Five notifications worth sending to your members

A welcome belongs in a member's first weeks. One restaurant marketing company, counting nearly a million first-time guests, reports that of those who returned at all, more than a third did so within 30 days and nearly six in ten within 90. These are a vendor's figures about restaurants, and the page does not say which country. How to get new customers to come back a second time goes further.

The ready-made welcome goes to New members, described as "Joined in the last 30 days." Nothing sends it by itself when someone joins. You send it, or you set it to On repeat. Each time it goes out, it goes to everyone who matches then. A member is new for 30 days, so the interval decides how often the same person is welcomed.

Sending by hand has the same problem. The Notifications page counts the new members who "haven't had a message yet", but the button beside the count still sends to all new members.

Two weeks is a fair compromise if the wording reads well a second time. A headline that says welcome does not. Lead with how the card works.

Example, a kopitiam in Ipoh

Headline: Show your card before you pay

Message: Thanks for joining. Each time you eat with us, show your card at the counter before you pay and we add a stamp. Fill the card and your next kopi is on the house. We are open 6.30 am to 2 pm, closed on Mondays.

Before you choose On repeat for anything, know its limit. Repeating notifications are checked by native.cards before anything goes out. After that, the Notifications page has no control to edit, pause or stop one. Choose the wording and the interval as if they were permanent.

A welcome reads better when the card already has a stamp on it, so record the purchase the customer is making as they join: see How soon should customers earn their first reward?

A study of one American campus café found that customers bought faster as a free coffee came nearer, and slowed down once they had earned it. Among 110 customers who finished one card and went on to finish a second, the first gaps on the second card were about three days, where the last gaps on the first had been about two. The study did not test what follows, but it is a fair reading: a member who is holding a reward has nothing pulling them in until they come to use it.

So remind them. The ready-made reminder goes to Members with a reward waiting and gives away nothing you have not already promised. It is also the safest thing to repeat, because a member who uses the reward drops out of the audience. A member who never collects it does not. At Two weeks that person hears from you 26 times a year. At Four weeks, 13. Choose Four weeks.

The audience is everyone holding any unused reward. If you offer two, a headline about the free haircut is wrong for the member holding the beard trim. Write it for all of them, as the ready-made wording does ("You have a reward ready to use."), or use a specific version only while you have one reward.

Example, a barber who offers one reward

Headline: Your free haircut is ready

Message: You have filled your card, so your next cut is on us. Show your card when you sit down and we will take it off the bill. Walk in any day except Wednesday, 10 am to 9 pm.

Set Tapping it opens to One reward or benefit, so a tap lands on the reward itself. If the reward has a Claim and use by date, put the date in the message.

News is, in the composer's words, "Opening hours, a closure, a new outlet." It goes to Everyone, once. The headline is what shows first, so put the fact there and the explanation in the message.

Example, a neighbourhood bakery

Headline: Closed 3 to 9 November while we replace the ovens

Message: The shop will be shut from Tuesday 3 November to Monday 9 November. We reopen on Tuesday 10 November at 7.30 am. If you need a cake that week, please ring us before 1 November and we will bake it ahead.

Two settings under More options matter more here than anywhere else. Keep it on the card for should outlast the news and little more. Sent on 27 October, this one needs 14 days, because 7 would clear it from the card on the day the shop shuts.

The other is Ask me before it goes out. New wording is checked by native.cards first, and no time is promised for that. Without the tick, the notification goes out whenever it is approved, and the confirmation says so: "You can’t stop it from this page after you submit it." With the tick it waits at the top of the page, marked Ready for you, until you press Send now. If you choose At a set time and the check is still running when that time comes, the page reports "This time has passed while in review". So submit dated news days early.

Check what the composer has selected before you type. If you already have approved wording of the same kind, it may open with that wording chosen. Write my own starts afresh.

The composer says so where you choose what the notification is about: an offer "Only reaches members who agreed to offers." Choose Everyone and the composer shows how many that really is.

With no web address to lean on, the message has to hold the whole deal: what it is, which days, the limit, and what to do at the counter.

Example, a pet shop

Headline: Members get RM5 off cat litter this Saturday and Sunday

Message: This weekend only, members get RM5 off any 10-litre bag of cat litter, up to two bags each. Show your card at the counter before you pay. Saturday and Sunday, 10 am to 8 pm, while stocks last.

Send it At a set time, on Friday evening or Saturday morning, and keep it on the card for 3 days so that it is gone by Tuesday. Tell your staff that the price is for any member who shows a card, including those who never received the notification. How often to send offers is a separate question: see How often should you send notifications?

On Home, Invite everyone back appears with the suggestion to win back regulars who are overdue. On the Notifications page, the card for members who "haven't visited in over 30 days" explains: "You can’t message only this group yet. Message everyone, or see who they are first." So the invitation reaches the customer who was in yesterday as well as the one you have not seen since Raya. It has to be worth the attention of both.

The one sound experiment we found on winning customers back was run at a telecommunications company, on customers who had left. An offer that bundled a price cut with a better service won back the most. A better service alone won back the fewest, but those customers stayed longest and spent most. People who had left for a better deal were more likely to return than people who had left over poor service. Nothing comparable has been measured for a shop, so take it as a direction: give a reason beyond a price, and mend whatever drove people away first. How to win back customers who stopped coming covers the rest.

Example, a second-hand bookshop

Headline: We now stay open until 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays

Message: Many of you asked for later hours, so from this week the shop stays open until 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. The second-hand shelves at the back have been restocked too. If it has been a while, your Points are still on your card.

It starts as News about your business. If what you are sending is a deal, change that to An offer or promotion and accept that it will reach only members who agreed to offers. Send it once, then read Came in, 7 days to see how many came.