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FIELD GUIDE 22
The reactivation playbook
The cheapest customers you will ever get are the ones who already paid you once and have not heard from you since.
Every service business has a list it does not use. Not a marketing list, an invoice list: everyone who has ever paid you. They know you, they have your number somewhere, and they already decided once that you were worth the money.
ON THE RETENTION STATISTICS
The familiar claims here ("acquiring a customer costs 5 to 25 times more than retaining one", "a 5% increase in retention raises profits 25 to 95%") come from consulting work summarised in business press rather than from published, reproducible studies, and the original figures were drawn from industries very unlike a local service business. The direction is sound. The specific multiples should not be used to justify a budget, so we have not built this guide on them.
Step 1. Build the list you already have
- Export every customer from your invoicing or accounting software. This is usually the complete list and it is usually the one nobody thinks of.
- Add anyone in your phone, your email and your job management system.
- Deduplicate on phone number, which is more reliable than name.
- Add three columns: last job date, what the job was, and roughly what it was worth.
- Check your marketing consent position before contacting anyone. Existing-customer rules differ from cold marketing rules in most jurisdictions, and they are not the same thing as "I have their number".
Step 2. Segment by why they would come back
| Segment | Who | The reason to contact them |
|---|---|---|
| Due | Anyone past a natural service interval | The service is genuinely due. Easiest message you will ever send |
| Lapsed | Bought once, 12 to 36 months ago, no repeat | Reminder that you exist, plus something useful |
| High value | Top 20% by spend | Personal contact from the owner, not a campaign |
| Unfinished | Quoted but never booked | The job may still be undone |
| Advocates | Left a good review or referred someone | Referral ask, not a sales message |
START WITH DUE
The Due segment is not marketing, it is a service reminder, and it converts several times better than anything else in this guide. Boilers, servicing intervals, annual checks, gutters before winter. If your trade has any natural interval at all, this segment alone justifies the exercise.
Step 3. The messages
Due, text
Hi [FIRST NAME], [NAME] from [BUSINESS]. We fitted your [THING] in [MONTH YEAR], so the annual service is about due. Want me to book you in? Takes about [TIME] and it is [PRICE].
Lapsed, email
Subject: Still here if you need us Hi [FIRST NAME], We did [THE JOB] for you back in [MONTH YEAR]. Hope it has held up well. Two quick things worth knowing this time of year: 1. [GENUINELY USEFUL SEASONAL POINT] 2. [SECOND POINT] If anything needs looking at, we are on [PHONE]. Same team, same number. [NAME]
High value, from the owner, phone call
Hi [FIRST NAME], it's [OWNER NAME] from [BUSINESS]. No sales pitch, I promise. You have been a good customer over the years and I wanted to check in and see how [THE THING] has been holding up. Anything giving you trouble?
Unfinished quote, text
Hi [FIRST NAME], [NAME] from [BUSINESS]. We quoted you for [THE JOB] back in [MONTH]. Just checking whether that ever got sorted. If not, the offer still stands and I can revisit the price.
Step 4. Run it as a rhythm, not a blast
- Do not message the whole list at once. You cannot service the response and you will burn the list.
- Twenty to fifty contacts a week is plenty for most small businesses.
- Start with the Due segment, then Unfinished, then High value, then Lapsed.
- Send from a real person, with a real name and a real number.
- Never send anything that reads like a bulk campaign to someone who has met you.
- Log every response so nobody gets contacted twice.
- Honour opt-outs immediately and permanently.
THE ONE THING THAT MAKES THIS WORK
Give before you ask. Every message above contains something useful independent of whether they buy. That is the difference between reactivation and spam, and customers can tell instantly which one they are receiving.
FIG. 03 · SOURCES, CHECKED 2 AUGUST 2026
Every number above was traced to its primary source before publication. Where a widely repeated figure could not be verified at the source, it was cut rather than repeated.
- UnverifiedRetention multiples deliberately not relied upon The widely quoted 5-to-25x acquisition cost claim and the 5% retention / 25-95% profit claim originate in consulting summaries and loyalty research from industries unlike local services. Directionally sound, not appropriate as a basis for a specific business case, so this guide is built on segmentation and scripts instead.
- VerifiedOwn-data method The list, the intervals and the values all come from your own invoicing records, which makes the case checkable rather than borrowed.
RANKTHREAD
The list is already paid for
Reactivation needs no ad budget, no new website and no agency. It needs an export, five segments and someone to actually send the messages, which is why it stays undone.
RANKTHREAD
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