One common challenge in referral programs is what to do with previous customers.

In many businesses, someone may have joined in the past, made a purchase, or otherwise become a customer, and then stopped engaging. That does not mean they should be blocked forever from being referred again.

That is why we released a new Perkville feature that allows previous customers and prospects to become eligible for referral again after a period of inactivity.

Why we built it

Without this feature turned on, former customers remain blocked indefinitely because they are already connected to your business in Perkville.

For many businesses, that is too restrictive. You may want someone who has been inactive for a long time to become eligible to be referred again after a defined period.

This feature helps businesses reopen referral eligibility in a controlled way instead of keeping previous customers permanently excluded.

How it works

With this setting enabled, previous customers and prospects can be referred again after they have been inactive for a set number of days.

You can also define what counts as activity and resets the inactivity timer. For example, you can choose which earning transactions count and whether redemption transactions count.

For membership based businesses, you can also allow former members to be referred again by defining how long after their membership is cancelled they can become eligible again.

You can learn more in our guide to configuring your referral program.

Why it matters

For gyms and fitness studios, this supports win back by allowing former members to become referral eligible again after enough time has passed.

For salons, it helps when a client has not booked in months and a friend wants to bring them back in.

For retail businesses, it can apply when a past customer has not made a purchase in a long time and should no longer be treated the same as a recent shopper.

In each case, the goal is the same: do not block previous customers forever when they have clearly become inactive.

Final thoughts

Referral programs should reflect how customer relationships actually work.

This new inactivity setting gives businesses a better way to handle previous customers and prospects by allowing referral eligibility to reopen over time. That makes referral programs more flexible and more effective by expanding the pool of people who can become referral eligible again.