Discover Ferbz’s AI‑Drafted Automation Journey to Win Back Café Customers

Below is a step‑by‑step walk‑through of setting up a win‑back automation journey for a typical Canadian café. Imagine “Maple Leaf Café,” a downtown Toronto spot that serves coffee, pastries, and a daily combo lunch.

1. Log into the Ferbz dashboard and land on the main navigation bar. Click Automation.

2. Create a new journey by pressing the “New Automation” button at the top right. A dialog appears with a plain‑English prompt field. Type:

   win back anyone who hasn't ordered in 30 days
   

   Ferbz’s AI reads the sentence, recognises the trigger (“days since last order”), and proposes a default flow:

   • Wait 30 days after the last order
   • Message 1: “We miss you at Maple Leaf Café! Here’s a 10 % off coupon for your next visit.”
   • Branch: If the customer replies “YES”, send Message 2 with the coupon code. If they reply “NO”, send Message 3 offering a different incentive.

3. Edit the suggested flow on the visual canvas. Drag the wait block to confirm “30 days.” Click the first message block, and replace the placeholder text with your own copy, inserting dynamic fields like {{customer.first_name}}. For example:

   Hey {{customer.first_name}}, it’s been a while! Enjoy 10 % off your next coffee on us. Use code MAPLE10 at checkout.
   

   Add a “Coupon” custom field to the customer profile if you want to store the generated code.

4. Set the trigger source. On the left‑hand panel, under Triggers, choose “Days Since Last Order” and set the value to 30. This tells Ferbz to enroll any customer whose most recent order is exactly 30 days old.

5. Define enrollment rules. Click “Enrollment Filters” and add a filter: Customer status = Active (so you don’t waste credits on inactive or opted‑out contacts). You can also filter by Location if you run multiple cafés.

6. Save the journey. Ferbz automatically creates a Reminder template for each message block. These reminders appear on the Reminders board as “Scheduled” once a customer meets the trigger condition.

7. Test the flow. Use the “Preview” button to simulate a customer named Liam who placed an order on March 1. The system shows a timeline:

   • March 31 → Wait period ends
   • April 1 → Message 1 is queued, credit balance is reduced by 1 reminder credit
   • If Liam replies “YES” on April 1, Message 2 is sent immediately, consuming another credit.

   You can also click “Send Test” to deliver the first message to a real phone number you own, confirming that the WhatsApp Business API integration works correctly.

8. Monitor live activity. Return to the Reminders board from the main menu. You’ll see rows for each scheduled reminder:

   • Customer: Liam Patel
   • Journey: 30‑Day Win‑Back
   • Status: Scheduled → Sent → Delivered → Read (timestamps update in real time)

   If a reminder fails (e.g., the phone number is no longer on WhatsApp), the row turns red and you can re‑enroll the contact manually or adjust the journey.

9. Bulk import customers (optional). If Maple Leaf Café has a CSV of regulars, go to Customers → Import, map columns (email, phone, first name), and upload. All imported profiles instantly become eligible for the win‑back journey as soon as the 30‑day trigger fires.

10. Review performance. After a week of activity, open Reports → Messaging Effectiveness. Filter by the win‑back journey to see:

    • Number of reminders sent (e.g., 124)
    • Delivery rate (e.g., 119 delivered)
    • Read rate (e.g., 87 read)
    • Conversion metric (e.g., 22 customers placed a new order within 7 days of receiving the coupon)

    These numbers feed directly into revenue reports, letting you calculate the ROI of the credit spent on the automation.

11. Iterate. If the conversion rate is lower than expected, return to the Automation canvas, adjust the message copy, or add an extra follow‑up reminder after 7 days for non‑responders. Every change is saved instantly and will apply to the next batch of eligible customers.

By following these steps, Maple Leaf Café moves from manually tracking “who hasn’t been in the last month” to an automated, data‑driven win‑back system that runs 24 / 7 without any ongoing manual effort.

Cafés and quick‑service shops typically lose regulars silently. Before Ferbz, Maple Leaf Café’s manager spent an average of 3 hours per week pulling sales reports, cross‑checking a handwritten guest book, and sending ad‑hoc WhatsApp messages from a personal phone. In the same period, the café missed roughly $1,850 in potential revenue (based on an average ticket of $12 and an estimated 15 % churn).

After implementing the AI‑drafted win‑back journey:

• Time saved – The automation eliminates the manual reporting loop. The manager now spends less than 30 minutes per week reviewing the Reminders board and approving any failed messages. That’s a 85 % reduction in labor.

• Revenue recovered – In the first month of the pilot, 22 customers responded to the 10 % coupon and placed a new order, generating $264 in immediate sales. Over three months, the same flow reclaimed $1,020 in repeat business, offsetting the credit cost of approximately 90 reminder credits (each credit is a fraction of a dollar, so the net gain is clear).

• Consistency – Every eligible customer receives the same professionally‑branded message at the exact 30‑day mark. No more missed follow‑ups or uneven promotion timing.

• Visibility – The Reminders board shows live delivery status. If a number is no longer reachable, the manager can act instantly rather than discovering the failure weeks later.

• Scalability – Adding a new location is as simple as importing its customer list and enabling the same journey. The same AI engine drafts the flow, so there’s no need to rebuild campaigns from scratch for each store.

Overall, the AI‑drafted automation journey turns a reactive, time‑intensive task into a predictable, credit‑controlled process that directly addresses the core pain points of silent churn, disorganized customer data, and irregular promotion delivery.

Ready to stop guessing which regulars have gone cold and start reaching them automatically? Sign up for a free trial, load your customer list, and let Ferbz’s AI draft your first win‑back journey in minutes. Visit the dashboard at https://dashboard.ferbz.com/ and explore the Automation tab, or email support@ferbz.com for a personalized walkthrough. Your next repeat customer is just a WhatsApp message away.