A customer reactivation campaign you can send this week

Who to send to

Send to people who have already paid you or booked with you, taken from your own records: your booking software, your invoices, your appointment book. Leave out anyone who asked you to stop, anyone who already has a visit booked, and anyone you have an open problem with. Do not use a bought list or numbers copied from somewhere else. Those people do not know you, and you will have no consent record for them.

Pick the lapsed window from your own cycle

A haircut, an adjustment, a filter change and a yearly system check all come back on different schedules, so any number we gave you would be a guess. Work it out from your records instead.

• Export each customer's visit dates.
• Look only at customers who came back. How long did they usually wait between one visit and the next?
• Call someone lapsed when their last visit is well past that usual wait. Lapsed means overdue, not gone.
• Start with the people who are only a little overdue. They still remember you. Send the longer-lapsed group in a later run.

If you cannot find a usual wait in your records, ask when you would want a regular customer back, and use that date.

Consent comes first

This is how the rules read, not legal advice. Check them with your own lawyer before you send.

Texts and email follow different rules. Sort your list by what each person agreed to before you write a word.

Texts

The FCC's telemarketing rule covers a call or message meant to encourage someone to buy a service. For an autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing call to a cell phone, it requires the person's prior express written consent. The same rule says "calls or text messages" where it covers revoking consent. Whether your texting software counts as an autodialer is a question for your lawyer. The safe habit is to get written consent before any marketing text.

The rule defines written consent. It is an agreement in writing, with the person's signature, that authorizes you to send marketing messages, names the phone number, and says the person does not have to sign it to buy anything from you. An electronic signature counts under the federal rule, and Florida's statute says checking a box is a signature.

Florida adds section 501.059. It treats a sales text as a "telephonic sales call", bars you from texting anyone who has told you they do not want texts, and lets a person who was texted in violation sue for actual damages or $500, whichever is greater. Before suing over texts, the person must reply STOP, and you then have 15 days to stop.

People can also withdraw consent by any reasonable method. The federal rule lists replies such as stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel and unsubscribe as clear requests. Treat every one of them as STOP.

Florida hours and frequency

Section 501.616(6) bars commercial telephone solicitation calls before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. in the called person's time zone, and more than three on the same subject in a 24-hour period. Section 501.604 lists exemptions from that part of the law but leaves 501.616(6) in force for the exempt. The statute says "phone calls". It does not say whether a text counts, so we are not claiming it does. Ask your lawyer. The plan below stays inside both limits anyway. The federal rule sets a similar window for residential lines, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., in 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1).

Email

Marketing email falls under the CAN-SPAM Act. The FTC's compliance guide says a marketing email must:

• Carry accurate From, To and Reply-To details that identify your business.
• Use a subject line that matches what is inside.
• Say clearly that it is an advertisement.
• Include a valid physical postal address.
• Explain how to opt out, honor the request within 10 business days, and keep the opt-out working for at least 30 days after sending. You cannot charge a fee or ask for more than an email address.

Past customers are not exempt. The same guide gives a message to former customers announcing a new product line as an example that must comply.

Customers you can only email

Many lists have an email address and no record of text consent. Email those people and do not text them. In the email, link to a short form where they can choose texts too: an unchecked box, their phone number, and a plain line saying they do not have to agree to buy anything. Keep the date and the exact wording they saw with each record.

A three-message plan for about two weeks

Send the first message on day 1, the second around day 5 and the last around day 12. Stop the sequence for anyone who books, replies or opts out. Send between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the customer's time zone, and never more than one message to a person in a day.

Write as the owner, in one voice. Use the person's first name, the actual service and one clear next step. Name your business in every text, because the person may not have your number saved, and end each text with STOP language. The names below are made up. Swap in your own business name, details and links where you see brackets.

A hair salon, by text

Text 1 · day 1

Hi Jess, it's Dana at [salon name]. It's been a while since your last cut and I'd love to see you. I have a couple of Tuesday and Thursday afternoons open this month. Want me to hold one? Reply STOP to opt out.

Text 2 · day 5

Hi Jess, Dana again. In case my last text got buried: those afternoons are still open. You can pick a time yourself here: [booking link]. Reply STOP to opt out.

Text 3 · day 12

Hi Jess, last note from me. If now isn't the time, no problem, you're always welcome back. If you'd like a spot, just reply with a day that works. Reply STOP to opt out.

An AC company, by email

Email 1 · day 1

Subject: Time for your AC check-up?

Hi Carlos,

This is Ray at [company name]. We last serviced your system in [month, year], and I wanted to check in before the hot months. If you'd like a tune-up, reply with a day that works or call me at [phone]. If it's running fine, you can ignore this.

Ray
[Company name], [street address, city, FL ZIP]
This is a marketing email. To stop getting them, use this link: [unsubscribe link]

Email 2 · day 6

Subject: Still want that tune-up?

Hi Carlos,

A quick follow-up from Ray. I have openings on [day] and [day] next week. Reply with the one you want and I'll put you on the schedule.

Ray
[Company name], [street address, city, FL ZIP]
This is a marketing email. To stop getting them, use this link: [unsubscribe link]

Email 3 · day 13

Subject: Last note from [company name]

Hi Carlos,

I won't keep emailing. If you want us to look at your system, reply to this email or call [phone]. If you'd rather not hear from us again, use the link below and I'll take you off the same day.

Ray
[Company name], [street address, city, FL ZIP]
This is a marketing email. To stop getting them, use this link: [unsubscribe link]

For customers who gave written consent to texts, the same company can send the first message by text:

Text 1 · day 1

Hi Carlos, it's Ray at [company name]. We last serviced your AC in [month]. Want a tune-up before the hot months? Reply with a day that works. Reply STOP to opt out.

What to offer, and what to leave out

The best offer is an open appointment time and a true reason to book it, such as how long it has been since the last visit. If you give a discount, say what it is, who gets it and when it ends, and only name an end date you will honor.

Leave out fake urgency. Do not write "only two spots left" unless two spots are left. Do not add a countdown, a "last chance" you will repeat next month, or guilt about how long it has been. Do not mention the reason for someone's last visit in a text, especially at a clinic. A message that reads as honest also gets read.

Answer replies the same day

The campaign only pays off if someone answers the people who answer you. Put one person on the replies for the two weeks and have them reply the same business day, in the same channel, with two specific times. Answer questions plainly and then offer the times again.

When someone replies STOP, or anything that means it, take them off every list that day and send nothing more. When someone says "not now", thank them and leave them out of this run. When someone books, pull them out of the remaining messages so they do not get a reminder to do what they already did.

Measure it from your own numbers

You do not need an outside benchmark. Keep one row per run and fill in your own counts:

• People you sent to, after removing opt-outs and bounced emails.
• Replies, including the ones that said no.
• Bookings that came from those replies, matched to the list using your booking records. Ask "how did you hear from us?" when someone books by phone.
• Opt-outs. A jump after a particular message tells you that message, or that part of the list, needs another look.

Divide bookings by people sent to get your own rate, then compare it with your last run, not with a number from somewhere else. Multiply bookings by what those customers actually paid to see what the run brought in. If you would rather have someone set this up and run it for you, that is what we do on the customer reactivation page.