Automated WhatsApp win‑back reminders to bring back café customers after Ganesh Chaturthi

Below is a step‑by‑step walkthrough that you can follow on a live Ferbz screen. The example uses a fictional café called Mithai & Brew, located in Pune, which serves coffee, snacks, and a monthly loyalty card.

1. Prepare your WhatsApp template

1. Go to Automation → Templates.
2. Click Create New Template.
3. Choose WhatsApp Business API as the channel.
4. Fill in the template fields (you have 1,800 characters max for the body).
   Header: “🌟 Welcome Back, {{customer_name}}!”
   Body: “We miss you at Mithai & Brew! Enjoy a 15% discount on any coffee when you order before 30 Sep. Use code GANESH15. Reply ‘YES’ to claim.”
5. Save. The template now appears in the template library with a green check‑mark indicating it is approved by WhatsApp.

2. Build the win‑back automation journey

1. Navigate to Automation → Journeys.

2. Click New Journey and type the plain‑English goal:
   “Win back anyone who hasn’t ordered in 30 days after Ganesh Chaturthi.”

3. Ferbz’s AI instantly drafts a three‑step flow:

   • Trigger – “Days since last Order ≥ 30” (the system will evaluate this each night).
   • Wait – 0 days (send immediately once the trigger fires).
   • Message – select the GANESH15 template you just created.
   • Branch – “If customer replies YES → mark as ‘Redeemed’ and add a note; else → no further action.”

4. Drag‑and‑drop to adjust the visual canvas if you want an extra reminder 3 days later. For this example we keep it simple: one message only.

5. Click Activate. The journey now sits in the active list, ready to enroll customers automatically.

3. Import or verify your customer list

1. Open Customers from the left‑hand menu.
2. If you have a CSV from your POS, click Import CSV and map columns (Name, Phone, Email, GSTIN, Last Order Date).
3. Ferbz de‑duplicates entries and attaches each record to a unique Customer ID.

4. Run a test order to see the trigger in action

1. From the POS screen, select New Sale.

2. Choose an existing customer – say Rohit Sharma, phone +91 98765 43210, whose last order was on 23 Aug 2024.

3. Ring up a coffee and click Checkout. Ferbz generates a PDF receipt with a shareable link and automatically records the order.

   Because the order completed, the reminder clock for Rohit is now reset to 0 days.

5. Observe the enrollment on the Reminders board

1. Go to Reminders → Board.

2. You will see a new line:

   Customer: Rohit Sharma – Journey: Ganesh Win‑Back – Status: Scheduled – Send Time: 30 Sep 2024 09:00 IST

3. The board shows a tiny clock icon; hover to see “30 days since last order → reminder will fire on 30 Sep”.

6. Credits deduction and message dispatch

When 30 Sep 09:00 IST arrives, Ferbz pulls one credit from the prepaid wallet, calls the WhatsApp Business API, and sends the GANESH15 template to Rohit’s mobile.

• On the Reminders board the status changes to Sent (green check).
• A few seconds later it flips to Delivered (blue check).
• When Rohit opens the message, the status updates to Read (grey double‑check).

All these timestamps are logged for reporting.

7. Review performance in Reports

1. Click Reports → Messaging.

2. Set the date range 01 Sep 2024 – 30 Sep 2024.

3. The table shows:

   Total win‑back reminders sent: 128
   Delivered: 124 (96.9 %)
   Read: 112 (87.5 %)
   Customers who replied YES: 38
   Revenue generated from redeemed codes: ₹7,860

4. Export the report as CSV or PDF for bookkeeping.

8. Fine‑tune or pause the journey

If you notice that the conversion rate is low, you can edit the journey:

• Change the discount from 15 % to 20 %
• Add a second reminder 3 days after the first one
• Adjust the trigger to “Days since last Order ≥ 25” to catch customers earlier

All changes are saved instantly; the next batch of eligible customers will be enrolled under the new rules.

Full Worked Example – Numbers in Context

Mithai & Brew has a daily average of 45 orders, each averaging ₹210. Over a typical month the café earns roughly ₹6,30,000. After Ganesh Chaturthi (which fell on 31 Aug 2024), the owner noticed a 12 % dip in footfall for the first two weeks of September.

Using the win‑back reminder:

• Customers enrolled: 312 (those whose last order was before 01 Sep)
• Credits used: 312 credits (₹311 ≈ ₹99 × 3.14) – deducted from a ₹799 wallet top‑up.
• Redeemed discount codes: 48 (15 % of 312)
• Incremental revenue: 48 × average order ₹210 = ₹10,080
• Net profit after credit cost: ₹10,080 – ₹311 = ₹9,769

The owner sees a clear ROI, and the café returns to its pre‑festival average within five days.

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Café owners in Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 cities often rely on a handful of regulars for 60–70 % of daily revenue. When those regulars stop coming, the loss is invisible until the cash register shows a dip. Manual tracking (paper logbooks, spreadsheets) is time‑consuming and prone to error.

The Automated WhatsApp win‑back reminder eliminates that blind spot in three concrete ways:

1. Zero manual outreach – The journey runs on the server. Once the trigger (“30 days since last Order”) is set, Ferbz automatically enrolls the customer, schedules the message, and sends it via the official WhatsApp Business API. The owner saves roughly 15 minutes per day that would otherwise be spent calling or texting each lapsed customer.

2. Precise cost control – Because Ferbz uses a prepaid credit wallet, the owner knows exactly how much each reminder costs. In the Mithai & Brew example, 312 reminders cost ₹311, delivering ₹10,080 of recovered sales – a 3,140 % return on the messaging spend.

3. Actionable data – The Reminders board and Reports module give instant visibility into delivery rates, read rates, and redemption. The owner can see that 87 % of messages were read and 15 % converted, allowing quick adjustments (e.g., tweaking the discount) without guessing.

Overall, the win‑back reminder turns an untracked churn risk into a measurable, repeatable revenue stream, while freeing the owner to focus on coffee brewing, staff training, and menu innovation instead of chasing silent customers.

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Bring back the customers who drifted after Ganesh Chaturthi with an automated WhatsApp win‑back reminder that runs on a single dashboard. Sign up, top up a few credits, and build your first “30‑day no‑order” journey in minutes.

Start your trial now: https://dashboard.ferbz.com/

If you have questions or need help designing the perfect post‑festival flow, email us at support@ferbz.com. Our team is ready to walk you through the setup and show you how to turn dormant footfall into fresh revenue.