Why use three channels instead of just email?

Dormant users ignore the channels they've tuned out, so a single-channel campaign misses most of them. Layering push, email, and SMS catches people where they actually pay attention and lets you escalate from low-friction to high-intent. Each channel also suits a different message length and urgency level in the sequence.

How should incentives escalate across the touches?

Start soft and cheap — a reminder of value or a small nudge in the push — then raise the stakes with a real offer in the email, and reserve the strongest, time-boxed incentive for the final SMS framed as last chance. Leading with your best offer leaves nothing to escalate to and trains users to wait for discounts.

How far apart should the touches be?

Give each touch room to work without nagging — commonly a few days between the push and email and a few more before the final SMS, spread over one to two weeks. Too tight feels like spam and burns goodwill; too loose loses momentum. Tune the gaps to your product's natural usage rhythm.

When is a 'last chance' SMS appropriate?

Use it only when it's true — an offer genuinely expiring, or the account about to be archived or downgraded — and only for users who opted into SMS. A real deadline on the highest-intent channel is a strong final nudge, but a fake 'last chance' that keeps repeating destroys trust and trains people to ignore you.

Should dormant users who reactivate exit the campaign?

Absolutely — the moment a user re-engages, suppress the remaining touches. Continuing to send 'come back' messages to someone who already came back is sloppy and annoying, and risks pushing a freshly-recovered user straight back out. Wire reactivation as an exit condition before you launch the sequence.

What is the Reactivation Campaign Builder?

Build a three-touch reactivation campaign for dormant app or platform users — a push notification, an email, and an SMS — with escalating incentives and a final 'last chance' message. Exports a structured campaign plan with copy for every touch. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Reactivation Campaign Builder

Name: Reactivation Campaign Builder
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Reach dormant users where they still pay attention

A dormant user has tuned out the channel you usually reach them on, so one more email rarely lands. A multi-touch reactivation campaign layers a push, an email, and an SMS over a week or two, escalating from a gentle reminder to a real, time-boxed last-chance offer. This builder drafts all three touches with a coherent cadence and escalating incentives you can drop into your messaging tools.

How it works

You define the dormant segment and incentives, and the tool builds a three-touch sequence:

Touch 1 — Push:  short nudge, soft incentive, low friction
   ↓  (gap 1)
Touch 2 — Email: full value recap + a real offer
   ↓  (gap 2)
Touch 3 — SMS:   last-chance, strongest time-boxed offer

The push is short and frictionless — a reminder of value with a light nudge. If that doesn’t land, the email arrives a few days later with a fuller value recap and a genuine offer. The SMS is the final, highest-intent touch: a time-boxed last-chance message reserved for opted-in users. Each touch escalates urgency and incentive, and the tool keeps the copy consistent across all three.

Defining a useful dormant segment

The segment definition is the first decision the tool prompts you for, and it matters more than the copy. A segment that is too broad (everyone who hasn’t opened an email) captures users who are simply on holiday; one that is too narrow (zero app-opens in 180 days) leaves behind users who read push notifications without opening. The most effective dormancy windows are based on core-action absence — the specific in-app action that indicates genuine engagement for your product — rather than login or email open. For a food-delivery app that might be “no order in 60 days”; for a B2B tool, “no project opened in 30 days.”

What escalating incentives actually look like

For a subscription product with a monthly billing cycle, an illustrative escalation might be:

Push (day 0): “Your workspace is waiting — pick up where you left off.” No discount; curiosity and nostalgia.
Email (day 4): A value recap showing what features have shipped since the user was last active, with a 20% discount on the next month.
SMS (day 10): “Last chance: your 20% offer expires Friday. Tap to reactivate.” Deadline is real; offer turns off Friday.

Giving the best incentive in the push eliminates any reason to read the email. Saving the strongest offer for the SMS — the most intimate channel — signals genuine urgency.

Tips for a sequence that recovers users

Make the escalation real — if the push already gives your best discount, the email and SMS have nowhere to go.
Honor channel etiquette: SMS is intimate and easily resented, so reserve it for the genuine last chance and opted-in users only.
Wire reactivation as an exit condition so anyone who returns stops receiving the remaining touches immediately.
Include a graceful unsubscribe path in the email. Users who want to leave cleanly are more likely to return later if you let them go without friction.
Suppress users who have churned voluntarily (cancellation date exists, account deleted) — sending reactivation messages to closed accounts is both wasteful and irritating.