Losing customers is a natural part of any business. Since acquiring new customers is often more costly than retaining existing ones, winning back these customers is essential. Sending winback emails with personalized offers or reminders is one of the most effective ways to rebuild those lost connections.

Why send winback emails to lost customers?

Expand the accordions below to view an example of what to include in a winback email series and when to send these emails:

Create your automation

In this example, we’ll create a simple winback automation with two emails. If a customer opens either email, they will be considered re-engaged and exit the automation. If they don’t open either email, they’ll be considered lost and will be blocklisted. You can then choose to repeat these steps to create a more advanced automation with additional emails.

1. Go to Automations.
2. Click Create an automation.
3. Select the new editor.
4. Click the name of your automation in the top bar to update it.

Step 1/6: Define who will receive your winback emails

In this example, the automation will start when a customer hasn't made a purchase and hasn't opened any email campaigns in the last 3 months. You can customize the filters as needed to align with your specific definition of lost customers.

1. From the Triggers tab, drag and drop the Contacts - Contact matches custom filter step into the canvas.
   
   
   💡 Good to know

   You can also create a segment to filter your lost customers and use the Contact is in a segment trigger instead. To learn more, check our dedicated article Create a segment to filter your contacts.
2. Under Contact filters, click Add filter. We'll define the conditions of the custom filter.
   
3. Click Add filter.
4. To add the first condition, select eCommerce > No order placed > In the last 3 months.
   
5. To add the second condition:
   1. Click + And.
      
   2. Select Email > Email not opened > Email campaign > In the last 3 months.
      
6. Click Add filters to save your custom filter.
7. (Optional) Adjust the Contact entry time to specify when contacts meeting the custom filter criteria will enter the automation each day. For example, to avoid contacts entering the automation overnight, you can set the time to 9:00 AM.
   
8. Click Save to save your trigger.

Step 2/6: Send your first winback email

You'll now set up the first winback email that will be sent to your lost customers.

1. From the Actions tab, add the Messaging - Send an email step into the canvas.
   
2. Select an email template. You can choose one of Brevo's pre-configured templates or your own template, or you can create your own design from scratch.
   
3. Design your email template by updating its content and adding any extra content or blocks as needed. To learn how to use the Drag & Drop editor, check our dedicated series of articles.
4. (Optional) Click Preview & test to verify personalized details, like the recipient's first name, and review the design and layout of your email template.
5. Once you're done, click Use this design in automation in the top bar of the email editor to save your email template and return to the automation editor.
   
6. Configure the settings of your email template:
   • Event data
   • Subject line and preview text
   • Sender email address and name
   • Additional settings, including email sending time, email copy, reply-to address, tags, attachment, profile update form, unsubscribe form, and more.
7. Click Save.

Step 3/6: Separate re-engaged customers who have opened your first email and those who haven't

Then, you'll add a time delay to see which customers open your first email and separate those who have re-engaged from those who haven’t. This distinction allows us to take different actions based on their level of engagement.

1. From the Rules tab, drag and drop the Wait until an event happens step into the canvas.
   
2. From the Event dropdown, select Email opened.
3. Next to Email filters, click Add filter.
   
4. We'll define the conditions for customers to enter the "Yes" branch of the split:
   
   1. Under Any type of emails, click Add filters.
   2. Select Email name > Is exactly > "the name of your first winback email".
   3. Click Add filters to save the conditions.
      
5. For the Wait time, specify how long you want to wait for customers to open the email. Customers who have not opened the email after the wait time expires will go to the "No" step.
   
6. Click Save to save your rule.

Re-engaged customers will enter the "Yes" branch of the split and exit the automation. Those who haven't opened your email will move to the "No" branch, allowing us to take further actions to attempt to win them back.

Step 4/6: Send an additional email to customers who didn't open your winback email

You'll now set up the second winback email that will be sent to customers who didn't open the first one.

1. From the Actions tab, add the Messaging - Send an email step under the No branch of the split.
   
2. Select an email template. You can choose one of Brevo's pre-configured templates or your own template, or you can create your own design from scratch.
   
3. Design your email template by updating its content and adding any extra content or blocks as needed. To learn how to use the Drag & Drop editor, check our dedicated series of articles.
4. (Optional) Click Preview & test to verify personalized details, like the recipient's first name, and review the design and layout of your email template.
5. Once you're done, click Use this design in automation in the top bar of the email editor to save your email template and return to the automation editor.
   
6. Configure the settings of your email template:
   • Event data
   • Subject line and preview text
   • Sender email address and name
   • Additional settings, including email sending time, email copy, reply-to address, tags, attachment, profile update form, unsubscribe form, and more.
7. Click Save.

Step 5/6: Separate re-engaged customers who have opened your second email and those who haven't

Again, you'll add a time delay to see which customers open your second email and separate those who have re-engaged from those who haven’t. 

1. From the Rules tab, drag and drop the Wait until an event happens step into the canvas.
   
2. From the Event dropdown, select Email opened.
3. Next to Email filters, click Add filter.
   
4. We'll define the conditions for customers to enter the "Yes" branch of the split:
   
   1. Under Any type of email, click Add filters.
   2. Select Email name > Is exactly > "the name of your second winback email".
   3. Click Add filters to save the conditions.
      
5. For the Wait time, specify how long you want to wait for customers to open the email. Customers who have not opened the email after the wait time expires will go to the "No" step.
   
6. Click Save to save your rule.

Re-engaged customers will enter the "Yes" branch of the split and exit the automation. Those who haven't opened your email will move to the "No" branch, allowing us to unsubscribe them.

Step 6/6: Blocklist lost customers who have not opened your winback emails

Finally, you'll blocklist customers who haven't re-engaged, which means they will no longer receive your marketing emails. This is a good practice to maintain a clean list of engaged contacts who are more likely to interact with your emails, helping you achieve better email performance and statistics.

1. From the Actions tab, drag and drop the Contacts - Blocklist contact step under the No branch of the split.
   
2. Select Marketing campaigns.
3. Click Save to save your action.

Allow customers to receive winback emails each time they become unengaged

To automatically send winback emails each time customers become unengaged, activate the Allow contact re-entry after exit option in the Audiences tab. 

1. Go to the Settings tab.
2. Under Contact re-entry after exit, activate the Allow contact re-entry after exit option.
   
3. (Optional) To avoid sending too many winback emails in a short period, activate the Set up wait time option and specify how long customers have to wait before re-entering the automation and receiving winback emails again if they become unengaged.

Let customers exit the automation if they open one of your email campaigns or complete a purchase

If a customer opens one of your email campaigns or completes a purchase while they are in your automation, you might want them to exit it to prevent sending winback emails to customers who have already re-engaged.

1. Under Exit conditions, click Add exit condition.
   
2. To add the first condition:
   1. Select Email > Email opened
   2. From the Any type of email dropdown, select Email campaign.
      
3. To add the second condition:
   1. Click Add exit condition.
      
   2. Select Ecommerce > Order created.
      
4. Click Save conditions.
   

Activate your automation

Once you're done setting up your winback automation, activate it to allow lost customers to enter it.

1. In the top bar, click Activate automation.
2. Click Activate automation.

Your automation is now active. Lost customers will start entering it and receiving your winback emails.

⏭️ What's next?

• Send an automated welcome email to new contacts
• Send an automated birthday or anniversary email
• Send automated abandoned cart emails to recover lost sales

🤔 Have a question?

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