The customer who stops coming didn’t leave: they forgot
Most of the customers you “lose” had no complaint at all: thirty days simply went by without anything reminding them you exist. That has an automatic fix.
First, the maths
Open Loyalty → Customers and look at the Dormant filter: there’s a number next to it. Those are the members who have not come in at all in the last 90 days. The tag counts visits over time: anyone who came once or twice in those 90 days is Occasional, and anyone who signed up less than a month ago shows as New, even if they haven’t been back yet. The panel counts them on its own, without you lifting a finger.
That number almost always comes as a surprise. And these are people who already know you, who joined your club of their own accord and who didn’t leave in a huff: they stopped coming without ever deciding to.
Now put your own numbers into the sum. Writing to them costs you nothing: the notification appears on the card on their phone, it isn’t a text message and there’s no charge per message. Any reward you attach only costs you on the day someone redeems it, and to redeem it they have to be inside your venue. If the reward costs you €0.80 in product and your average ticket is €9, every person who comes back walks in with €9 and walks out with €0.80 of product. The ones who don’t come back don’t cost you a penny.
That’s why this is the first automation to switch on: it’s the only one where the financial risk is zero.
What it does while you serve
The trigger is called Inactivity and it means exactly that: if the member doesn’t come in for X days. The clock starts from their last visit that earned something — a stamp, some points — and, if they never came in at all, from the day they signed up. Opening an email or looking at the card doesn’t count: setting foot in the venue does.
Once they cross that line, the system writes to them on their Wallet card. The notification appears over the pass, the phone buzzes and they haven’t had to install any app. The text is translated into each member’s language and the notification stays on the pass for 12 hours; then it clears itself.
The rule can come with a reward or without one. With a reward, it inherits your programme’s expiry and its own “expiring soon” reminders — two days before and the day before — which come as standard and need no setting up.
Switching it on takes five minutes
- Go to Loyalty → Automations.
- At the top, under “Shall we start? One-tap recipes”, tap Win back the sleepers.
- A three-step wizard opens: Set the when, Add actions, Switch it on. It comes with
30days and the text already written. Change whatever you like and tap Save. - The flow appears on the canvas marked Paused. Nothing goes out yet, and that’s deliberate.
- Tap the Gift a reward node and choose the one you want: the recipe hooks up the first reward in your catalogue, which isn’t necessarily the right one. Rewards are created in Loyalty → Set up → The rewards.
- Look at the foot of the flow: it says N members qualify today. Those are the people who would get the notification on the next run. If the number looks right, flip the switch to Running.
How many days to set (it isn’t always 30)
The rule of thumb: twice as long as your customer normally takes to come back. If they come in every week, fourteen days. If they come every fortnight, thirty. That’s the point where it stops being “not been in yet” and becomes “forgotten about you”.
| Your customer comes back… | Days in the rule | With or without a reward |
|---|---|---|
| Every day (local café, bakery) | 10 | No reward: a reminder is enough |
| Two or three times a week (poke, fast food) | 14 | Small reward |
| Once a week (set lunch, brunch) | 30 | Small reward |
| Every two weeks (dinner restaurant) | 45 | A proper reward |
| Once a month or less (hairdresser, shop) | 60 – 90 | A proper reward |
With daily customers, don’t go below ten days even if the sum gives you fewer: a fortnight’s holiday isn’t a lost customer, and messaging them on Thursday because they didn’t come in on Wednesday is just pestering.
If you want to build a ladder — 14, 30 and 60 days — go ahead: each rule only covers its own band. Someone who has been away for two months gets the 60-day notification, not all three at once with three rewards.
What spoils it
- Leaving it paused. The recipe starts out Paused so nothing goes out by accident. If nobody flips the switch, nothing is ever sent.
- Lowering the cooldown. The recipe comes with “Do not repeat within 60 days”. Setting it to seven means writing four times a month to someone who has already decided not to come. You won’t win anyone back that way: they’ll delete your card.
- Writing a novel. It’s 200 characters at most and it’s read on a lock screen. One reason and one date.
- Making up placeholders. The only ones that fill themselves in are {premio}, {dias}, {nivel} and {referido}. Anything else in curly brackets comes out exactly as written, in front of the customer.
Frequently asked questions
When does a customer count as dormant?
You decide: the inactivity rule accepts anything from 1 to 365 days, and the recipe starts at 30. Separately, the panel automatically tags any member who has not come in at all in the last 90 days as “Dormant” — unless they signed up less than 30 days ago, as they show as New — and you can filter for them in the customer list.
Do they get an email or a text?
Neither. It’s a notification on their Apple Wallet or Google Wallet card: it appears over the pass, makes the phone buzz, reads in their own language and disappears after 12 hours. There’s no cost per message and they don’t need to install any app.
Can I keep nudging every week until they come back?
You can, and it’s the quickest way to get your card deleted from their phone. Every rule has a cooldown — the dormant one comes with 60 days — that stops the same member getting the notification again before then. And a member never gets two automatic notifications in the same run.
Do I have to give something away for it to work?
No: the rule can be just a message. But a reward with an expiry date gives them a concrete reason to come in this week rather than “some day”, and it only costs you if someone redeems it — in other words, if someone has come back.