How do I recover lapsed customers?
Short answer: Trigger outreach at 1.5x the customer's personal visit cadence with a single-CTA SMS — no marketing language. Reactivates 15-25%.
Full answer
Lapsed customers are the highest-converting outreach segment a business can run. They already trusted you once. The fix is engineering the recall trigger.
Two anti-patterns: - Using a category-average cadence ("anyone who hasn't visited in 90 days"). This catches some lapsed customers but misses the ones whose normal cadence is monthly. - Discount-led winback. Trains the customer to wait for the offer next time.
What works: - Trigger at 1.5x the customer's personal visit cadence. - Single-CTA SMS with no marketing language. "Haven't seen you in a while — we missed you. Want to book your next visit?" - One follow-up at +7 days. No third message.
Reactivation: 15-25% per cycle in local-business. 20-30% in DTC. 10-20% in B2B service.