How to Re-engage Inactive Loyalty Program Members

Every loyalty program has them: members who signed up enthusiastically but have not returned in weeks or months. Before writing them off, consider this: these customers already know your brand, have shown interest, and cost nothing to acquire. Re-engaging them is significantly more cost-effective than finding new customers.

Here are five proven strategies to bring them back.

1. Birthday and milestone rewards

A personalized birthday reward is one of the most effective re-engagement tools because it arrives at a moment when the customer is already in a celebratory mood and more open to treating themselves.

The key is making the offer feel generous, not token. A meaningful birthday reward, such as a free product or double points on their next visit, communicates that you remember and value the customer as an individual.

Similarly, recognizing the anniversary of when a customer joined your program creates a natural touchpoint. A message like "It has been one year since you joined. Here are bonus points to celebrate" gives the customer a reason to return without feeling pressured.

2. Points expiry notifications

If your program has points expiration, use it as a re-engagement opportunity rather than a punishment. The Endowment Effect, studied extensively by Wharton researchers, shows that people value things more once they own them. A customer with 150 accumulated points feels a real sense of loss at the prospect of losing them.

The approach matters:

Do not simply announce "Your points will expire on March 31."
Do say "You have 150 points, enough for a free coffee. Visit before March 31 to claim your reward before your points reset."

Frame the notification around what they can gain by acting, not what they will lose by not acting. This subtle shift in language significantly improves response rates.

3. Win-back campaigns based on inactivity data

A digital loyalty platform like Fedele gives you data on when customers last visited and how frequently they used to come. Use this data to create targeted win-back campaigns.

For example:

30-day inactive: a gentle reminder with their current points balance.
60-day inactive: a stronger incentive, such as bonus points on their next visit.
90-day inactive: a direct re-engagement offer, such as a free item or significant points bonus.

The tiered approach ensures you are not over-investing in recently lapsed members (who may return on their own) while making a compelling case to those who have drifted further away.

4. Abandoned engagement recovery

The concept of abandoned cart emails from e-commerce translates well to brick-and-mortar loyalty. According to Moosend research, abandoned cart emails achieve open rates of up to 45% and click-through rates of 21%, with approximately half of those who click completing a purchase.

For a physical business, the equivalent is a customer who earned points but never redeemed a reward. Data from Baymard Institute shows that approximately 69% of online shopping carts are abandoned, a pattern that mirrors how many loyalty members earn but never redeem.

Send targeted notifications to members who have accumulated enough points for a reward but have not claimed it. The message is simple: "You have earned a free reward. Come in and claim it." The reward is already theirs; they just need to show up.

5. Ask for feedback

Sometimes the most effective re-engagement strategy is the most direct: ask lapsed members why they stopped coming.

A short, respectful message like "We noticed you have not visited recently. We would love to know if there is anything we can improve" accomplishes two things. First, it signals that you care about the customer's experience, not just their money. Second, it gives you actionable intelligence about what might be driving customers away.

Common reasons for lapsing include:

Rewards felt too difficult to earn.
The customer forgot the program existed.
A single negative experience.
A competitor offered something better.

Each of these has a specific solution, but you cannot fix what you do not know about.

How Fedele helps you re-engage inactive members

Fedele gives you the tools to put these strategies into practice out of the box. The business app shows you which members have not visited recently and how many points they have accumulated, so you can identify lapsed customers before they are gone for good. You can assign bonus points to any member directly from the app, perfect for birthday rewards, anniversary bonuses, or targeted win-back incentives. Because the customer's loyalty account lives in the free Fedele app on their phone, there is no card to find and no re-enrollment needed: when a lapsed member decides to come back, scanning their barcode picks up exactly where they left off.

Start with the Free plan (up to 5 customers, custom rewards, barcode scanning) and upgrade to Premium for unlimited customers at EUR 49.99/month (annual) or EUR 59.99/month (monthly). No hardware, no contracts.