Aster
Chapter 15

Automatic follow-ups

Aster can reach back out to your customers on its own, at the right moment, without you having to think about it. Seven situations are covered, each one you can turn on or off, each with its own message you can edit.

Follow-up settings

Seven situations, seven messages

From each program, the "Follow-ups" screen lists these seven triggers. You turn on whichever ones interest you.

Welcome

Sent automatically as soon as a customer joins the program for the first time.

Close to threshold

Sent when the customer has only one visit left before earning their reward.

Reward earned

Sent as soon as a customer reaches the threshold and earns their reward.

Renewal

Sent when the customer's pass (sessions or duration) is about to expire.

At risk

Sent when a customer takes longer than usual to come back, before they go inactive.

Lapsed

Sent when a customer hasn't come back in a long time, to try to win them back.

Birthday, on its own Sent on the customer's birthday, only if you have their date of birth and their dedicated consent. This trigger has its own consent rules, detailed further below.
You stay in control

Automatic or manual, trigger by trigger

Nothing gets sent without your explicit approval on each message type.

Automatic mode

Aster watches your customers' activity (a periodic scan, several times a day) and sends the message as soon as the situation matches, without you having to step in.

Manual mode

The trigger stays active in your customer follow-up list, but nothing sends on its own. You decide, customer by customer, whether to send the message.

Every message stays editable From the screen of an active trigger, an "Edit message" button opens a text template specific to that trigger, in each of your customers' languages. The customer's name and your business name are inserted automatically.
Two channels, one message

Where the customer sees the message

A text message, on their phone

The message arrives directly by SMS, in the language of the customer's card. It's the most visible channel, the one most likely to be read quickly.

A banner, on their card

The same message also appears on the customer's card, in their digital wallet (Apple Wallet or Google Wallet) and in the browser. A lock-screen notification accompanies the update.

Worth understanding

Consent, handled for you

Canada's anti-spam law governs commercial text messages. Aster automatically applies the right rule based on the nature of the message, without you having to decide yourself.

Relational messages

Welcome, close to threshold, reward earned, renewal: these messages relate to something the customer has already engaged in with you. No new solicitation, sending is allowed without a separate marketing consent.

Promotional messages

At risk and lapsed aim to bring back a customer who no longer visits. That's a solicitation: these two triggers only send to customers who ticked the optional box to receive offers.

Birthday

A consent of its own: a customer may want offers without wanting their birthday acknowledged, and vice versa. Aster only sends it with this specific consent, ticked separately.

Opting out always comes first A customer who has withdrawn consent (from their card, or by replying STOP) no longer receives any automatic message, including relational ones. Their request for silence overrides every other rule.
Built-in protection

A customer never gets the same message twice in a row

Each trigger has a minimum delay before it can fire again for the same card. A customer who stays "at risk" for several weeks does not get a reminder every day, for example.

Troubleshooting

What can go wrong

A customer never receives their automatic messages

Check three things in order: that the trigger is turned on and set to automatic mode on this program, that the customer ticked the right consent (offers for at-risk/lapsed, birthday for the birthday trigger), and that they have not withdrawn consent from their card.

The message sends, but in the wrong language

Aster uses the language recorded on the customer's card at sign-up. Edit the template in each of the three languages so the message stays consistent regardless of the customer's language.

I want to keep control over one specific trigger

Switch it to manual mode instead of turning it off: you keep the list of affected customers in your follow-up screen, and you decide yourself when to write to them.