Latest / The Retention Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Email, SMS, and Loyalty for Repeat Customers / How a Pet Food Brand Uses SMS to Recover Lapsed Customers
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, I want to look at a specific pet food brand that used SMS to recover lapsed customers. And the numbers here are pretty striking — they managed to reactivate 35 percent of customers who hadn't purchased in 90 days. Luna: That's a big chunk. What was their approach? Lucas: So, they had this problem: a lot of customers would buy once, then disappear. Their average time between repeat purchases was around 60 days for active customers, but they had a growing segment — about 20 percent of their customer base — that hadn't bought in three months or more. Luna: Right, and that's a huge revenue leak if you don't address it. Lucas: Exactly. So they designed a three-message SMS sequence, triggered when a customer hit the 90-day mark without a purchase. The first message was a simple check-in — 'Hey, we noticed it's been a while, here's a 15 percent off code to welcome you back.' Luna: Was that just a blanket offer? Lucas: No, actually they segmented based on previous purchase data. They knew what type of food the customer bought — dry kibble versus wet food, for example — and tailored the offer accordingly. So the discount was for the specific product line they had bought before. Luna: That makes sense. A generic 15 percent off might not be as compelling if the customer feels you don't remember what they bought. Lucas: Right. The second message in the sequence went out five days later if there was no response. This one added a bit of urgency: 'Your 15 percent off code expires in 48 hours, and we also want to remind you that your pet's favorite food is back in stock.' Luna: So urgency plus a specific product mention. That's smart. Lucas: Then the third message, another five days later, was a different offer — 20 percent off, but with social proof: 'Join over 5,000 pet parents who love our grain-free chicken recipe.' Luna: So they increased the discount and added social proof. Did they track which message performed best? Lucas: They did. The first message converted about 15 percent of the lapsed customers. The second message — the one with urgency — converted another 12 percent. The third message brought in 8 percent. So total reactivation rate of 35 percent over that three-message sequence. Luna: So the majority came from the first two messages. That makes sense — you want to capture the low-hanging fruit early. Lucas: Exactly. And they also ran an A/B test on the discount amount. For a subset of customers, they tested 15 percent versus 20 percent on the first message. The 20 percent offer got a 20 percent higher reactivation rate, but the overall revenue per reactivated customer was only 5 percent higher because of the deeper discount. Luna: So 15 percent was probably the sweet spot — good enough to bring them back without giving away too much margin. Lucas: That's what they concluded. They also looked at the timing of the messages. They sent the first one at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, based on their data that pet food purchases spike on Tuesday mornings. Luna: That's interesting — they used purchase timing data to optimize send time. Did they test other days? Lucas: They did a small test comparing Tuesday versus Thursday. Tuesday outperformed by about 10 percent on click-through rate. But the sample was small, so they're running a larger test now. Luna: I like that they're being methodical. So after the three-message sequence, what happened next? Lucas: If the customer still didn't respond, they were moved to a longer-term nurture campaign — a monthly email with tips and product updates. But the SMS sequence was the main reengagement tool. Luna: So SMS for the urgent, time-sensitive win-back, and email for the slow burn. That's a good one-two punch. Lucas: Yeah. And one more thing — they tracked the repeat purchase rate of the reactivated customers. Out of those 35 percent who came back, about 60 percent made a second purchase within the next 60 days, which is in line with their regular customer behavior. Luna: So the reactivated customers didn't just come back once and leave again. They actually became repeat buyers at a similar rate to your loyal customers. Lucas: Exactly. That's the key metric — not just reactivation, but the long-term value. And they estimated that the campaign generated an additional $50,000 in revenue over three months from that segment alone. Luna: That's a solid return on a few SMS messages. It makes me think about how many brands just let lapsed customers sit there without a targeted reengagement effort. Lucas: It's a huge missed opportunity. A lot of brands focus all their retention energy on the first 30 or 60 days, but the 90-day lapsed segment is often neglected. Luna: And this shows that with a thoughtful sequence, you can bring a significant portion back. I think the key takeaway here is personalization — using what you know about the customer's past purchases to make the offer relevant. Lucas: Absolutely. And testing. They didn't just guess the discount or the timing — they ran tests and let the data guide them. Luna: And that's something any brand can do, even with a small list. You just need to start tracking and iterating. Lucas: By the way, if these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used — maybe you tried a new email sequence or a loyalty tweak — a couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these going, at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it really makes a difference in keeping the episodes ad-free and focused on the actionable stuff. Lucas: So, back to the pet food brand — one other tactic they used was to include a link to a product quiz in the third message. That way, even if the customer didn't buy immediately, they engaged with the brand. Luna: That's a good way to re-engage even without a purchase. And the quiz could help them find the right product if their needs changed. Lucas: Exactly. The quiz had about a 5 percent completion rate from that segment, and of those, 10 percent purchased within the next week. So it was a secondary conversion path. Luna: Nice. So the sequence wasn't just 'buy now or lose the offer.' It offered value through the quiz as well. Lucas: Right. And I think that's a good lesson — your reengagement messages don't always have to be a hard sell. Sometimes a helpful tool can be the nudge they need. Luna: So for listeners who want to try something similar, what would you recommend as a starting point? Lucas: First, define what 'lapsed' means for your brand. It could be 60 days, 90 days, whatever you see in your data. Then, pull a segment and start with a simple two-message SMS sequence — one check-in with a modest discount, and one follow-up with urgency. Track the reactivation rate and iterate from there. Luna: And don't forget to personalize the offer based on past purchases. Even a small tweak like mentioning the product name can make a difference. Lucas: Exactly. And if you're worried about SMS fatigue, you can always start with a small segment to test the waters. The pet food brand only sent the sequence to about 500 customers initially. Luna: Good point. You don't have to blast your entire list right away. Test on a small group, measure, then scale. Lucas: Alright, that's the pet food brand's SMS win-back playbook. Next time, we'll look at how a beauty brand uses email to reduce repeat purchase time. Luna: Looking forward to that. See you next time. Lucas: Take care.