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Over 70% of users who go dormant will never return—unless re-engaged. But brands that invest in reactivation can win back up to 35% of these users, often at a fraction of the cost of acquiring new ones. At Propel, we analyze billions of events each month to uncover drop-off moments and winback strategies that work.
As part of our “Staying Alive: Dormant Users Aren’t Dead” webinar series, we sat down with lifecycle marketing expert Sara Joy, currently leading digital and retention efforts at Milk & Honey (formerly at Tiff’s Treats). In this conversation with Propel's co-founder Jas, Sara shared a goldmine of tactics, challenges, and mindset shifts for effective user reactivation.
Watch the full video here:
Sara heads up digital and lifecycle marketing at Milk & Honey, a luxury spa and skincare brand. With 10+ years of experience across companies like Tiff’s Treats, Make-A-Wish, and Disney, she’s a retention-first marketer who deeply understands both brand voice and behavioral data.
Sara breaks down dormancy into five broad causes:
While each brand will experience these differently, personalization and thoughtful frequency are universal tools to tackle disengagement.
Instead of relying on surface-level cohorts, Sara uses deep segmentation strategies such as:
One standout example from Milk & Honey: users who visit for one-off gift appointments don’t respond well to generic discount offers. Instead, Sara sends them “spa-at-home” inspiration with product recommendations—bridging the gap with relevance, not desperation.
“It’s not just about saying ‘we miss you.’ It’s about showing we understand you.”
When asked about frequency, Sara emphasized that one-size-fits-all doesn’t work. Some users want daily touchpoints, while others prefer a monthly nudge. The key is to:
Sara also highlighted the importance of intentional retargeting, with thoughtful sequencing and value propositions that evolve based on behavior.
While most teams obsess over conversions and revenue, Sara encourages a broader view. Her go-to KPIs for reactivation:
Lifecycle marketers often juggle competing priorities from product, leadership, and creative teams. Sara’s advice?
Sara’s teams at Milk & Honey have turned around reactivation campaigns in as little as 24 hours—or as long as a month. The pace depends on urgency and org maturity. But her bias is clear: scrappy beats slow.
Reactivation differs drastically across brands. At Tiff’s Treats (a fun, frequent-purchase cookie brand), email was king. At Milk & Honey (a premium, high-AOV spa brand), direct mail plays a larger role in reviving high-value dormant users.
The playbook changes with:
Sara is bullish on AI—but only when paired with human creativity. She uses AI for:
“AI alone won’t make magic. You need that human layer to create meaningful experiences.”
AI + GDPR can be tricky. But instead of seeing privacy regulations as a hurdle, Sara views them as creative opportunities:
Sara’s biggest insight?
“Approach everything with curiosity. Best practices are starting points, not rules.”
She shares a story of a friend in B2B construction whose plain-text emails wildly outperformed flashy templates. Moral of the story: test everything, assume nothing.
Feedback—especially angry feedback—is a gift. Sara recounts how customers who had poor experiences were turned into loyalists simply through empathetic messaging and proactive service recovery.
If you’re trying to re-engage dormant users, here are 5 things to remember:
Use our free Retention Impact Calculator to see how much revenue you’re leaving on the table — and how much you could unlock by improving retention.
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