AI‑Powered Win‑Back Automation that Turns Lapsed Café Customers into Repeat Visitors

Below is a step‑by‑step walkthrough of setting up a 30‑day win‑back automation for a typical café in Pune called Bean & Brew. The example uses realistic numbers and shows exactly where you click, what you type, and how the system reacts.

1. Log in to the Ferbz dashboard
   Open https://dashboard.ferbz.com/ and sign in with your owner credentials. You land on the Home screen where the Reminders board shows any pending or failed reminders.

2. Navigate to the Automation tab
   On the left‑hand navigation pane, click Automation. The page opens to a list of existing journeys (if any) and a large Create New Journey button at the top right.

3. Start a new win‑back journey
   Click Create New Journey → a modal appears asking for a goal description. Type:

   win back anyone who hasn't ordered in 30 days
   

   Press Generate. Ferbz’s AI instantly creates a three‑step flow:

   • Trigger – “Days since last Order ≥ 30”
   • Step 1 – Wait 0 days (immediate)
   • Step 2 – Send WhatsApp message “Hey {{first_name}}, we miss you at Bean & Brew! Enjoy 15% off your next coffee with code COMEBACK15.”
   • Step 3 – After 3 days, if the message was not read, send a follow‑up “Still thinking about that latte? Here’s an extra 5% off – use COMEBACK20.”

   The flow appears on the visual canvas with each block connected by arrows.

4. Edit the message templates
   Click the first Message block. A side panel opens where you can edit the text, add line breaks, and insert dynamic tags. Replace the placeholder with the café’s actual promotion:

   🌟 Hi {{first_name}}! It’s been a while since your last Bean & Brew visit. We’d love to see you again – enjoy 15% off on any coffee this week. Use code COMEBACK15 at checkout.
   

   Do the same for the follow‑up block, changing the code to COMEBACK20 and adding a friendly emoji.

5. Set the trigger details
   Click the Trigger block. Choose Days since last Order from the dropdown, type 30, and confirm. This tells Ferbz to evaluate every customer’s order history daily and enroll anyone whose last order date is 30 + days ago.

6. Save and activate
   At the top right of the canvas, click Save Journey. A confirmation toast appears: “Journey saved successfully.” Then toggle the Active switch. The journey is now live.

7. Import existing customers (if not already in Ferbz)
   Go to the Customers tab → Import CSV. Upload a file with columns: Customer ID, First Name, Phone, Email, Last Order Date. Bean & Brew’s existing 1,250 regulars are now in the system, each with a full order timeline.

8. Check the Reminders board
   Return to the Reminders board. You will see a new line for “Win‑Back – 30 days” with a status Scheduled. The board shows the next run date (usually the next midnight) and the number of customers that will be evaluated.

9. Top up credits
   Since each WhatsApp send consumes one credit, estimate the cost:

   • 1,250 customers × 30 % expected lapse = 375 messages
   • 375 credits needed (plus a small buffer).

   Click Wallet → Top‑up → choose the ₹299 package (350 credits). Payment is processed instantly via Razorpay.

10. Monitor execution
    After midnight, Ferbz evaluates the trigger. Suppose 382 customers meet the 30‑day condition. The first message is sent to all 382, deducting 382 credits. The Reminders board updates each row to Sent and shows delivery percentages (e.g., 92 % delivered, 68 % read).

    Three days later, the follow‑up block runs automatically for the 122 customers whose first message was not read. Those sends pull another 122 credits, and the board reflects the second wave.

11. Review performance
    Open the Reports tab → Messaging Effectiveness. Filter by the journey name “Win‑Back – 30 days”. The report shows:

    • Total messages sent: 504
    • Delivery rate: 94 %
    • Read rate: 71 %
    • Orders generated: 48 (12 % conversion)
    • Revenue uplift: ₹7,200 (average ticket ₹150)

    These numbers appear alongside the usual sales graphs, letting Bean & Brew see the direct ROI of the automation.

12. Iterate
    If the conversion is lower than desired, return to the Automation canvas, edit the message wording, adjust the discount, or change the follow‑up delay from 3 days to 2 days. Save and re‑activate – the next run will use the updated flow without any downtime.

Through these steps, Bean & Brew has set up a fully automated, AI‑drafted win‑back journey that runs on a credit‑based wallet, requires no manual list‑building, and gives real‑time visibility on every reminder.

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Time saved – Before Ferbz, the owner of a café like Bean & Brew would spend roughly 3 hours each week pulling sales reports, exporting a CSV, filtering for “no order in 30 days”, drafting a WhatsApp broadcast, and manually sending it. After automation, those 3 hours shrink to a 10‑minute setup and occasional tweak, because the trigger runs daily and the messages are dispatched automatically.

Revenue recovered – In a typical Tier‑2 city café with 1,200 regulars, about 28 % (≈ 336) stop visiting each month without notice. Assuming an average ticket of ₹150, the lost revenue is roughly ₹50,400 per month. With Ferbz win‑back automation, Bean & Brew recovered 12 % of those lapsed guests (≈ 40 customers) in the first month, adding ₹6,000 back to the top line – a 12 % uplift on the lapsed‑customer segment and a 12 % ROI on the 350‑credit spend.

Fewer manual errors – Manual CSV handling often leads to duplicate messages or missed contacts. Ferbz’s Reminders board flags any failed sends instantly, letting the owner re‑send only the problematic ones. The built‑in CRM ensures each customer’s phone number is validated once, eliminating the “wrong number” problem that plagues ad‑hoc broadcasts.

Consistent branding – All WhatsApp texts are pulled from the café’s own templates, so the tone, logo, and discount codes stay uniform across every touchpoint. The AI only proposes a structure; the owner retains full control over wording, which eliminates the brand‑drift that occurs when multiple staff members craft separate messages.

Scalable to any size – Because the model is credit‑based, there is no hidden subscription ceiling. Whether the café grows to 5,000 customers or runs a seasonal promotion, the cost scales linearly with the number of messages, and the same automation canvas can be reused with a new trigger (e.g., “30 days after signup” for a loyalty‑card program).

Overall, the win‑back automation directly addresses the core pain points: silent loss of regulars, fragmented customer lists, and irregular promotions. It turns a reactive, labor‑intensive process into a predictable, data‑driven engine that keeps the café’s tables occupied day after day.

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Ready to stop losing regulars silently? Set up your first win‑back automation in minutes and watch repeat visits climb. Sign up for a free trial, top up credits instantly via Razorpay, and start building journeys from the Automation tab. If you need help importing your customer list or tweaking message templates, our support team is just an email away at support@ferbz.com.

Begin now: https://dashboard.ferbz.com/

Your café’s next regular could be a WhatsApp message away.