The Secret to Re-Engaging Inactive Users
In SaaS and tech startups, user engagement is vital.
But what happens when your users sign up, take a quick look around, and then disappear?
It’s a common challenge many of you are facing, in particular for early-stage companies still refining their product-market fit.
The Re-engagement Issue
Many customer success leaders have to deal with it:
Users join your platform, take minimal actions within the app, and then forget about your solution.
Traditional follow-ups like "checking in" emails or "we miss you" messages often get disappointing results.
And some CS teams even resort to messaging like “Hey, sorry this didn't work out for you..." to provoke some kind of response.
This is not effective—and there are more powerful strategies you can setup.
Beyond the Apology Email
Making apologies positions your product as an assumed failure rather than untapped potential.
Instead, here’s a more compelling approach to use:
I call it the Comeback Bonus Strategy.
It’s about offering time-limited incentives with exclusive perks to create urgency and provide clear value to inactive, dormant users.
This approach aligns with my guide on 5 ways to reactivate unresponsive customers, where we explore multiple tactics to bring dormant users back to life.
And it works across different tech sectors:
Startup Accelerator:
"We implemented the Comeback Bonus Strategy for our dormant SaaS clients. Within 45 days, about 28% reactivated their accounts, and roughly 18% upgraded to higher-tier plans. While it took some fine-tuning, we estimate the ROI was around 2.5x our initial investment."
Enterprise Software Company:
"Using a tiered re-engagement approach, we saw a 23% increase in enterprise client reactivations over 60 days. What surprised us was that 32% of those who returned expanded their usage, leading to an 11% boost in annual recurring revenue. It wasn't all smooth sailing - we had to overcome some initial resistance from our sales team."
For more on handling enterprise clients, check out my enterprise vs. SMB customer success guide.
AI-Powered Productivity Tool:
"After implementing this strategy and tweaking it over two months, we saw 37% of our dormant users return to the platform. Conversion to paid plans was slower than expected, but we're pleased that 14% upgraded within the first quarter. This resulted in approximately $112,000 in additional revenue - a significant win for our small team."
Learn more about preventing customer churn in my customer success churn prevention guide.
It's a strategy that transforms re-engagement from a desperation to an opportunity for both users and businesses.
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Want to implement the Comeback Bonus Strategy with proven templates and see the exact metrics it delivered for three different SaaS companies?
Today’s premium content includes:
Step-by-step implementation guide with real-world examples
Segmentation framework for targeting the right users with the right offers
5 ready-to-use email templates that delivered 30%+ re-engagement rates
Case studies with actual results from B2B, B2C, and enterprise applications
Expert analysis on measuring ROI from re-engagement campaigns
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🔐The Comeback Bonus Strategy: Your Implementation Blueprint
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