How to win back lost customers: who to contact, what to offer and how to measure it

How to win back lost customers: when is a customer really lost?

A customer can be considered lost when they have been away far longer than their usual rhythm, and that rhythm varies by trade: three weeks without a breakfast regular says a lot, three weeks without a hair-salon client almost nothing. The right threshold is therefore a multiple of that customer’s typical gap.

A rule of thumb, which is an example rather than measured data: treat someone as «overdue» after one and a half times their usual gap and as «lapsed» after twice. Earlier, you may write to people about to return anyway; much later, they may have new habits. Replace the table’s hypothetical rhythms with your own; there are trade guides for cafés and hair salons.

Customers who don’t come back: how to find them and why they left

To find customers who don’t come back you need each person’s last visit date: without it, you only notice the faces you remember. A salon has it in the appointment book; a café almost only in a digital loyalty card, as a paper card stays in the customer’s pocket.

With Iterum the customer list shows each person’s last visit date, and in messages the «Non vengono da» (haven’t come for) filter selects people past a threshold of 7 to 365 days. You still choose the threshold: every fortnight, check the regulars who have passed it.

Before contacting anyone, ask why they drifted away: often a house move, new working hours or the season. If something went wrong, an offer is not enough: ask someone who left unhappy how it went rather than sending a discount.

How to get customers to come back: which offer, and what it costs

To get customers to come back, a small, personal offer tied to the card usually beats a big discount: someone who has drifted away mostly needs a reason to drop in. What matters is the cost per visit won back, as some people who use the offer would have returned anyway.

The table uses hypothetical numbers: 40 lapsed customers invited, 8 of whom return and use the offer. The cost per visit won back is the cost of the offers used divided by the customers who returned; if half would have come back anyway, the real cost doubles.

Re-engaging inactive customers: which channels are lawful in Italy

To re-engage inactive customers with a promotional message in Italy you need the customer’s prior consent: article 130 of the Italian Privacy Code (Legislative Decree 196/2003) requires it for email, SMS, MMS, automated calls and electronic communications «of any other kind». The Italian data protection authority’s guidelines of 4 July 2013 apply the same rules to WhatsApp, Skype, Viber and similar services.

The only exception for people who have already bought from you covers email alone: article 130(4) lets you write to the address the customer gave you «in the context of the sale», about your own products or services similar to those bought, provided the customer was informed and does not object. Every message must remind them they can object at any time, easily and free of charge. It does not cover SMS or WhatsApp.

Calls made by a person follow different rules (paragraph 3): check with your privacy adviser first. Consent must be freely given and separate from joining the card, as the loyalty card GDPR guide explains. Inviting someone back in person is always open to you. These are Italy’s rules; in the UK, Ireland and elsewhere, check your own. This guide is not legal advice.

What Iterum can and cannot do for lapsed customers

Iterum lets you write customers a short message that appears on their card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet: it is not an SMS or an email. It reaches only people who answered «Yes, I want them» to «Would you like extra rewards and offers …?» on their own card, an optional choice with nothing pre-selected that they can turn off with one tap, and only if the card is saved in a Wallet; cards kept in the browser don’t get it.

You write the message yourself in the dashboard: up to 140 characters plus an optional title, with no links, about your business or your card. You send it now or schedule it, never between 21:00 and 09:00, within 2, 4 or 8 messages a month per location depending on the plan. Recipients: every customer with offers switched on, or a group picked with filters, for example people with a reward waiting, people who came recently, people who haven’t come for a set number of days, by birthday or number of visits, or the customers of selected cards.

For a lapsed customer Iterum gives you two ways: write the message yourself and send it, with the «Non vengono da» (haven’t come for) filter, only to people absent for a set number of days; or switch on the «Ci manchi» (we miss you) message under «Automazioni» (automations), which goes out by itself after 14, 30, 60, 90 or 180 days without a visit. Either way it reaches only customers who gave consent, and how many automations you can keep active depends on the plan. The honest uses are still two: reminding people with a reward waiting, or giving real news, such as a new reward. Quardy, on its paid plans, also sends automatic messages to people who haven’t visited for 30 days (Iterum vs Quardy).

When to message a lapsed customer, and how often

The right time to message a lapsed customer is shortly after the threshold: one message, and at most a second a few weeks later. If they don’t return, leave them be; pushing harder turns a friendly reminder into a nuisance.

Pick useful moments, such as the start of the season for an ice cream shop that reopens, and avoid your own holidays. A few short messages under 140 characters, to adapt:

• «Your reward is ready on your card: collect it at the counter before the end of the month.»
• «From this month the card reward is a full breakfast. See you soon!»
• «We’re open again from Thursday, with new flavours. See you at the counter.»
• «This month, bring your card back and get a free pastry. Valid until the 30th.»

What not to do when winning a customer back

The mistakes that lose a lapsed customer for good are nearly always the same: someone who feels pestered withdraws consent or speaks badly of you.

• Messaging people who have not opted in, or using numbers collected for something else, such as bookings.
• Guilt-tripping messages: «Have you forgotten us?» or «Where have you been?» put the customer on the defensive.
• The same offer to everyone every week: it teaches people to wait for the discount and eats into margins.
• False urgency, such as invented deadlines or «last places» that don’t exist.
• Asking for a review in return for a reward: Google Maps bans incentives for reviews, as the guide on how to promote a loyalty card explains.
• Buying contact lists or writing to another business’s customers.

How to measure how many customers you really won back

To measure how many customers you won back, count how many of those contacted return within a fixed period, say 30 days, and compare them with a similar group you did not contact. Otherwise you credit the message with people who would have come back on their own.

Where the channel allows it, split the lapsed customers at random into two halves and write only to the first: if after 30 days 8 of the 20 contacted return and 3 of the 20 not contacted, the returns due to the invitation are about 5, not 8 (a hypothetical example). With Iterum, returns show up in the recorded visits; for each message the dashboard shows the cards reached and how many Apple or Google accepted, not whether it was read.

Return rate and the average gap between visits are explained in how to retain customers; work out reward cost with the reward cost calculator and find ideas in the loyalty card reward ideas. Try the dashboard with your own customers on the 7-day free trial: you pay €0 today, a payment card is required and the plan continues unless you cancel.

Sources and method

Sources read on 12 October 2026: Legislative Decree 196/2003, art. 130, on Normattiva, text in force since 19 September 2018; Garante privacy, guidelines on promotional activity and spam, 4 July 2013; Quardy, home and pricing. Quotations from Italian sources are our translations.

Gaps, offers and counts are hypothetical examples, not data from real businesses. The information about Iterum is correct as of 12 October 2026 and does not promise that customers will return.