The 30-day reactivation playbook

The shape of it

A reactivation campaign is a short, defined push across your whole list. Every lead you’re allowed to contact hears from you a handful of times over about a month, on more than one channel, and then it stops. Thirty days is long enough to reach people on different days and at different times, and short enough to measure honestly and finish.

The plan has four phases: a first touch, a follow-up, a new reason, and a last call. Up to ten touches per lead in total, never more than three in a day, only during sensible hours in their time zone, and “stop” ends everything at once.

Before day one: the setup week

1. Clean the list. Merge duplicates, remove wrong and fake numbers, flag opt-outs.
2. Sort by consent. Decide who can get calls, who gets texts and email only, and who isn’t contacted. See Consent, explained for owners.
3. Check the registries. The Do Not Call Registry and reassigned numbers.
4. Segment. At least by age and by what they asked about. Past customers, unsold estimates and web inquiries deserve different first lines.
5. Write the messages in the owner’s voice, and have the owner approve every one.
6. Register texting with the carriers. It can take several days, so start early.
7. Set up the calendar. Real open slots, buffers between appointments, and a clear rule for what counts as a booked appointment.

The cadence, touch by touch

This is the sequence one lead experiences if they never reply. The moment they do, the sequence stops and a conversation starts.

Day 1

AI call in the business’s name. If it’s missed, a short text right after, saying who called and why.

Day 3

Email: a personal note with a little more context and an easy way to reply.

Day 5

Second call, at a different time of day from the first.

Day 8

Text with one easy question: “Still on your list, or already taken care of?”

Day 13

Email with a new, honest reason: a season, a change, or simply time passing.

Day 17

Text following up on the same idea.

Day 22

The final call.

Day 26

Email: a short check-in.

Day 29

Text: “Should we close your file?” Then the sequence ends.

Leads without call consent get the same rhythm with texts and emails only, or email only, depending on what they’re allowed to receive.

What each channel is for

Calls

The only channel where someone can say yes and be booked within a minute. Best for leads who need to talk something through. Every AI call says it’s an AI, and that it’s recorded, first.

Texts

Short, conversational and easy to answer. Use them to explain a missed call and to ask one easy question. Never long, never a wall of links.

Emails

Room for context, read when it suits them. Good for the “new reason” message, and for people who can’t receive calls or texts.

Writing messages old leads answer

• Name the business and what they asked about in the first line. “It’s Summit Roofing, about the roof quote you asked for” gets read. “Hi there!” doesn’t.
• Acknowledge the gap. “It’s been a while” is honest and disarming. Don’t pretend it’s your first contact.
• Ask one question, and make it easy to answer either way.
• Make no easy. People who can say no comfortably are more likely to say yes when they mean it, and less likely to complain.
• No fake urgency. No invented deadlines, no “prices going up”, no limited spots that aren’t limited.
• No prices or discounts. The appointment is where numbers belong, from the person who can stand behind them.
• Sound like the owner. Short sentences and everyday words, the way they’d say it on the phone.

Handling replies

Replies are where campaigns are won or lost. Answer them within minutes during the day; a reply that waits until tomorrow often goes cold again. Every reply falls into one of a few groups:

Interested

Offer two specific times. Book the one they pick. Confirm by text.

A question

Answer it if it’s simple and approved. Otherwise, book the appointment where the owner can answer it properly.

Not now

Ask when would be better, note it, and stop for now.

Wrong number

Apologize, remove the number, and stop.

Stop, or anything like it

Confirm, remove them from every channel, and never contact them again.

Upset

Apologize once, remove them, and tell the owner.

What to measure

Keep it simple, and measure every lead the same way:

Contactable leads

After cleaning and consent sorting. This is the real starting number.

Reached

Any two-way contact: a conversation or a reply.

Booked

A specific time on your calendar, from a lead on the list, that isn’t cancelled within 24 hours.

Showed

How many booked appointments actually happened.

Sold

And the revenue, traced back to the campaign.

Opt-outs and complaints

A health check. A sudden rise means a message or a segment needs fixing.

Break the numbers down by segment: age, source and what they asked about. That’s where you learn which part of the list to work again next year and which to let go.

We don’t publish “typical” response or booking rates. They vary too much by trade, list age and source to be useful, and many of the figures quoted online are vendor marketing. Your own numbers, measured consistently, are the ones that matter. It’s also why we size the guarantee to your list rather than to an industry average.

After day 30

• Stop the sequence. Leads who never replied are left alone.
• Anyone who said “later” gets a follow-up on the date they gave.
• Mark every outcome in your CRM: booked, showed, sold, not interested, wrong number, opted out.
• Fix the leak: respond to new leads within minutes, and work each month’s newly quiet leads before they pile up again.