Build and Send Your First WiFi Re-Engagement Campaign

Why Re-Engagement Campaigns Work

Guests who connected to your WiFi once already chose your venue. Re-engagement campaigns don't need to convince a stranger — they just need to remind a past customer that you exist and give them a reason to return. Open rates on WiFi-sourced re-engagement emails average 28-34%, compared to 18-22% for typical marketing emails, because the list is built on genuine venue visits rather than ad clicks.

Step 1: Choose Your Segment — Lapsed Guests

In the VoqadoWiFi dashboard, go to Campaigns → New Campaign. In the Audience step, click + Build Segment. Add the filter: Last Visit → More than 14 days ago. This targets guests who visited at least once but haven't been back in two weeks — a strong signal of lapse risk without being so long that the guest has forgotten you. Add a second filter: Total Visits → At least 1 (this is the default and ensures you're only targeting people who have actually been to the venue, not email-only contacts). Your estimated audience size will appear — for a café running for 3+ months, expect 200-800 contacts in this segment.

Step 2: Name Your Campaign and Set the Goal

Give the campaign a clear internal name like "14-Day Lapsed — Jan 2026". Set the campaign goal to Re-engagement in the dropdown. This tells VoqadoWiFi's analytics to track re-visits (not just email opens) as the primary conversion metric. You'll be able to see how many recipients returned to the venue within 30 days of receiving the email.

Step 3: Write Your Subject Line

Click into the Email Content step. The subject line is the most important element — it determines whether the email gets opened. For re-engagement, the best-performing formula is curiosity + personalisation: "We haven't seen you in a while, [First Name]" or "It's been too long, [First Name] — here's something for you." Avoid discount-first subject lines ("20% off — come back!") as they train guests to wait for offers. If you didn't collect first names, use "We miss you" or "It's been a while — you're always welcome back." Keep subject lines under 50 characters for clean mobile rendering.

Step 4: Write the Email Body

Use the drag-and-drop editor or switch to the HTML editor if you prefer. A high-converting re-engagement email body follows this formula: Opening — acknowledge the gap warmly, not apologetically ("We've been missing your face around here"). Middle — give them a genuine reason to return: a new menu item, seasonal special, upcoming event, or a simple "we'd love to have you back." Avoid sounding desperate. CTA — one single, clear call to action. "Book a table" or "Claim your offer" or "Come say hello." Don't include multiple links — it dilutes click-through rate. Keep the total body copy under 120 words. The shorter the email, the higher the click rate.

Step 5: Set the Send Time

In the Schedule step, choose Send at Scheduled Time rather than immediately. The highest open-rate window for restaurant and hospitality emails is Tuesday through Thursday, between 10am and 12pm, in the venue's local timezone. VoqadoWiFi automatically sends in the recipient's local timezone if location data is available, or falls back to your venue timezone. Avoid Friday evenings and Monday mornings — these have the lowest open rates across the platform. Select your date and time and click Confirm Schedule.

Step 6: Preview on Mobile

Before scheduling, click Preview → Mobile and check: does the subject line truncate oddly? Does the header image load? Is the CTA button tappable (minimum 44px height)? Is all text readable without zooming? Approximately 71% of your recipients will open on mobile, so mobile preview is non-negotiable. Also send a test email to yourself using Send Test and open it on your actual phone.

Step 7: Schedule vs Send Now

If your venue has a specific event or promotion in the next 48 hours, use Send Now to capitalise on it. Otherwise, scheduling to the optimal send window (Step 5) will outperform an immediate send by 8-15% on open rate. Once scheduled, the campaign appears in Campaigns → Scheduled with a countdown. You can edit or cancel it up to 30 minutes before the send time.

Step 8: Read Your Post-Send Analytics

24 hours after sending, go to Campaigns → Sent → [Your Campaign]. Key metrics to review: Open Rate (target: 25%+), Click Rate (target: 4%+), Re-visit Rate (guests who returned within 14 days — this is your true success metric, target: 8-15%), Unsubscribe Rate (if above 0.5%, your targeting or copy needs adjustment). If open rate is strong but click rate is low, the body copy or CTA needs work. If open rate is low, test a different subject line next time.