Think about the last customer who said "great job, I'll definitely call you again". Did they? Or did they Google someone else twelve months later because they couldn't remember your name?
It's rarely about loyalty. People simply forget who did their aircon service or cleaned their gutters. If you're not in front of them when the job comes up again, the business goes to whoever is.
Why past customers are your warmest leads
- They already trust you. You've been in their home, done the work and been paid. There's no first-impression hurdle.
- There's no comparison shopping. A well-timed reminder often turns into a booking before they look anywhere else.
- The work is predictable. Many jobs are recurring by nature, which means you can plan for them.
- It costs almost nothing. No ads, no quoting from scratch, no cold outreach.
Seasonal reminder ideas by trade
The best reminders are genuinely useful. They arrive at the right time of year and point to something the customer actually needs. A few starting points:
| Trade | Reminder | When |
|---|---|---|
| Air conditioning | Service and filter clean before the heat hits | Spring |
| Gutters & roofing | Gutter clean and roof check before storm and bushfire season, and again after autumn leaf fall | Spring & late autumn |
| Heating | Heater service before the cold sets in | Autumn |
| Electrical | Safety switch and smoke alarm check | Annually |
| Plumbing | Hot water system check, especially for older units | Annually |
| Decking & carpentry | Re-oil and inspect before entertaining season | Spring |
How to set it up
1. Start a simple customer list
Name, contact details, suburb, what you did and the date. A spreadsheet is fine. Most job management apps already hold this information.
2. Set the next reminder when you finish the job
While the job is fresh, decide when that customer will next need you and note the date. That one habit does most of the work.
3. Keep the message short and personal
"Hi Mark, it's Jess from Southside Air. It's been about a year since we serviced your split system. Want us to book you in before summer? Reply STOP to opt out."
4. Make booking easy
Give them a simple way to say yes: reply to the text, tap a link or call back. Every extra step loses people.
A reminder that promotes your services by SMS or email is a commercial electronic message under Australia's Spam Act 2003. That means you need the customer's consent, your business must be clearly identified, and every message needs a working way to unsubscribe.
The ACMA says consent can sometimes be inferred from an ongoing relationship, but describes it as less reliable than express consent. Legal commentators also caution that a one-off job alone may not be enough to rely on.
The simple fix: ask. At the end of the job, say "Happy for us to send you a reminder when it's due next year?" and note the yes in your customer list. It takes ten seconds and puts you on solid ground. (This is general information, not legal advice.)
How Avura helps
Avura sends timely service reminders to your past customers, like aircon checks before summer and gutter cleans before winter, so they book you before they Google someone else. Your customer list starts working for you, and you don't have to remember who's due for what.