Find out who stopped
You can do this with a spreadsheet of your orders. Make a pivot table with customer under Rows. Under Values, add the order date twice, once as the latest date (MAX) and once as the earliest (MIN), and add a count of orders. Sort by the latest date, and you have your list. (Excel may show the dates as numbers until you format them as dates.) Our prep list guide shows where to find pivot tables.
Split it in three, because each group needs a different note:
- Missed a week or two. They are probably busy. A reminder is all they need.
- Gone for a month or more. Something changed. A real note from you, and maybe an offer.
- Ordered once and never came back. Something about that first order fell short. Ask what it was.
For a weekly menu, try 2 weeks and 5 weeks as your lines, then adjust. A customer who ordered every week and stopped tells you more than one who ordered once a month.
Ask before you offer
People stop for ordinary reasons. They moved, went on vacation, tired of the menu, or found it too expensive. Send a short, plain note from you: "We haven't seen you in a while. Was there something we could do better?" The replies tell you what to fix, and some of those people will simply order again.
The other two groups need less. Here are two notes you can start from:
- Missed a week or two: "This week's menu closes Thursday at 8 pm. Here's the link if you'd like to order."
- Ordered once: "Thanks for trying us. Is there anything about your first order we could have done better? I read every reply."
Save discounts for those who need one. A discount sent to everybody trains your best customers to wait for it. If you do make an offer, give it an end date, and check your margin at the discounted price.
Give them a reason today
- The new menu. A dish they haven't tried is the simplest reason of all.
- A reminder before cutoff. Some customers don't leave on purpose: they forget, and then the order cutoff has passed.
- A note about what changed. If someone left over something you have fixed, tell them.
- A friend's code. A referral reward gives your happy customers a reason to bring someone along.
Follow the rules on texts
Text messages get read, and they carry rules. Under the FCC's rules, marketing texts need the customer's prior written consent, and a customer can opt out by any reasonable means. You must honor that within 10 business days. The FCC changed parts of this rule in late 2026, and states add their own, including limits on the hours you can send. Check the current rules before you send marketing texts to a list. If you aren't sure you have that consent, use email for win-back notes. Marketing email has rules too, though simpler ones: the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide covers the unsubscribe link and the mailing address you need.
Two practical points. Carriers expect businesses to register before texting in bulk, so ask your texting provider what that involves. And never add someone to a text list because they once gave you a number for delivery.
Make it a habit
This takes an hour the first time. The harder part is doing it each month, when the sheet is stale and the week is full. Pick a day, and keep the note short. Writing down who came back shows you which notes work.
The Eat Fresh Tech way
Here's how you would bring customers back.
The list already exists, because every order is on the customer's record.
- Finding them. Customer Order Counts shows how many orders each customer has placed, and it downloads as a CSV. The customer record shows total spent, total orders and the last order date. You still choose who to write to.
- Text reminders go out on the day and time you set, such as "Menu closes tonight at 9 pm". Customers who sign up through your site opt in once, and the terms they see cover both order texts and marketing texts. Then they choose which texts they get on their account page, and STOP turns off all of them. Texting takes a one-time setup with us, including carrier verification.
- Mailchimp stays in step through your own account. Customers get tagged by how many orders they have placed, so you can email your regulars and your one-time customers differently. Automations can apply those tags when something happens, like a first order.
- The referral program gives each customer a personal code. A friend gets a reward on their first order, and the customer earns one too.
- Discount codes and credits let you make an offer with an end date, or a limit per customer.
You write your campaigns and build the emails in Mailchimp. Your texting number sends your messages and automatic replies, not two-way chats. And you stay responsible for who you text, and what you say.