How post visit campaigns work
The WiFi login tells you who came in and when. Post visit campaigns turn that into a handful of well timed emails: a thank you, a review request, a reason to come back, a birthday note. Done well, a guest gets few messages and every one makes sense.
The message types
Each message answers a different moment in the relationship. A venue switches on the ones it wants; the review request is the one most venues start with.
| Message | When it is due | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Thank you | After a guest’s first visit, within 48 hours | A warm first impression in the inbox |
| Review request | 3 hours after the guest connects by default, never 21:00 to 09:00 venue time | One public review link for every guest |
| Review reminder | 3 to 7 days after a request that was not used | One gentle second ask, never more |
| Return message | Last visit 30 to 45 days ago, or 60 to 75 | A reason to come back |
| Birthday | On the guest’s birthday, from 09:00 venue time | An occasion, if the guest shared it |
| Anniversary | A year from the first visit, from 09:00 venue time | A small marker of a regular |
| Campaigns | When the venue sends them | News, events and offers |
The review reminder only exists for guests who have not rated yet. A rating given any other way, for example through a later request, ends it.
One guest, start to finish
Here is how the sequence plays out for one guest at a cafe in Simpson Bay, with the review request, reminder, return and birthday messages switched on. She drops in for an early dinner, joins the WiFi, ticks the email box and adds her birthday.
Two things in that picture are worth noticing. The thank you never appears: it was due on day 0 too, but the review request ranks higher, and the cap of one message a week means only one of them goes. And the second return message is held, because return emails are limited to one every 90 days. If she comes back for lunch on day 20, the return clock resets and neither return message is needed.
Which message wins
When more than one message is due for the same guest, the higher one goes and the others wait or drop out. The order is:
- Review request
- Birthday and anniversary
- Campaign
- NPS survey
- Return message
- Thank you
- Review reminder
The review request sits at the top because it is time sensitive: it is about the visit that just happened. Occasions come next because they only happen on one day. A lower priority message also waits while a review request for the same guest and venue is still scheduled.
Caps and quiet hours
Caps
- At most one message per guest per venue in any 7 days, and four in any 30 days, counting every type.
- Return emails at most once every 90 days.
- Review requests at most once every 90 days, and never within 180 days of the guest rating the venue.
- A venue can tighten any of these, never loosen them.
A regular who comes in every morning is exactly the guest a careless system would flood. Caps are what keep the regular glad they gave you their email.
Quiet hours
Messages are held between 21:00 and 09:00 venue time by default. A message that falls due in that window is deferred to the morning, not dropped. Birthday and anniversary notes go from 09:00 on the day, in the venue’s own time zone, so a guest in Philipsburg is not greeted before breakfast because a server sits in another time zone.
Writing messages guests are glad to get
Timing and caps decide when a message goes. The words decide whether it is read. A few habits travel well across every type:
- Name one true detail of the venue or the visit: the new pastry, the Friday set, the sea view table. One real detail beats three adjectives.
- Ask for one thing per email. A review request that also pushes an offer and a newsletter does neither well.
- Sign it from a person. “Marisol at the front counter” gets replies that “The Team” never will.
- Keep return messages about news, not discounts. A regular who pays full price does not need training to wait for a coupon.
Consent, and a way out in every email
Every post visit message needs explicit email consent, given by ticking the marketing box on the WiFi login. On the explicit consent form, the default for new venues, that box starts unticked and sits apart from the WiFi terms, and each choice is stored with the exact wording the guest saw and the time. The rules behind this are in guest WiFi and privacy rules.
Every email links to a preference centre. From there a guest can stop messages from one venue with one tap, unsubscribe from every venue of the same business, or ask for their data to be deleted. One click unsubscribe headers are set, so the unsubscribe option an email app shows next to the sender works too.
Where sending stands today
Campaign sending is rolling out. It is being switched on account by account while the sending domain is verified, and drafts and schedules save in the meantime. For any venue whose sending is not yet switched on, messages are held, not sent, and can be released later. Campaigns and automations are part of the Growth plan.
To write the messages themselves, start from the post visit email templates. For the timing of the review request in particular, read when to send a review request.
Questions
What is a post visit campaign?
How many emails will one guest receive?
Do guests need to opt in?
Can a guest stop the emails?
Are these emails sending today?
Keep reading
Timings shown are the platform defaults; a venue can change delays and tighten caps per location.
Start the guest list your campaigns will need
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