# Inactive After First Open

Page: https://alidemirbas.com.tr/en/lab/journeys/dormant-non-customer-reactivation

First open → 10 days without action → response by last interest

## Purpose

If no meaningful action follows the first open within ten days, send a return message based on the last observed interest and track the response.

Goal: Relationship Recovery & Intervention · Category: Acquisition & Intent

## Steps

- **Trigger**: First app open
- **Wait**: Wait 10 days
- **Decision**: Any meaningful action in the last 10 days?
  - Yes: Active / converted
  - No: What was the last meaningful behavior?
- **Decision**: What was the last meaningful behavior?
  - Close to purchase: Email: Continue where you left off + current offer / product update
  - Product / category interest: Push: There is something new in the product / feature you viewed
  - Content only: Email: Relevant use case / benefit content
- **Action**: Email: Continue where you left off + current offer / product update
- **Action**: Push: There is something new in the product / feature you viewed
- **Action**: Email: Relevant use case / benefit content
- **Wait**: Wait 3–5 days
- **Decision**: Did they come back?
  - Yes: What did they do?
  - No: Is a return offer defined for this user?
- **Decision**: Is a return offer defined for this user?
  - Yes: Is SMS permitted?
  - No: Journey ends
- **Decision**: What did they do?
  - Checkout / purchase intent: Move to conversion journey
  - Quote / demo: Move to lead nurture / sales
  - Browsed again: Move to browse / interest journey
  - Purchased: Active / converted
- **Action**: SMS: Relevant return offer
- **Decision**: Is SMS permitted?
  - Yes: SMS: Relevant return offer
  - No: Journey ends
- **Wait**: Wait through the offer window
- **Decision**: Did they return?
  - Yes: What did they do?
  - No: Journey ends
- **Handoff**: Move to conversion journey
- **Handoff**: Move to lead nurture / sales
- **Handoff**: Move to browse / interest journey
- **Exit**: Active / converted
- **Exit**: Journey ends

## Guardrails

- Do not mark someone inactive if they acted meaningfully in the past ten days.
- Stop return messaging after purchase or a handoff to another journey.

## Core rule

First open alone is not activation; judge the return by what the person actually does.

## When to set it up

When a sizable share of people who open the app for the first time take no meaningful action in the first ten days, this journey has a job to do. Define meaningful action around your product's value first; first open, those actions, the last interest signal (near checkout, product or category interest, content only) and the return need to sit on one user identity, with push, email and SMS permission stored per channel. If new users leave the first session without any signal at all, the first-open experience is the problem; a return message does not replace missing onboarding.

## How to set it up

- **Trigger and entry**: Entry is the first app open; the journey then waits ten days. Users who show no meaningful action at the ten-day check are randomly assigned, at that moment, to the journey group or to a control group that gets no return message.
- **Who must not enter**: Anyone with a meaningful action in the last ten days is not inactive and leaves through the active exit. Each first-time user gets one attempt: no second attempt opens for the same person, and nobody who has purchased or been handed to another journey is messaged.
- **Timing and channels**: First touch by last interest: a resume-the-task email with the current offer for those near purchase, a what's-new push for product or category interest, a use-case email for content-only users. After 3 to 5 days, non-returners with a defined offer and SMS permission get one offer SMS; the journey then waits out the offer window.
- **Exit and handoff**: Returners are routed by what they do: purchase intent to the conversion journey, a quote or demo to lead nurture / sales, browsing to the browse / interest journey; a purchase ends in the active exit. With no offer, no SMS permission or no return within the offer window, the journey ends, nothing stays queued.
- **Frequency and consent**: No user gets more than two touches: the interest-based first message and, when the conditions hold, a single offer SMS. Push and email go only to users with that channel's permission; the SMS needs both SMS permission and a defined, valid offer for that user.

## How to measure success

**Incremental meaningful action rate vs control**: The journey earns its place by how many more purchases, product views or other meaningful actions the messaged group produces than the control group; reopening the app or tapping a message does not count on its own. Everyone found inactive at the ten-day check and assigned to the journey or control group counts in the denominator; measure the share who take a meaningful action within the same follow-up window after assignment, and the gap between the two shares is the journey's contribution. Delivery or clicks leave the denominator unchanged.

Also track:

- **Return rate**: Coming back to the app is the first signal, so report the share of assigned users who return apart from conversion.
- **Result by last interest**: Read the three branches (close to purchase, product interest, content only) separately; channel and message differ per branch, so one average hides which branch works.
- **Offer SMS contribution**: Among users who did not return after the first touch, track those who return and act after the SMS; if it adds nothing, revisit the offer definition.
- **Permission loss and complaints**: Watch push opt-outs, email unsubscribes and SMS complaints per channel; permission lost this early costs every later journey.

## What to watch when reading the result

- A meaningful action rate no higher than the control group's means the messages may have brought people back without getting them to do anything; more opens or clicks do not make up for it. Permission loss belongs in the decision alongside the action gap.
- Keep the result tied to this ten-day threshold, the 3 to 5 day wait and the interest-based channel choice. A purchase or deal that follows a handoff is credited to the conversion, sales or browse / interest journey; this journey owns only the return and the action before the handoff.
- If the two groups sit close together, enter each group's users and meaningful actions into the [A/B test significance calculator](https://alidemirbas.com.tr/en/calculators/ab-test); if the gap is not significant, wait out the full follow-up window including the offer window and read again. A rare outcome such as purchase needs far more entries.
- Even if the offer SMS lifts returns, do not open the same discount to everyone; it is used only where an offer is defined and valid for that user, and the offer branch is read apart from the branches without one.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### When should a new app user be considered inactive?

This example checks for no meaningful action during the ten days after first open. Opening the app alone is not activation. Define meaningful action around product value and exclude anyone who has completed it during that period.

### What message should bring an inactive new user back?

Use their last interest to show an unfinished task, relevant feature or useful use case. Avoid giving everyone the same discount. Use an offer only when it is valid for that user, and recheck channel eligibility before later contact.

### Is reopening the app enough to count as recovery?

It is an initial signal. Check whether it leads to a purchase, product exploration or another meaningful action. Hand the user to the appropriate journey and stop the old return sequence. Report return and conversion separately.