Email and Text Campaigns That Bring Past Customers Back

The job is paid and the crew is on to the next one. That customer's furnace needs servicing next fall, and their warranty runs out in a year.

Nobody remembers to call. When the customer needs work again, they search Google and call whoever answers first.

A customer who already paid you is the easiest job to win again. Campaigns make sure you're the one they call.

This page describes campaigns as they work in the finished Growth Engine, which I'm still building with its first GTA contractors. See what's ready today.

Each campaign starts when the customer's final payment is recorded, and each one uses what's already on the customer record.

The thank-you goes to every customer after they pay. Every other campaign goes only to customers in Nurture. A customer leaves Nurture by unsubscribing from any campaign email or text, as Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) requires, and is marked Suppress on their customer record. You can also take a customer out of Nurture yourself at any time. Either way, every campaign except the thank-you stops for them.

The next homeowner compares contractors on Google before calling anyone. Recent reviews help them decide whether you're worth the call.

Most happy customers will leave a review when asked. Most won't think of it on their own.

A problem found during the warranty is a small repair you planned for. Found after it ends, it turns into an argument.

The warranty check is on by default at no extra cost. It gives the customer a reason to call while the work is still covered.

Furnaces need tune-ups, decks need resealing, and gutters need clearing. The customer doesn't track the date, so the work goes to whoever they find first.

The reminder goes out when the work is due and lets the customer book a visit from the open times on your calendar.

A slow month is easier to fill from customers who already know your work than from strangers.

You choose the offer and which past customers get it. The Growth Engine sends it to them by email and text.

Every customer gets a thank-you from your business after they pay. It's always on and costs you nothing.

Any campaign can carry a gift with real value, like a gift card or a discount on the next job.

You choose which campaign carries it and which customers get it. You pay for the gift, and only when you choose to send one.

1. The customer pays in full. The final payment is recorded on the customer record.
2. The Growth Engine reads the record. The job type, completion date, warranty term, and contact details are already there from the quote and the invoice.
3. Each campaign picks its customers. A campaign goes to the customers in Nurture that its rules select, like everyone with a furnace install from last fall.
4. The message goes out by email and text. Each one is sent on its schedule and logged on the customer record.
5. The customer replies or books. A reply or booking lands on the same customer record, so your team sees the whole history.

A furnace tune-up reminder means nothing to a customer who had their roof done. Every message should match the work the customer paid for.

The customer list already holds what each campaign needs to pick its customers:

• Type of work: a maintenance reminder for every furnace install, a promotion for every past deck customer.
• When the job was paid: a warranty check 11 months after a one-year warranty starts, a promotion to customers you haven't heard from in two years.
• Job value: a gift only for jobs over an amount you set.
• Location: a promotion for the towns where your crews have openings next month.

Combine them as narrowly as you need, like every Brampton customer with a water heater installed more than eight years ago.

Each message goes only to a customer who has already paid you, about the work they paid for.

Customers from before you joined can get campaigns too. Send me a CSV file with their names, email addresses, and phone numbers, plus the work you did and when, if you have it. I import them into your customer list, and each campaign picks them up like any other past customer.

CASL sets who can get campaigns. A customer who paid you in the last 2 years can, and so can one who agreed to hear from you. Every campaign email and text names your business and has an unsubscribe link. Include each customer's last job date in the file so campaigns reach only the customers the law allows.

Reporting follows each campaign from the message to the paid job:

• Sent: how many customers received each campaign, by email and by text.
• Replied or booked: how many customers answered or booked a visit after the message.
• Paid work: the jobs and revenue that came from customers who booked.
• Reviews: new Google reviews after the review requests went out.

When a campaign books little, I change who gets it or what it says, and the next report shows whether that helped.

Advanced reporting built around a specific campaign is optional, at a price you approve before it starts.

Every campaign starts with a working default. Change as much or as little as you like.

You choose who gets every other campaign. The Google review request goes to every paid customer in Nurture, whether they were delighted, disappointed, or somewhere in between.

Google does not allow asking only the customers you expect to be happy. This is called review gating.

Real reviews, good and bad, are what the next homeowner trusts. They also show how you handle a problem.

The review request, warranty check, maintenance reminders, and thank-you come with the Growth Engine on either plan, set up by default. So do 2 promotions a year.

More promotions and advanced campaign reporting are optional, at a price you approve before they start. A gift you choose to send costs its value.

On the Performance Plan, repeat work from a past customer carries no fee.

Your crew finishes the job. Your customer pays. The Growth Engine keeps in touch from there.

Book a 20-Minute Review to see which campaigns fit your trade. It's 20 minutes with me, with no pitch.

See how Google reviews support contractor marketing.