Subscription winback / reactivation: best practices

Why the winback email?

Using Zaymo's reactivate block typically lifts attributed reactivation by ~40%.

Brands that use the block most effectively often use it both for:

1. Ongoing, automated flows post cancellation

2. Regular campaigns sent to all cancelled subscribers asking them to come back

What you'll be building

Implementation guide

1. Create your base template in Klaviyo leaving space for Zaymo blocks

2. Import Klaviyo template into Zaymo

3. Drag the Reactivate block into the email

4. Preview and export to Klaviyo

Advanced reactivate block configuration & testing

Critical block settings for better user experience

Double confirmation setting

If you are concerned that customers may accidentally reactivate their subscription, enable “Double Confirmation” on the reactivate block. This adds a confirmation step before processing the reactivation, leading to fewer support tickets.

Multiple subscriptions display

Set “Max Subscriptions Shown” to display up to 3 recently cancelled subscriptions (sorted by most recently cancelled first). This prevents overwhelming customers who may have cancelled multiple subscriptions while still giving them relevant options.

Testing best practices

Real-time updates

Changes made through the interactive email are immediately reflected in your subscription provider, so customers can log into their portal right after taking action to see updates. This immediate sync should be verified during testing.

Block customization & styling

When customizing the block to match your brand, note that the Reactivate block is centered by default and does not currently support left alignment.

The Reactivate block displays subscription names using product names from your Shopify store, but subscription frequency labels (e.g., “bi‑monthly”) are auto‑generated by Zaymo and cannot currently be customized. Only cancelled subscriptions will appear in the Reactivate block—customers with active subscriptions will not see the Reactivate block.

Handling discontinued products

When a significant portion of past subscriptions were for products that no longer exist, using a Product Block with “Create new subscription” purchase action is more effective than the standard Reactivate widget. This approach allows you to guide customers toward current product offerings rather than attempting to reactivate unavailable items.

Discount strategy

A generous discount is typically necessary to incentivize reactivations. For Recharge users, discount codes need to exist both in Recharge and in Shopify.

Examples & best practices

Need ideas?

Interactive examples of the reactivate block

Annotated examples

A generous discount is typically necessary to win back churned customers and can be pre-applied to the reactivate block Allowing 'partial reactivations' will increase uptake on your reactivate emails

The reactivate block should typically be your first and only CTA in winback emails

Recommendations for flow setup

We recommend a flow that regularly emails churned customers for the first few months post-churn. Typically, we recommend sending a winback email on day 30, day 60, and day 90 after cancellation.

Trying to win back on the first day rarely works well. It's often best to just send a confirmation email without a winback offer so they know their order successfully cancelled.

Recommendations for campaign setup

At the end of the winback flow, push churned subscribers to a special list/segment. This segment can be used for seasonal reactivation campaigns. We have seen very successful one-off reactivation campaigns--especially when a brand has a significant list of churned subscribers.