Winback journeys with triggered emails

Winback journeys use artificial intelligence (AI) to identify which subscribers are most likely to churn. This applies to subscribers who haven’t completed a purchase in the past 45 days. You can send timely, triggered messages to re-engage these subscribers.

If you’re interested in taking advantage of winback journeys, contact cs-team-email@attentivemobile.com and cc: your CSM. After it’s enabled for you, you can follow the instructions below to add winback emails within your journeys.

Create a winback journey with triggered emails

We recommend sending a sequence of emails to win back your subscribers. You should send the first email 45 days after their most recent purchase. Then, send one email per month if they haven’t purchased any products.

1. Create a new winback journey.
2. After the Winback eligible step, click +, then Send email. See What are triggered emails? for information regarding how to fill out those fields.
   • Use the From name field to remind your customers why they signed up. In the Preview field, add a warm greeting. Then, use the body of the email to update them on new products.
     
3. Below the first email, click +, then Wait. Set the wait time to 4 weeks.
4. Click +, then Branch. Select the following options to avoid spamming subscribers who are no longer at risk of churn:
   • Choose condition: What action the subscriber has taken
   • Choose subscriber action: Has made a purchase; At least once; Since starting this journey
5. In the Else branch, click +, then Send email. In this email, offer an incentive (such as a discount) to purchase from your store.
   
6. Below the first email, click +, then Wait. Set the wait time to 4 weeks.
7. Click +, then Branch. Select the following options to avoid spamming subscribers who are no longer at risk of churn:
   • Choose condition: What action the subscriber has taken
   • Choose subscriber action: Has made a purchase; At least once; Since starting this journey
8. In the Else branch, click +, then Send email. Use this email to ask for feedback from your subscribers. This can help you adapt your marketing strategy and show subscribers that you care about their experience.
   
9. Below the first email, click +, then Wait. Set the wait time to 4 weeks.
10. Click +, then Branch. Select the following options to avoid spamming subscribers who are no longer at risk of churn:
    • Choose condition: What action the subscriber has taken
    • Choose subscriber action: Has made a purchase; At least once; Since starting this journey
11. In the Else branch, click +, then Send email. Use this email as a last chance email. Present subscription management options to the subscriber and keep the copy concise.
    
12. Add an End Journey step.
13. When you’re satisfied with the journey, click Turn on.

Winback journey FAQs

What is a winback campaign?

A winback campaign is an email, or series of emails, sent to re-engage subscribers who’ve stopped engaging with your emails. The goal of a winback campaign is to get these subscribers to interact with your emails and, more importantly, the offers they include.

Whom should you send winback campaigns to?

You should send winback campaigns to contacts who haven't engaged with your brand in the last 90-180 days. We’ve found that winback campaigns are less effective with customers who haven’t interacted with your brand’s emails in more than 180 days. If you sell high-priced items or have a very long sales cycle (i.e., you don't expect subscribers to purchase again soon), winback campaigns with engaging content can still be an effective way to keep your brand relevant to your subscribers.

What are the best practices for timing?

You should send winback campaigns regularly. Waiting to win back subscribers once a year, or even quarterly, is often unsuccessful because these subscribers are unlikely to engage with your emails. And because you’re sending to unengaged subscribers, infrequent winback campaigns can also negatively affect your sender reputation and email deliverability.

We recommend that your winback campaigns never exceed ~5-10% of your weekly campaign traffic. We also recommend sending winback campaigns after sending a regular campaign to minimize the potential impact to your reputation and deliverability.

What are the best practices for content and subject lines?

Keep winback campaigns short, sweet, and catchy. You’re sending to your least engaged contacts, so you want to make everything as simple as possible to drive engagement or revenue. Bold and simple offers near the top of your email work best. Simple content gets the point across—make sure it can be read at a glance. Consider including larger discounts or promos than they’ve seen from you before to create urgency.

A typical winback campaign usually includes around five messages, spaced two to three weeks apart. You want your brand to be top of mind, but you also don’t want to overwhelm your subscribers.

Make sure each email is unique and includes a new specific offer or promo to boost engagement. Your offers and promos should get progressively better and more enticing as the campaign continues.

For big-ticket items or items with long sales cycles, try using other content options to boost engagement. These include asking subscribers for direct feedback or reviews, offering product help to subscribers, etc.

What are the next steps after launching winback campaigns?

If contacts engaged with your email or made a purchase, they should be kept in your subscriber lists and added to your regular marketing campaigns moving forward. If they stop engaging with your emails, they can be put back into another winback cycle.

If contacts make it through your winback campaigns without engaging, those contacts should be removed from email marketing unless they organically purchase or resubscribe.

Keeping contacts who don’t engage with your emails can negatively affect your reputation. Mailbox providers favor senders whose subscribers engage with their emails and are more likely to route mail from senders with an audience to subscriber inboxes.