openchair
Sign InStart Free Trial

Customers & Automation

Client Reconnect

Client Reconnect

Automatically re-engage inactive customers with wave-based reconnect campaigns — bring lapsed clients back with timed email and SMS messages that send themselves, track clicks and rebookings, and respect opt-outs.

Where to find it — Web: Sidebar → Engage → Automations → Client reconnect card → "Settings". Mobile: More → Engage → Reconnect Settings.

Overview

Client Reconnect lets you:

  • Automatically send messages to customers who have not visited in a configurable number of days
  • Set up to 5 reconnect waves, each targeting a different inactivity threshold (e.g. 6 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months)
  • Choose email, SMS, or both channels per wave
  • Customise message templates with personalisation variables (customer name, weeks since last visit, booking link)
  • Set daily send limits per wave and globally to control volume
  • Exclude VIP customers (to handle them personally) and blocked customers
  • Track performance — messages sent, clicks, rebookings, and attributed revenue
  • Let customers unsubscribe from reconnect messages via a secure link in every message

Note

Client Reconnect requires the Engage add-on (Australia and United Kingdom) or a PRO subscription (New Zealand). SMS channels are only available in Australia and the United Kingdom — New Zealand venues can use email only. AI automation recommendations require PRO.

How reconnect works

Client Reconnect runs automatically once per day. The system processes each venue at approximately 9:00 AM in the venue's local timezone (within a 30-minute window from 8:30 to 9:30 AM). Messages are not sent outside this window or during Do Not Disturb hours.

For each enabled wave, the system:

  1. Finds customers whose last visit was longer ago than the wave's inactivity threshold (e.g. 42 days for a "6 Week Nudge").
  2. Filters out ineligible customers (see Who is excluded).
  3. Sends messages up to the wave's daily limit and the global daily limit.
  4. Records each send in the reconnect campaign log and updates the customer's last reconnect date.

Customers are processed in order of how long ago they last visited — the most overdue customers are contacted first.

Setting up reconnect

On web

  1. Go to Engage → Automations in the sidebar.
  2. Find the Client reconnect card.
  3. Click "Settings".
  4. Toggle "Enable Reconnect" to turn the automation on.
  5. Configure your global settings (see Global settings).
  6. Configure your waves (see Configuring waves).
  7. Click "Save Changes".

On mobile

  1. Go to More → Engage → Reconnect Settings.
  2. Toggle "Enable Reconnect" on.
  3. Configure global settings and waves.
  4. Tap "Save Changes".

Tip

Start with a single wave at 42 days (6 weeks) and monitor performance for 2–4 weeks before adding additional waves. This lets you establish a baseline before increasing complexity.

Global settings

Global settings apply across all reconnect waves.

Setting Options Default
Enable Reconnect On / Off Off
Global Daily Limit 1–500 messages per day 100
Exclude VIP Customers On / Off Off
Exclude Blocked Customers On / Off On

Global Daily Limit is the maximum total reconnect messages your venue sends in a single day, across all waves combined. Once the global limit is reached, no more reconnect messages are sent until the next day.

Exclude VIP Customers prevents reconnect messages from being sent to customers flagged as VIP. Enable this if you prefer to reach out to VIP clients personally rather than with automated messages.

Exclude Blocked Customers prevents messages to customers you have blocked. This is enabled by default.

Configuring waves

Each wave targets customers who have been inactive for a specific number of days. You can have between 1 and 5 waves.

Wave settings

Setting Options Default
Wave Name Free text "6 Week Nudge" (wave 1)
Inactivity Days 7–365 days 42 days (wave 1)
Channels Email, SMS, or both (at least one required) Email
SMS Template Up to 160 characters with template variables Default reconnect SMS
Email Subject Free text with template variables "We miss you, {{customerName}}!"
Email Body HTML with template variables Default reconnect email
Wave Daily Limit 1–200 messages per day 50

Adding a wave

  1. Click "Add Wave" below your existing waves.
  2. A new wave is created with a default name (e.g. "Wave 2") and inactivity threshold based on the wave number (Wave 2 defaults to 84 days, Wave 3 to 126 days, and so on).
  3. Customise the wave name, inactivity days, channels, and templates.
  4. Click "Save Changes".

You can add up to 5 waves per venue. The "Add Wave" button is hidden once you reach 5 waves.

Removing a wave

Click "Delete" on any wave to remove it. You cannot delete the last remaining wave — at least one wave is required when reconnect is enabled.

Example wave setup

Wave Name Inactivity Channel Daily limit
1 6 Week Nudge 42 days Email 50
2 12 Week Re-engagement 84 days Email + SMS 30
3 6 Month Last Chance 180 days Email 20

Template variables

Use template variables in your SMS and email templates to personalise messages for each recipient. Wrap variables in double curly braces: {{variableName}}.

Variable What it inserts Example
{{customerName}} The customer's name "Sarah Mitchell"
{{venueName}} Your venue name "Luxe Salon"
{{weeksSince}} Weeks since last visit (rounded down) "6"
{{lastVisitDate}} The customer's last visit date (formatted) "Mon, 9 Feb"
{{bookingUrl}} A link to your booking page with tracking A URL with UTM parameters
{{unsubscribeUrl}} A secure unsubscribe link A signed URL

The booking URL automatically includes UTM tracking parameters (utm_source=reconnect, utm_campaign=wave_1) so you can track reconnect-driven bookings in your analytics.

The unsubscribe URL uses a secure HMAC-signed token. When a customer clicks it, they are immediately opted out of future reconnect messages.

SMS templates are limited to 160 characters. The character counter in the composer shows your current count. Email templates support HTML formatting including paragraphs, bold, italic, links, lists, and headings.

Who is excluded

The reconnect system automatically excludes customers who should not receive automated messages:

Exclusion rule Always applied?
No contact information — customer has no email address (for email waves) or no phone number (for SMS waves) Yes
Opted out of reconnect — customer clicked the unsubscribe link in a previous reconnect message Yes
Received reconnect in last 30 days — prevents over-messaging the same customer Yes
Same wave sent in last 90 days — prevents the same wave reaching the same customer twice within 90 days Yes
Already contacted today — prevents a customer receiving multiple reconnect messages in one day Yes
Blocked customers — customers you have blocked Configurable (default: excluded)
VIP customers — customers flagged as VIP Configurable (default: included)

The 30-day cooldown between reconnect sends is enforced regardless of wave configuration. Even if you have waves at 42 and 56 days, a customer who received Wave 1 on day 42 will not receive Wave 2 until at least day 72 (42 + 30).

Sending a test message

Before enabling reconnect, you can preview how your messages look by sending a test.

  1. Open the wave you want to test.
  2. Click "Send Test".
  3. A test message is sent to your own email address (the venue owner's email).
  4. Check your inbox to review the message formatting, personalisation, and links.

Test messages do not count against your daily limits or allocation and do not create reconnect campaign records.

Performance tracking

On web

The Client reconnect card on the Automations page shows a summary including the number of waves, the global daily cap, and the last send date.

Detailed analytics are available through the reconnect settings, showing the last 30 days of performance:

Metric What it shows
Sent Total reconnect messages sent
Clicked Messages where the customer opened the email or clicked a link
Booked Customers who made a booking after receiving a reconnect message
Revenue Total value of paid bookings attributed to reconnect
Click rate (CTR) Percentage of sent messages that were clicked
Conversion rate Percentage of sent messages that resulted in a booking

On mobile

The reconnect settings screen shows a "Last 30 Days Performance" card at the top with four metrics: Sent, Clicked (with CTR %), Booked (with conversion %), and Revenue.

How attribution works

A reconnect message is attributed a booking when:

  1. The customer clicks the booking link in the reconnect message.
  2. The customer completes a booking.
  3. The booking is not cancelled and is marked as paid.

The reconnect campaign record is updated from "sent" → "clicked" → "booked" as the customer progresses. Revenue attribution uses the booking's paid price.

Unsubscribe handling

Every reconnect email includes an unsubscribe link in the footer: "Don't want reconnect messages? Unsubscribe here". When a customer clicks this link:

  1. The customer's reconnectOptOut flag is set to true immediately.
  2. The customer is excluded from all future reconnect waves.
  3. If the customer has a user account, their marketing communication preference is also updated.

Unsubscribes are permanent until manually reversed. Customers who have unsubscribed from reconnect may still receive other types of messages (booking confirmations, reminders, campaigns) unless they have separately unsubscribed from those.

Do Not Disturb

Reconnect messages respect your venue's Do Not Disturb (DND) settings. The daily processing runs at approximately 9:00 AM in your venue's timezone. If your DND window overlaps with this time (default DND is 9:00 PM to 8:00 AM), the reconnect cron skips your venue for that day.

Urgent booking messages (confirmations, reschedules) are not affected by DND. For DND configuration details, see Notification Templates.

Campaign statuses

Each reconnect send is tracked with a status:

Status Meaning
Sent Message delivered to the customer
Delivered Delivery confirmed by the email or SMS provider
Clicked Customer opened the email or clicked a link
Booked Customer made a booking after receiving the message
Failed Message delivery failed
Opted out Customer unsubscribed after receiving this message

Role access

Action Owner Manager Stylist
View reconnect card and analytics Yes Yes Yes
Enable or disable reconnect Yes No No
Configure waves and settings Yes No No
Send test messages Yes No No

On mobile, non-owners see a message: "Only the venue owner can edit reconnect settings."

Platform differences

Feature Web Mobile
Navigation Engage → Automations → Client reconnect → Settings More → Engage → Reconnect Settings
Analytics display Summary on automation card "Last 30 Days Performance" card with 4 metrics
Wave configuration Accordion sections with full editing Collapsible sections with full editing
Template editing Textarea with character counter TextInput (multiline)
Send test "Send Test" button per wave "Send Test" button per wave
Add wave "Add Wave" button (up to 5) "Add Wave" button (up to 5)
Save button "Save Changes" / "No Changes" / "Saving..." Same states, xl size button
Non-owner view Settings form visible but edits restricted "Only the venue owner" message shown

Troubleshooting

Issue Solution
Reconnect messages are not being sent Check that "Enable Reconnect" is toggled on and you have clicked "Save Changes". Reconnect runs once daily at approximately 9:00 AM in your venue's timezone — messages will not send outside this window. Also check that your venue has an active Engage subscription (AU/UK) or PRO subscription (NZ).
A specific customer did not receive a reconnect message The customer may be excluded. Check: Does the customer have a valid email or phone number? Have they opted out of reconnect? Were they sent a reconnect message in the last 30 days? Were they already sent this same wave in the last 90 days? Are they blocked or VIP (if those exclusions are enabled)?
Daily limit reached before all waves processed Waves are processed in order. If Wave 1 uses most of the global daily limit, later waves receive fewer or no sends. Lower the per-wave daily limit for early waves or increase the global daily limit (up to 500).
Customer received a reconnect message but is not overdue The inactivity threshold is calculated from the customer's last visit date. If the customer's last recorded visit is older than the wave threshold, they qualify — even if they visited without a booking being recorded (e.g. walk-in not logged).
"Only the venue owner can edit reconnect settings" Reconnect configuration is restricted to the venue Owner. Managers and Stylists can view the settings and analytics but cannot make changes.
Customer clicked unsubscribe but still receives messages Unsubscribe takes effect immediately. If the customer receives another message after unsubscribing, check whether it was a different type of message (e.g. a marketing campaign or booking reminder rather than a reconnect message). Reconnect opt-out only applies to reconnect automation.
Revenue showing as zero despite bookings Revenue is only attributed when the booking is both completed and marked as paid. Upcoming or unpaid bookings do not count toward reconnect revenue. Check the booking's payment status.
Test message not arriving Test messages are sent to the venue owner's email address. Check your spam or junk folder. If using a corporate email, your company's filters may block marketing-style messages.

Related Articles

Last updated: March 2026