Recipe: win back customers who stopped coming
The problem
"Lots of people visited once and never came back. We'd like to remind them we exist — politely, and without spamming."
Pick your path
| Your situation | Use | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| You have a list of past customers right now | A. Re-engage everyone who's gone quiet | Day-wise: Day 0 offer, Day 3 call |
| You want every customer to get a nudge some weeks after each visit | B. Nudge after the last visit | Date field: 45 days after Last visit date |
Many businesses do both: A once to wake up the old list, then B running all the time.
Win-back messages are marketing
An offer needs an approved marketing template. It only reaches people who have messaged your business before, and not people who opted out of marketing. Promotional calls skip people who opted out of marketing.
A. Re-engage everyone who's gone quiet
Why this fits: the clock starts when you press Save, so everyone on the list hears from you this week.
| Step | Timing | Channel | Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offer | Day 0 at 11:00 | WhatsApp, approved marketing template | "We miss you, {{1}}! Here's 15% off your next visit." |
| Friendly call | Day 3 at 12:00 | Call, Dial automatically, Promotional | Only if they haven't booked. Objective: "Ask how they've been and offer the discount." |
Audience: Stage · is · Past customer (or Tags · contains · past-customer).
- Click New campaign, name it
Win back — spring, choose Day-wise, pick your agent and click Continue. - Attach a number that can call.
- Click Audience & limits. Add Stage · is · Past customer. Keep the Daily call limit low at first, for example
20. Click Done. You'll see: "N contacts match now". - Click the WhatsApp step button, set Send on day
0at11:00, and pick the marketing template. You'll see: a red note if some matching contacts never messaged you and can't receive it. - Click the Call step button, set Call from day
3at12:00, choose Promotional under Call type, and Dial automatically under Dialing. Write the objective. Click Save step. - Click Save, then Test the WhatsApp step on yourself.
- Make sure the agent moves people who book to another stage (for example Booked). They then leave the audience and don't get the call.
B. Nudge after the last visit
Why this fits: each customer gets the nudge at the right moment for them, counted from their own last visit.
| Step | Timing | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| Miss-you offer | 45 days after Last visit date at 11:00 | WhatsApp, approved marketing template |
| Check-in call | 52 days after Last visit date at 12:00 | Call, Dial automatically, Promotional |
You need a date field such as Last visit date, kept up to date by your team, an import or an inbound API.
Good to know:
- Only customers whose "45 days after" moment is still ahead get the step. People whose last visit was long ago are skipped — use path A for them.
- Each customer gets this campaign's WhatsApp offer once. A regular who comes back and drifts away again won't get it a second time.
Make it fit your business
| Business | Audience / date | Offer |
|---|---|---|
| Salon | Last visit date + 30 days | "Time for a trim? 20% off this week" |
| Gym | Membership end date + 7 days | "Come back for a free week" |
| Hotel | Check-out date + 45 days | "Your next stay: free breakfast". Hotel accounts may already have a paused Guest win-back campaign — check it first. |
| Travel agent | Tags contains travelled-2025 | "Early-bird holiday deals are open" |
| Brightway | Stage is Past customer | "Book your yearly check-up" |
Costs
- Each WhatsApp offer is one WhatsApp template message charge. People who can't receive it are skipped and cost nothing.
- Each call costs AI conversation minutes plus carrier voice minutes.
Win-back lists can be large. Start with a small segment, look at Replied on the campaign row, then widen it. See What actions cost credits.
Quiet hours and limits
- Everything waits for Settings → Working hours, and for 09:00–21:00 in the customer's own time zone.
- Anyone who wrote to you in the last 48 hours is held, so the agent never interrupts a chat.
- Calls follow the campaign's Limits and your account's daily limit.
- Customers who send STOP or opt out are skipped. See Opt-out and unsubscribe.
Common problems
Almost everyone shows "Compliance hold" or whatsapp_opt_in_missing. They never messaged you, so a marketing template can't reach them. Use path A with a call-only campaign, or grow your WhatsApp list first.
Path B sent nothing. Check Last visit date is filled in and recent enough. A step that would already be more than 24 working hours late is skipped.