Retention Desk · Software guides · Spark Membership

How to send a win back campaign in Spark Membership

Spark Membership can send every message in a win back campaign, with texts paid for in SMS credits. A tag based automation can space the five messages out for you. Watch shared family phone numbers: one STOP reply blocks texts to every student on that number.

Checked in October 2026 against Spark Membership's own help center, release notes and product pages, linked under Sources. Menus change, so if a step does not match your screen, check the linked page.

Build your win back list

Spark sorts everyone by contact type, such as Former Member or Former Prospect. A tag holds your win back list together.

Past students

  1. Create a campaign tag under More Features, then Tags, then Add or Edit Tags, and click Add New Tag.
  2. Open Reports and, under Membership, choose Cancelled Memberships. The Quit Contacts report also lists students who quit, with their quit reason.
  3. For students who stopped coming without cancelling, open Attendance, then Last Seen Report, and set the date range. It shows each student's last attendance and exports.
  4. Go to Contacts, then View Students, the All Contacts report. Tick the students on your list, choose the add tag bulk action, pick your tag and click Go.

Spark's word for a frozen membership is on hold. The On Hold Memberships report shows when each hold began. Students marked on vacation have a Contacts on Vacation report.

Leads who never joined

Open Maximizers, then Lead & Trials Maximizer, and scroll to Trials Expired. It shows how long ago each trial ended, the last action taken and the trial phase. Tag the leads from the last six months in View Students, which filters by contact type.

Start with the most recent

If the list is long, tag students who left in the last two months first. Add months three to six once that round is done.

Send the three emails

Go to Communication Center, then Send Email Campaign, and choose recipients by your tag. Each campaign logs who was targeted and what was delivered.

  • Your staff login needs Can Send SMS/Email/Push Notification Campaigns turned on under Settings, then Staff Logins. Log out and back in after.
  • Emails must come from your own domain, set as the business email in General Settings. Mail sent as a Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or AOL address bounces. Spark gives you DNS records to authenticate your domain.
  • Replies go to your business email unless you set a reply to address in General Settings. A Gmail address cannot be the reply to address.
  • Campaigns can be scheduled, and hovering over a scheduled send date shows the exact time. The help pages do not show how to pick the date, so check it before you leave.
  • Emails and texts only go out inside the hours set under When can scheduled emails and SMS messages be sent? in General Settings.
  • Tick Eliminate Duplicates so a parent on several student profiles gets one copy. Unsubscribed contacts are skipped; the help pages do not describe the unsubscribe link.

Send the two texts

Spark texts are two way. Replies land on the student's SMS Messages tab and in SMS Logs. Filter View Students by your tag, tick everyone and choose Send SMS to Selected, or use an SMS Campaign.

  • First get a Spark texting number under Settings, then SMS Phone Number. Your existing number cannot be used. Carrier approval runs in three phases and can take about five business days.
  • One credit sends one short text. A long text, or a link that pushes it past one segment, uses more. In October 2026 Spark's help center listed 1,000 credits for the United States and Canada at $99.
  • Text only people who agreed to get texts from you. Spark's carrier approval needs an opt in checkbox on your web forms that says to reply STOP to opt out.
  • A STOP reply blocks the phone number itself. Only a START text from that phone reopens it, and then you tick SMS Subscribed again under Edit Contact.
  • Member App messages are free but only reach people logged into the app, so text past students and leads.

Your ten day plan in Spark Membership

DayMessageHow to send it
Day 1Email: the offerSend Email Campaign to your tag, or let the automation send it
Day 3Text: a short reminderSend SMS to Selected on your tagged list, short enough for one credit
Day 5Email: what is newSame tag, after removing it from anyone who came back
Day 8Text: a check inSame as Day 3
Day 10Email: last callSame tag, minus anyone who came back

The five messages, ready to fill in, are on the win back email templates page. If you add a booking link to a text, check it still fits in one credit.

Can Spark Membership run it for you?

Yes. Automations come with core Spark. Go to More Features, then Automations, and click Add New Automation. Pick a trigger, then add email and SMS steps a set number of days apart.

  • A tag trigger fits best: the sequence starts when you add your tag. If it asks for a contact type, choose all contact types so former students qualify.
  • Automations only start for tags added after the automation exists. Build it first, then tag your list.
  • The Date Based trigger sends steps around a date you pick. It cannot fire the day you build it.
  • Exclude tags and Cancel if Action skip later steps for anyone with a tag you choose, such as a came back tag.
  • The help pages show no worked example for former students, so test on one profile first.

See who came back

  • Ask your front desk to note anyone who mentions your code word and add a came back tag to their profile.
  • Reports, then Tagged Contacts, filtered by that tag, shows a Tag Date column with the day each person was tagged.
  • Text replies with the code word sit in SMS Logs.
  • Reports, then All Memberships, with the Entered Date filter set to your campaign dates, lists memberships added in that window.
  • For leads, the Members Conversion Report shows prospects who became trials and trials who became active students.
  • The help pages describe no report of returning students, so your tag is the cleanest count.

Watch out for

  • Families often share one phone number. One STOP from a parent blocks every profile on it, yet SMS Subscribed unticks on only one. Check SMS Unsubscribers under SMS Logs & Templates before you text.
  • Never tick SMS Subscribed again on verbal consent. Spark warns this breaks carrier rules; the person must text START first.
  • Cancelling only moves a student to Former Member if staff pick that option, and expired memberships never go inactive on their own. Check Reports, then Expired Memberships, too.
  • With Spark Ignite, cold leads still listed as prospects or trials may also get Ignite follow ups. A former contact type stops those.
  • For a large email list, Spark suggests batches of about 1,500.

Sources

Guides for other software

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