the email recipient as a customer, but as a partner – showing them that they value and appreciate their opinion and that their feedback will be cherished and considered.
Sephora lands in its customer’s inbox not only like a childhood chum (rather than a business) but also bearing gifts – 15% off the customer’s next purchase. Plus, the beauty brand’s marketing team has clearly been doing its research into the win-back email best practices we outlined above, because the email also has: