The win back email that is not a discount

A couple used to come to the bistro every few weeks. Then life got busy, a new place opened round the corner, and four months went by without a visit. They have not decided never to return; they have simply stopped thinking of it. The win back email most venues would send them says "We miss you! Here is twenty per cent off your next visit." The one that works says something closer to "The autumn menu is here, and the lamb shoulder you liked is back."

A win back email is a reminder and a reason. It reminds lapsed guests that the venue exists and that they enjoyed it, and it gives them a specific reason to come back now. A discount is the laziest reason, and often the most expensive. It teaches guests that drifting away earns a reward, gives away margin to guests who might have returned anyway and can make the venue look like it is struggling.

This guide covers who should receive a win back email, why something new beats something cheap, what to say and what not to say, when to send it and how to tell whether it worked. Every venue and figure in it is an example.

A win back email is for guests who used to come and have stopped, or who came once and never returned. Its job is not to sell; it is to reconnect. Most lapsed guests have no complaint. They have simply drifted, and a well-timed reminder of what they liked is often enough to bring them back.

Keep that job in mind when writing it. An email that reconnects reads like a note from someone who remembers the guest. An email that sells reads like every other promotion in their inbox, and is treated the same way.

Lapsed guests are those who have been away noticeably longer than usual. For a bistro whose regulars come every few weeks, four months away is a long gap. For a café whose regulars come daily, a month may be. Define it for your venue, and choose guests who have been away well past their normal rhythm.

Only email guests who agreed to hear from you. Others may still return on their own, and you can welcome them warmly when they do. Our guide to lapsed guests: the message that brings them back covers how to spot them in more detail.

A discount seems the obvious way to tempt a guest back, but it has costs. It teaches guests that staying away is rewarded: next time they drift, they may wait for the offer. It gives away margin to guests who were about to return anyway. And it can suggest the venue needs the business, which is not the impression a win back email should leave.

There is a place for offer emails, but win back is rarely it. Our guide to offer emails without training guests to wait covers when offers do make sense, and how to stop them becoming the price.

The strongest reason to return is something new: a new seasonal menu, a new chef, a refurbished room, a terrace that has just opened, an event worth coming for. Something new answers the question every lapsed guest has, which is why they should come back now rather than some other time.

It also changes the guest's picture of the venue. A guest who stopped coming because they had tried everything on the menu now has something to try. A guest who drifted to a new place nearby now has a reason to compare. Newness gives them a story to tell, which a discount never does.

Keep the win back email short, warm and specific. Something like: "It has been a while, and we wanted to let you know the autumn menu started this week. The lamb shoulder for two is back, and there is a new wild mushroom risotto we are rather proud of. We would love to see you. Maria."

That is about fifty words. It mentions what is new, names specific dishes, sounds like a person and asks for nothing more than a visit. A button to book, a sign-off from a real name and nothing else. Our guide to email copy: eighty words and one link covers the shape in more detail.

Avoid anything that makes the guest feel watched. "We noticed you have not visited since the fourteenth of March" is accurate and unsettling. "It has been a while" says the same thing kindly. Avoid guilt, too: "We miss you, where have you been?" puts the guest on the spot.

Avoid exaggeration and desperation. Several exclamation marks, "Come back, we need you!" or a dramatic "Last chance" all make the venue sound like it is pleading. A calm, confident note about something good is far more appealing.

The subject line should lead with what is new, not with the fact that the guest has been away. "The autumn menu is here" or "The lamb shoulder is back" gives a reason to open. "We miss you" has been used by so many businesses that guests skip it.

Keep it short and specific, and make the preview text finish the thought: "The autumn menu is here" with "Plus a new risotto, and your old favourites". The guest knows in a second what the email offers.

Send the win back email once a guest is clearly past their usual gap, but before they have forgotten the venue. Too early, and it reaches a guest who was about to come back anyway, which feels pushy. Too late, and the venue has slipped from their mind.

Time it to the news, too. An email about the new autumn menu is best sent in its first week or two, when it is genuinely new. If you have nothing new to say, wait until you do. A win back email with no reason is just a reminder that the guest has not been in.

Guest churn, the loss of guests for good, rarely happens in one step. Guests drift first, and the win back email is the venue's best chance to reach them while they are drifting rather than after they have gone.

That makes it one of the most valuable emails a venue sends. A guest brought back after four months may return to their old rhythm for years. One who is never reached may be lost for good. Our guide to guest churn: the quiet loss nobody reports covers how to measure the loss.

Not all lapsed guests are the same, and email segmentation lets you speak to each group differently. A former regular who came twenty times deserves a warmer, more personal note than a guest who came once. A guest who used to come for weekday lunches may respond to news about lunch, not dinner.

You do not need many groups. Separating lapsed regulars from one-time guests who never returned is often enough, because their reasons for staying away, and what will bring them back, are different.

Lapsed regulars are the most valuable guests to win back, and the most deserving of a personal touch. For the handful who were among your best guests, consider a personal email from the owner rather than a campaign, or even a handwritten card if you have their address and their agreement.

Mention what you know they liked, where it is appropriate: "The lamb shoulder is back" means more to a guest who ordered it every time. And make sure the team knows when they return, so the welcome lives up to the email.

Guests who came once and never returned are a different case. They do not have a habit to restart; they need a reason for a second visit. Something new helps, but so does a little more about what makes the venue worth returning to.

Keep expectations realistic. Some one-time guests were visitors, some did not enjoy the evening and some simply prefer variety. A single well-written invitation is worth sending, but do not chase them repeatedly. Our guide to the second visit is the one you have to earn covers how to win that second visit in the first place.

A win back email works best as a single message, perhaps followed by one more a month or two later if there is something genuinely new to share. A sequence of five emails in three weeks turns a friendly reminder into pressure, and pushes guests to unsubscribe.

After that, leave the guest in your normal emails, if they are still subscribed, and let them come back in their own time. Many lapsed guests return months after a win back email, prompted by something else entirely, because the email reminded them the venue was there.

When a lapsed guest returns, the visit matters more than the email. Welcome them warmly, by name if you know it, without asking where they have been. Offer their usual table if it is free, mention what is new and make the evening easy and enjoyable.

A guest who comes back and has a lovely evening often slips back into their old rhythm. One who comes back and finds the venue indifferent may not try again. Brief the team on returning guests, so the welcome is as good as the invitation.

The measure of a win back email is how many lapsed guests return within the following weeks. Count how many of the guests who received it came back within, say, thirty and sixty days, and compare that with how many lapsed guests normally return without an email.

The comparison matters, because some lapsed guests would have returned anyway. If one in twenty usually returns in a given month, and one in eight returns after the email, the email made a real difference. Look at results over several months, because a single send can be distorted by the weather or the season.

Winning back a lapsed guest is usually far cheaper than finding a new one. A short email costs little to write and send, and a guest who returns already knows the venue, its menu and its team. They are likely to spend more and return sooner than a first-time guest.

That makes win back one of the best returns on marketing effort a venue can get. Our guide to retention or acquisition: where to spend first covers how to compare the two using your own numbers.

Some guests stopped coming because of a bad experience: a long wait, a cold dish, a moment of poor service. If you know about it, from a complaint or feedback, a generic win back email is the wrong response. A personal note acknowledging what happened, saying what has changed and inviting them back is far more likely to work.

Keep it honest and brief, and send it from a real person. "I was sorry to read about your evening in the spring. We have changed how we pace the kitchen since then, and I would love you to give us another try." That shows the venue listened, which matters more to the guest than any offer.

Win back emails are marketing, so they go only to guests who agreed to receive marketing. A guest who booked once without opting in, or who unsubscribed, should not receive one, however valuable they were.

That may feel like a lost opportunity, but it protects the relationship. A guest who unsubscribed and then receives a "we miss you" email is likely to feel ignored, not missed. Respecting the choice keeps the door open for them to return on their own.

A win back email can be automated, so that guests who have just become lapsed receive it without anyone having to remember. An automated email sent each week or month to newly lapsed guests catches them at the right moment, every time.

Write it carefully, because it will reach many guests over months. Keep it general enough to stay true, such as an invitation to see what is new, and review it each season so it never mentions a menu that has ended. And make sure each guest receives it only once, so it stays a reminder rather than a nag.

The list of lapsed guests changes all the time. Guests return and stop being lapsed; others drift and join it. A list drawn up three months ago will include guests who have since come back, and an email telling a guest who visited last week that "it has been a while" undoes its own message.

Work out the lapsed list fresh each time you send, from up-to-date visit records. That way, every guest who receives the email really has been away, and guests who have returned are left alone.

Win back emails rescue guests who have drifted, but the better goal is fewer guests drifting in the first place. Customer retention, keeping existing customers coming back, is usually cheaper than winning them back, and it depends on the experience in the room as much as on emails.

Use what win back teaches you. If many lapsed guests return for a new menu, perhaps the menu was changing too rarely. If many stopped after a particular change, that change may need rethinking. The emails bring guests back; the lessons stop them leaving.

An invented bistro has been sending lapsed guests a twenty per cent discount, and finds that the same guests keep lapsing and returning only for the offer. It stops the discount. Instead, when the autumn menu launches, it sends lapsed regulars who opted in a short note from the owner about what is new, naming the dishes regulars used to order, with one button to book.

For its best former regulars, the owner writes personal emails. The team is briefed to welcome returning guests by name. Over the following two months, noticeably more lapsed guests return than in a normal period, without any discount, and several settle back into their old rhythm.

In servearound, the ready-made Lapsed regulars audience starts with guests who have visited at least twice but not in the last sixty days, and a custom audience can be built from the same conditions by hand, such as not seen for a hundred and twenty days, with visits here or spent here to separate lapsed regulars from one-time guests. The audience is counted again when the email sends, so a guest who came back in the meantime is left out, and among the more than 150 templates is one to win back lapsed guests, which starts from that audience.

An automation can send a win back email every week or every month to whoever has newly lapsed: each guest receives an automation at most once, and it skips anyone who had a campaign email from the network in the last seven days. Emails go only to confirmed subscribers, and each send's report lists its recipients and the clicks on each link. servearound does not attribute bookings to a send, so check which recipients came back in the weeks after. See Campaigns and the guests module.

An email to guests who have stopped coming, reminding them of the venue and giving them a reason to return.

Guests who opted in and have been away well past their usual rhythm.

Usually not. Something new is a better reason, and it does not teach guests to wait.

What is new, in a few warm sentences from a real person, with one button to book.

Once a guest is clearly past their usual gap, and when you have something new to tell them.

One, perhaps followed by one more if there is fresh news. Then stop.

Compare how many recipients returned within a month or two with how many lapsed guests normally return.

Yes, as long as the email stays true over time and each guest receives it only once.

The win back email that works is not a discount. It is a short, warm note to lapsed guests, from a real person, about something new: a menu, a dish, a chef, a room. What is new gives guests a reason to come back now; what is cheap teaches them to wait. Lead the subject line with the news, not with "We miss you", and never tell guests exactly how long they have been away.

Send it once a guest is clearly past their usual gap, to guests who opted in, with different notes for lapsed regulars and one-time guests. Send one email, perhaps one more, then stop. Work out the lapsed list fresh each time, welcome returning guests warmly, measure how many come back compared with normal and use what you learn to stop guests drifting in the first place.