Win-Back Email Examples: Bring Lapsed Customers Back

A win-back email is an automated message to a past customer who hasn't bought in longer than usual, asking them to return with a reminder, a reason or an offer. Start with what's new, step up to an offer only at the end, and stop if they don't respond.

Past buyers already know you, trust you with a card and have your product at home. Winning one back usually takes far less than convincing a stranger. The trick is reaching them at the right time with a reason to come back.

It depends on how often people buy from you. A store that sells monthly refills might call someone lapsed after 60 days, while a furniture brand might wait a year or more. Look at your own orders: find the typical gap between a customer's purchases, then start the win-back well after that gap. A fixed "90 days" copied from a blog will be wrong for most stores, including the ones it worked for.

Space them a week or so apart, and remove anyone who buys. Consider a text only for high-value customers who agreed to marketing texts: "Brightside: We miss you, Sam. Here's 15% off with BACK15 through Sunday: brightside.co/a1b2c3d Reply STOP to opt out."

Hold it back at first. Some of your lapsed customers would come back for a good reason alone, and a discount trains regular buyers to wait. To find out what the offer actually earns, keep a holdout group that doesn't get it and compare their orders with everyone else's. Scale the offer to the customer: a past big spender can justify more than a one-time bargain hunter.

• A product update: A fix to something they might have disliked. Tell them what changed.
• A replenishment reminder: If the product runs out, ask if they're out.
• Loyalty points: Remind them of points waiting in their account.
• A question: Ask why they stopped. A plain "what could we do better?" brings back useful answers, and sometimes the customer.
• Free shipping: Often costs you less than a percentage off, and shipping cost may be what's stopping them.

• Take customers with at least two orders from the past couple of years.
• Measure the number of days between their orders.
• Look at the typical gap, and at the point most repeat orders have already happened.
• Start the win-back after that point. Anyone sooner is likely still a normal customer.
• Check it again each year, and do it separately for very different product lines.

For example, if most of your repeat orders happen within 75 days, an email at day 90 reaches people who are starting to slip, while most normal repeat customers have already bought.

• Guilt. "We miss you" is fine once; "Why did you leave us?" is not.
• Pretending they've never bought. Reference what you know, in general terms.
• Sending the same offer to everyone, including people who'd pay full price.
• Continuing forever. Set an end to the sequence.
• Counting every return as a win. Without a holdout, you'll credit the email for people who'd have returned anyway.

A win-back targets people who've stopped buying. Re-engagement targets people who've stopped opening or clicking, who may never have bought. A lapsed buyer can still read every email, so check both before you pick a message. See re-engagement email examples. For subscription brands, winning back canceled subscribers is a different job again.

A win-back flow in SmartyTap can use emails, texts, delays and splits, and segments can use order history, engagement, subscriptions and loyalty to find the right people. Use a random-sample split as a holdout: send nothing down one path, then compare the two groups' orders yourself. You can edit a flow's messages at any time. What's been delivered stays delivered, and customers still waiting get the new version at their next send. Browse the flow library or read about customer win-back.

An email to a past customer who hasn't bought in longer than usual, encouraging them to return. It's usually part of an automated series of two to four messages.

After a customer has gone well past your typical gap between purchases. That gap varies by product, so measure it from your own orders instead of using a fixed number of days.

Not always. Lead with what's new or a useful reminder, and save any offer for the end. A holdout group shows whether the discount actually adds orders.

Send fewer emails. Offer a way to choose what they get, and if they stay quiet, move them to a less frequent list or a sunset flow to protect your sender reputation.