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Over 70% of users who go dormant will never return—unless re-engaged. But brands that invest in reactivation can win back up to 35% of these users, often at a fraction of the cost of acquiring new ones. At Propel, we analyze billions of events each month to uncover drop-off moments and winback strategies that work.
As part of our “Staying Alive: Dormant Users Aren’t Dead” webinar series, we sat down with lifecycle marketing expert Sara Joy, currently leading digital and retention efforts at Milk & Honey (formerly at Tiff’s Treats). In this conversation with Propel's co-founder Jas, Sara shared a goldmine of tactics, challenges, and mindset shifts for effective user reactivation.
Watch the full video here:
👤 Meet the Expert: Sara Joy
Sara heads up digital and lifecycle marketing at Milk & Honey, a luxury spa and skincare brand. With 10+ years of experience across companies like Tiff’s Treats, Make-A-Wish, and Disney, she’s a retention-first marketer who deeply understands both brand voice and behavioral data.
🧠 Why Users Go Dormant
Sara breaks down dormancy into five broad causes:
- Seasonal or external changes
- Poor user experience
- Lack of value or incentives
- Lack of relevance/personalization
- Email fatigue or channel saturation
While each brand will experience these differently, personalization and thoughtful frequency are universal tools to tackle disengagement.
🎯 How to Personalize with Precision
Instead of relying on surface-level cohorts, Sara uses deep segmentation strategies such as:
- RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary)
- Engagement-based segmentation
- Behavioral and geographic data
- Customer lifetime value (CLV)
One standout example from Milk & Honey: users who visit for one-off gift appointments don’t respond well to generic discount offers. Instead, Sara sends them “spa-at-home” inspiration with product recommendations—bridging the gap with relevance, not desperation.
“It’s not just about saying ‘we miss you.’ It’s about showing we understand you.”
💌 Solving for Email Fatigue
When asked about frequency, Sara emphasized that one-size-fits-all doesn’t work. Some users want daily touchpoints, while others prefer a monthly nudge. The key is to:
- Let users define preferences
- Use dynamic content
- Leverage multiple channels (SMS, push, direct mail)
Sara also highlighted the importance of intentional retargeting, with thoughtful sequencing and value propositions that evolve based on behavior.
📈 Redefining Success Metrics
While most teams obsess over conversions and revenue, Sara encourages a broader view. Her go-to KPIs for reactivation:
- Click-through rates (CTR): Is the content engaging?
- Unsubscribe/opt-out rates: Was the messaging relevant?
- Customer retention post-reactivation: Did they stay?
- Time to conversion: Did it take one touch or five?
- Lifetime value of reactivated users: Are they more valuable long term?
🔄 Cross-Functional Alignment
Lifecycle marketers often juggle competing priorities from product, leadership, and creative teams. Sara’s advice?
- Use data as the common language
- Run incrementality tests
- Create visibility around impact and ROI
⚙️ Timeline to Execution: How Fast is Too Fast?
Sara’s teams at Milk & Honey have turned around reactivation campaigns in as little as 24 hours—or as long as a month. The pace depends on urgency and org maturity. But her bias is clear: scrappy beats slow.
🧴 Cookies vs. Skincare: Context is Everything
Reactivation differs drastically across brands. At Tiff’s Treats (a fun, frequent-purchase cookie brand), email was king. At Milk & Honey (a premium, high-AOV spa brand), direct mail plays a larger role in reviving high-value dormant users.
The playbook changes with:
- Brand tone
- Customer lifecycle
- Perceived value
- Channel cost
🤖 What Role Does AI Play?
Sara is bullish on AI—but only when paired with human creativity. She uses AI for:
- Predictive analytics
- Content inspiration
- Workflow automation
“AI alone won’t make magic. You need that human layer to create meaningful experiences.”
🔐 Privacy is a Creative Constraint
AI + GDPR can be tricky. But instead of seeing privacy regulations as a hurdle, Sara views them as creative opportunities:
- Don’t overstep with creepy personalization
- Respect opt-outs
- Use data with empathy
💡 Golden Nuggets from a Decade in Retention
Sara’s biggest insight?
“Approach everything with curiosity. Best practices are starting points, not rules.”
She shares a story of a friend in B2B construction whose plain-text emails wildly outperformed flashy templates. Moral of the story: test everything, assume nothing.
🧽 Be a Sponge, Not a Sledgehammer
Feedback—especially angry feedback—is a gift. Sara recounts how customers who had poor experiences were turned into loyalists simply through empathetic messaging and proactive service recovery.
Final Takeaways
If you’re trying to re-engage dormant users, here are 5 things to remember:
- Segment like your life depends on it
- Balance automation with human touch
- Track success beyond revenue
- Move fast—but with purpose
- Be curious, be humble, test everything
