Skip to main content
Every store has them: customers who bought once or twice, then drifted away. They already know and trust you, which makes them far cheaper to reactivate than a stranger is to acquire. A win-back flow reaches lapsed customers at the point where they’re slipping from “quiet” to “gone,” reminds them what they’re missing, and gives a reason to come back now.

​
When to use it

  • You have customers who haven’t purchased in a while (often 60, 90, or 120+ days, depending on your buying cycle).
  • You’d rather reactivate a known customer than pay to acquire a new one.
  • You want to keep your list healthy by re-engaging — or cleanly sunsetting — dormant contacts.

​
How it works

There are two solid ways to build this; pick the one that fits how you think about “lapsed.”
Trigger on Order placed, then a long Delay — say 90 days. A Binary step then asks “have they ordered again?” If yes, they exit; if no, the win-back emails go out. This needs only the store events every plan has.

​
Set it up

  1. Decide what “lapsed” means for your store — base it on your typical time between orders, not a round number.
  2. Create the automation: either Order placed → long delay → Binary “ordered since?”, or trigger on entry to a lapsed-customer segment.
  3. Write the sequence below. Lead with connection, not a discount.
  4. Add a Coupon step before the final email — a stronger, short-expiry offer for the people who didn’t respond to the softer touch.
  5. Set re-entry to after a cooldown (e.g. 90 days) so you don’t pester the same people, and Publish.

​
The proven 3-email sequence

Win-back is the one flow where leading with a generous discount is justified — these customers have already stopped buying, so a softer touch alone often isn’t enough. Make the offer count, but keep the expiry short.

​
Make it work harder

  • Make it a true offer. Win-back discounts can be more generous than your welcome offer — you’re competing against “they’ve forgotten us,” not against full price.
  • Keep your list clean. Contacts who ignore the whole series are telling you something. Moving long-term non-responders to suppressed protects your sender reputation and your deliverability for everyone else.
  • Personalize the reminder. Referencing what they bought before (“your favorite is back in stock”) beats a generic “we miss you.”

​
Measure it

Open the automation’s analytics and watch reactivated revenue — orders from customers who’d gone quiet. Even a modest reactivation rate is high-margin revenue you’d otherwise have lost entirely.