How to Re-Engage Inactive Customers with New Year Rewards

As a new year dawns, customers who’ve drifted away in recent months often scroll through past memories, and sometimes they need just one good nudge to come back. What if you could catch that moment? 

In this post, I’ll walk you through how well-designed New Year’s reward campaigns can help businesses re-engage inactive customers and rebuild trust.

Why the New Year Is a Great Wake-Up Call

There are many reasons customers become inactive: they may \ have become too busy, they may have had negative experiences with the previous brand(s), and they may have become interested in newer brands. The new year is a great opportunity for customers to reset their behaviour and to explore new opportunities, or use the new year as an opportunity to be good to themselves after all the work of preparing for and celebrating the holiday season. This is a good time for companies to contact customers.

If you address them with something meaningful, not just a sale, but a personalized “we miss you” offer, it can feel like a thoughtful gesture, not just a marketing pitch.

What Makes a New Year Reward Campaign Effective

Here’s what works, based on recent industry research and re-engagement best practices:

• Personalized communication over generic blasts: Segmented or tailored messaging significantly improves response.
• Incentives that feel relevant: Discounts, bonus points, or loyalty perks (e.g., double points or limited-time offers) can trigger reactivation among dormant customers. 
• Gentle reminders vs aggressive pushes: A friendly “we miss you” or “here’s what’s new” often works better than high-pressure sales.
• Omnichannel approach: Combine email, app/message notifications, and even social/retargeting ads to reach customers where they are.

When executed right, even small incentives can lead to surprisingly strong re-engagement, often at a lower cost than acquiring new customers. 

How to Structure a New Year Re-Engagement Campaign: Step by Step

1. Segment Your Inactive Customers

Start by dividing your dormant users into meaningful groups such as high-value past buyers, one-time purchasers, long-inactive customers, etc. Use metrics like how long they’ve been inactive, how frequently they engaged earlier, and how much they spent.

Why? Because a high-value customer who bought multiple times deserves a different approach than someone who just browsed once, personalization works best when it respects past behavior.

2. Craft Personalized, Friendly Outreach

Send an email or message that feels like a note from a friend. Remind them of what they loved earlier, maybe a product they browsed, or a perk they once enjoyed. Offer something special, like a “New Year welcome back bonus” or “extra loyalty points” if they shop again in January. Studies show personalized win-back emails outperform generic ones. 

3. Add Value — Not Just Discounts

Discounts are effective, but customers often respond even more when there’s added value: bonus points, early access to offers, or exclusive perks. A “2X loyalty points in Jan” campaign can signal that you value the relationship, not just a quick sale. 

4. Remind Them What They’re Missing

Use reminders, like notifications for unused loyalty points, upcoming expiry of benefits, or a quick “your rewards await” nudge. Often, customers drift simply because they forgot. Simply bringing the value back to their attention works wonders. 

5. Use Multiple Channels — Email, SMS, Retargeting & App Alerts

Don’t rely solely on email. Combine mediums: SMS or app push messages + social-media or website retargeting + personalized email. This helps catch customers wherever they are, making the outreach feel less like an ad blast and more like a gentle reminder. 

6. Make the Offer Time-Sensitive or Exclusive

Limited-time or exclusive New Year reward campaigns create urgency. Think: “Offer valid till January 15 only,” or “Exclusive for loyal past customers.” This taps into the New Year mindset, a “new start” that pushes action sooner.

7. Monitor Results and Learn Fast

Track open rates, click-throughs, reactivation rates, and how many of these returning customers convert again (not just once). This measurement helps refine what works, what offers, timing, and messaging connect best. 

What You Could Achieve: Realistic Outcomes

With a well-structured New Year campaign:

1. Dormant customers might return; even a small reactivation percentage can mean significant revenue uplift.
2. Lifetime value could improve, as returning customers may become regular buyers again.
3. Customer loyalty and brand perception get a boost, and customers feel remembered, valued, and connected.
4. Cost-per-acquisition reduces, and winning back old customers is often more efficient than acquiring new ones.

For brands leveraging a loyalty platform like us (Novus Loyalty), these win-back campaigns become especially powerful: a push notification of expired points, or a “New Year bonus points” message, can feel personal and often spur immediate action.

Final Thoughts: A Simple Message: “We Missed You. Here’s a Fresh Start.”

Companies need to utilize the first of January each year as a way to reactivate their customer base. Thoughtful design, appropriate and innovative ways to reach out to consumers, and creating value-driven incentives will allow you to bring back customers who may have been inactive for some time in a gentle way. Companies that manage loyalty programs or customer relationships should create a “New Year, Welcome Back” campaign during this time, using customers’ habits, memories, and goodwill towards your company, not just offering them discounts.

At Novus Loyalty, we believe our software can help companies re-engage with consumers through the use of a combination of personalized outreach, point and reward-based incentives, and consistent reminders to build long-term customer relationships. If you’d like to explore how to build strong win-back journeys and customer loyalty strategies, check us out at

Here’s to reigniting connections and starting your year with renewed customer trust and loyalty.