How to win back old customers

Customers who used you once already trust you. A short, friendly series of messages can bring them back, often for less than a new ad.

Before you start #

Import your old customer list if it isn’t in Autopilot yet. See How to import your existing customer list.
Decide what “old” means for your business, for example no job in the last 12 months.

Find the customers

In Contacts, filter customers whose last job was a while ago, and add a tag such as “Win-back”.
Send a friendly text

Send a short, personal message, not an advert. For example: “Hi Sarah, it’s Dave from Smith Cleaning. It’s been about a year since we did your carpets. Want me to send you some dates?”
Follow up by email

A few days later, email those who didn’t reply, with a small reason to book now.

Automation → create a new automation

Start a new automation from scratch.
Add a trigger

Use Contact Tag (tag added “Win-back”) as the trigger. Add this tag to customers by hand, or from another automation when a job is completed.
Add the messages

For example: text now, wait 3 days, email, wait 4 days, final text.
Stop when they reply or book

Set the automation to stop when the contact replies or books, so nobody gets chased after saying yes.
Publish

Test it on yourself first, then publish.

Sound like a person. Use their name, say who you are and mention the job you did.
Keep it to three or four messages at most, and always respect STOP replies.
Most work is seasonal or repeat work. A reminder at the right interval (for example every year) brings in steady bookings.