Win-back email template for SaaS you can copy

When to send it

Not the day they cancel. Give it a few weeks, around a month, and write when you have something to say. A win-back works when there is a real reason to look again: a thing you shipped, a problem you fixed, something they asked for.

Send it once, maybe twice. A third is a different thing.

The email

Subject: A lot has changed in [Product]

Hi {{first_name}},

It has been a while since you used [Product], so I wanted to tell you what is different.

Since you left, I have [change one] and [change two]. [One sentence on why that matters for what they were doing].

If it is worth another look, your account is still there: [link].

If it is not for you, that is fine. If you tell me why in a line, it helps me get better. Reply to this email.

Sam

Two variations

You asked, I built it. The strongest reason to write is a thing they told you was missing:

Subject: The thing you asked for

When you left, you told me [what they said was missing]. It is built now: [link or one sentence]. If you want to try it, your account is still there.

Sam

No news, just checking in. For when nothing has shipped:

Subject: Checking in

I was thinking about the people who tried [Product] and moved on. If something was missing or broken for you, I would like to hear it, even now. Reply to this email with a line or two.

Sam

What to avoid

• Guilt. "We miss you" is about you. Talk about what is new for them.
• A discount as the only reason. If price was the problem they will say so, and you can answer it then.
• Pretending there is news. If nothing changed, say that and ask a question instead.
• Writing the day they cancel. That is a different email: asking why they left.
• More than two. If they have not come back by then, leave the door open and stop.

How Kicklace sends it

On your Lifecycle map, a side road can start from a cancellation. Connect Stripe and a cancelled subscription lands on the person (Stripe), or post subscription_cancelled from your own server with the kicklace package. Somebody on a side road stays there until they leave it.

A sequence on it can start once they have been there a number of days, so a win-back can go out thirty days after the cancellation without you remembering. Kicklace writes a first version in your voice, and you change whatever you like. An email can also carry a variable that fills itself with what shipped, from your deploys. Kicklace shows you that email before it goes, as it will arrive, and you approve it or decline it.

Nothing sends until you switch it on. Before you do, Kicklace shows who would have got it over the last 30 days. It sends nothing for something that happened before you switched it on, so the sequence is for people who cancel from now on. For people who left earlier, you can write to them one to one from Mail, because they bought from you. There is more on the idea in win-back emails and re-engagement emails. The demo shows a map like this one on your own site, with no sign-up, and pricing has the plans.

FAQ

How long after they cancel should I send a win-back?

About a month is a good start. Early enough that they remember you, late enough that you may have something new to say.

Should I offer a discount?

Only if you want to. Lead with what changed. If price is why they left, a reply to a plain question will tell you, and then a discount is an answer instead of a guess.

Can I send it to customers who cancelled last year?

Kicklace's sequences only act on what happens after you switch them on. For earlier cancellations, write to them from Mail one at a time, since they bought from you. Nothing is sent to a list you bought, and Kicklace has no way to do that.