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Are you laser-focused on new customer acquisition?
Although the mentality of “the more, the merrier” might seem sensible on the surface, SaaS companies can’t neglect following up with their existing customers.
With the average person juggling dozens of apps at once, giving subscribers a nudge to stick around can be the difference between a lapsed and a dedicated customer.
That’s exactly why you need a solid winback email strategy to keep subscribers from slipping away.
And despite popular belief, writing re-engagement emails isn’t a reason to panic. Doing so is an essential customer retention tactic that all SaaS companies should master. Below, you’ll find winback email examples and templates to help you develop a winback strategy that works.
Cancellation Insights by Baremetrics makes it easier to win back churned customers by automatically collecting feedback and sending follow-ups. Start a free trial today.
What is a winback email?
As a SaaS company, you want your customers to use your product continuously. But what happens if they stop logging in, or worse, cancel? It’s now up to you to do what it takes to retain your customers. This is where a winback email strategy comes in.
A winback email is an automated email that helps you engage with inactive users. This type of email reminds inactive customers about your awesome product and shows users that you haven’t forgotten about them.
In other words, winback emails are excellent tools for nurturing and protecting the relationship between you and your customers.
5 winback email examples (+ templates) to keep customers engaged
Even though churn is so common, you’d be surprised at how many companies totally botch their winback emails.
Or heck, don’t even write them at all.
As highlighted by data from Emma, winback campaign emails have relatively high engagement rates. Granted you know how to craft a compelling message, they’re perhaps your best “second chance” at securing a customer long-term.
Below are some winback email templates and examples to inspire your own re-engagement strategy.
1. The “What can we do?” winback
As noted in our guide to onboarding emails, presenting messages as coming from a personal account is an effective way to engage customers who sleep on “corporate” messages.
Similarly, we see this a lot with winback email campaigns. The concept here is simple: use a short and sweet message to check in with customers in a personable way.
Here, you’re taking responsibility for their lack of log-ins by asking what you can do to help.
Example
Subject: What can we do?
Hey {customer name},
It’s been a minute, hasn’t it? We just wanted to check in and make sure everything was going alright with {product name}. If you have any questions for us or need any help with our service, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Feedback and ideas on how we can help our customers are always appreciated. We’re here for you!
Cheers,
{signature}
This winback email example from Ryte is a good example. It uses succinct sentences while encouraging the reader to provide feedback to see what the company can do to improve. The “P.S.” upgrade at the end is a nice touch that doesn’t come off as desperate or salesy.
Here’s another straightforward example from Wave.video.
Presented as a quick and painless reminder, the company offers help without overwhelming the reader or demanding much from them.
2. The “FOMO” winback
Nobody wants to feel like they’re missing out on, well, anything.
This also applies to new software and services relevant to your customers.
That’s where FOMO (fear of missing out) comes into play. As highlighted by research from OptinMonster, tapping into your customers’ sense of FOMO is particularly powerful with the younger crowd.
The idea here is to present a winback email focused on what your customers might have missed during their time away, such as a new feature or overhaul.
These messages are best reserved for folks who used to log in frequently but haven’t given your service a test drive in months.
Example
Subject: Long time no see {customer name}
Hi {customer name},
It’s {employee name} from {company name}! Do you still recognize us? Jokes aside, we wanted to touch base and make sure you’ve had a chance to check out our awesome new {feature} since you’ve been away. Our customers have really been digging the launch and we definitely didn’t want you to miss out.
{feature screenshot}
If you have any questions about the new launch or have feedback for us in the meantime, feel free to let us know. Thanks!
{signature}
This email from Sleeknote is solid, highlighting some new product features while also talking up positive results from customers (“one customer saw a 215.03% increase in their conversion rate”).
This message from Webflow highlights how many new users they’ve won since the recipients’ last log-in, using FOMO to encourage the reader to be part of their community again.
3. Introducing “the new you” winback
Again, people are constantly cycling through SaaS products.
And so it’s only natural for us to lose interest in a tool for a shinier, newer toy when it comes along.
This likewise explains why SaaS tools are rightfully rolling out new features and rebranding left and right.
Much like the FOMO win back emails above, your job here is to highlight what’s new with you. Features? Resources? Communities? All fair game.
The idea here is that you’re giving your subscribers something fresh and have been hard at work since the last time they used your product.
Example
Subject: Quick update on {product name}
Hey {customer name},
Hope all has been well! We’ve been hard at work here at {company name} and wanted to make sure we kept you and the rest of our customer community in the loop. Here’s a sneak peek of what we’ve been up to:
- {New feature}
- {New community portal, etc}
- {New resource/video}
Exciting, right? We invite you to check out these new {features, resources} and feel free to let us know if you have any questions in the meantime!
Thanks,
{signature}
This rebrand email from Skillshare does double duty of highlighting what’s new with the company and encouraging readers to check out their latest features.
This winback email from LinkedIn highlights specific features of their Sales Navigator, going point-by-point to give readers a reason to check them out.
4. The winback reward
When in doubt, give your would-be lost customers a freebie or incentive to stick around.
The key to this type of winback email isn’t to grovel but delight customers with something relevant and useful. This sort of nudge can be the catalyst that brings them back to being frequent users.
Example
Subject: A free gift to say thanks!
Dear {customer name},
Looks like you’ve leveled up!
Here at {company name}, we’re always looking to hook up our customers with new tools to help them {grow, benefit, etc}.
As a way to thank you for your support, we decided to upgrade you to our {plan}. This includes some awesome, fresh features such as:
- {Feature}
- {Feature}
- {Feature}
Did we mention that all of this is totally free of charge? Just log in to your account to get started!
{CTA button}
Cheers,
{signature}
This account upgrade email from Lumen5 is a personable example of how to reactivate customers who’ve gone cold, reminding readers that getting started is as simple as logging into their accounts.
This message from Grammarly is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, rewarding readers with “The Wrinkle in Time” badge for their inactivity.
To the point but playful, this message highlights how to get creative with your winback email campaigns.
5. The “It’s not you, it’s us” winback
Sometimes, it’s best just to be humble.
By taking the virtual “L” yourself for your customers’ inactivity, you don’t guilt your users or make them feel like they did something wrong by not going all-in on your product.
Example
Subject:{customer name}, it’s not you, it’s us…
Hey {customer name},
Hopefully, you’ve been well.
Here at {company name}, we’re constantly looking for ways to help our customers.
We’d hate to let you down. That’s why we sat down and spoke to customers like yourself and worked to create our new {feature, community, product}. We’d love for you to check it out.
{CTA button}
In the meantime, let us know if there’s anything else we can do to support your goals. We’re here for you.
Thanks,
{signature}
Humble and straightforward, Avocode asks customers if their service is too slow. Presenting a discount and speedier features is a double-whammy to win back subscribers.
Asana likewise asks, “Is it us?” Much like our FOMO messages showcased above, this message invites readers to test-drive the newest version of their product without being pushy.
Best practices for running a winback email campaign
The upside of winback emails is that you have some flexibility regarding your style and messaging.
To wrap things up, let’s consider best practices when writing your own.
1. Focus on trust, not desperation or transactions
Rather than beg for users to return or try to sell them something, a winback email should ideally be framed as a friendly invitation.
Getting someone to accept that invitation means building trust.
And surprise, surprise: recent research shows that trust goes hand in hand with customer retention and loyalty.
So don’t push price points or transactions in a winback email. Instead, highlight how you will help your customers and leave the door open for feedback to learn more about their needs.
Simply put, this is your chance to write your company’s narrative and present yourself as a helping hand.
2. Figure out why they canceled
Keep in mind that there is no single reason why customers go cold.
Maybe their budget is drying up, and they’re letting their subscription run out. Perhaps they found another freemium solution that meets their needs.
Heck, they might love your product but forgot to log in recently.
When framing a winback email, you need to consider these reasons as you from your messages.
For example, there’s a huge difference between trying to win over someone who’s never logged on versus someone who disappeared after you changed your interface.
That’s where tools like Cancellation Insights come in handy. The powerful toolkit allows you to segment your winback messages based on specific cancellation reasons.
This allows you to tailor your winback sequence for customers based on their specific needs (e.g., a lower price point, missing features).
First, use Cancellation Insights to find out why your customers churned.
Then, send personalized follow-up emails automatically to reengage the customer.
3. Let your winback email subject lines do the work
As noted earlier, winback email campaigns boast relatively high engagement rates.
Perhaps we can attribute that to the fact that such messages have less “salesy” subject lines.
Much like our examples and templates themselves, focus on being warm and personable, so should your winback email subject lines. Below are some sample subject lines from SaaS companies that highlight what we’re talking about:
- “Just to make sure” (Ryte)
- “While you were away, this happened…” (Sleeknote)
- “Was Avocode too slow for you?” (Avocode)
- “Since you’ve been gone…” (Asana)
- “Do you need any help?” (Wave.video)
It’s well-documented that approximately half of customers read emails based on the subject line alone. Unlike messages that might be more product or transaction-focused, you can sound like you’re sending a personal message.
And hey, this circles back to our point about companies needing to build trust.
4. Time your winback campaigns wisely
Email frequency is hotly debated.
In terms of when you should push your winback emails, there’s no definitive consensus.
For example, Klaviyo recommends six months of inactivity prior to sending winback emails. Meanwhile, Marketo says that a 90-day period is fair game.
Companies rightfully don’t want to send their messages too soon at the risk of sounding too pushy or aggressive. On the flip side, waiting too long could risk a customer reaching a point of no return where they’ve left you behind.
Food for thought: approximately 50% of paying SaaS customers only use a product once per-month. This means that the “when” of your winback emails largely depends on factors such as your specific product, what’s considered “normal” in terms of monthly log-ins and so on.
What matters most is that you have automation and messaging to fire off these campaigns when customers reach “winback” status, according to your company.
Win back your customers with Baremetrics
Remember: your users trusted you enough to become a subscriber in the first place.
That means there’s potential for you to win them back.
Understanding how to write a winback email is a solid starting point for doing exactly that.
If nothing else, having winback campaigns set up and ready to go means that you have a plan to reduce churn and ultimately keep your customers around for the long haul.
The winback email examples above and tools like Cancellation Insights can do the trick. Start your free 14-day trial today!
