Win-Back Campaigns: Reach the Customers Email Can't
Your best customers haven't bought in 90 days. They've unsubscribed from your emails or stopped opening them. Email win-back sequences have diminishing returns — the average e-commerce win-back email gets under 3% opens. A postcard in their letterbox is the one message that still gets through.
Why direct mail for win-back?
Win-back is the single highest-ROI use case for direct mail in e-commerce. These are customers who already know and trust your brand but have gone quiet. Email can't reach them — they've either unsubscribed or trained themselves to ignore your subject lines. A physical postcard bypasses every digital filter. It arrives in their letterbox, sits on their kitchen counter, and stays visible for an average of 17 days.
How Mayday automates win-back
Set a trigger: customers who haven't ordered in X days (60, 90, 120 — you choose). Mayday checks your customer database every six hours. When a customer crosses your inactivity threshold, a personalised postcard is queued automatically. Each card includes a unique discount code and QR code for attribution. You can filter by country, minimum lifetime value, or exclude customers who received a card recently.
What to include on a win-back postcard
The most effective win-back postcards include: a direct, personalised greeting; a time-limited discount (10–20% performs best); a QR code linking to a curated collection or their last-browsed category; and a clear call to action. Keep the design clean and branded. The postcard itself is the attention-getter — the offer closes the sale.
Results you can expect
Direct mail achieves a 4.4% response rate compared to 0.12% for email (ANA/DMA). For win-back specifically, the response rate is often higher because you're targeting customers with existing brand affinity. Mayday merchants typically see 8–15% response rates on win-back campaigns, with ROI ranging from 5× to 20× depending on average order value and discount depth.
Start a win-back campaign and bring your lapsed customers back with postcards.
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