Customer success teams · Intercom · At-risk outreach

How do I create an Intercom workflow to re-engage inactive customers?

By BREME · Updated 28 October 2026

Who this is for: Customer success and lifecycle teams at software and tech companies who use Intercom and want customers who have stopped logging in to get a timely, personal nudge, without a CSM chasing each one by hand.

Why a Series, and why email first

When people ask this in the Intercom community, the most common advice is to lead with email, because an in-app message only reaches people who open your product, and inactive customers by definition aren't. In-app messages are still useful as a welcome back once they return.

Intercom's Series lets you chain those steps. Its help docs describe four kinds of block: rule blocks that decide who enters or which path they take, content blocks such as emails, chats, posts and product tours, wait blocks that add time between steps, and tag blocks that label people as they move through. Series is available on Intercom plans that include Proactive Support, and you need teammate access to Outbound to build one.

Decide what inactive means for you

Intercom's standard Last seen attribute is the time a person was last tracked by Intercom in your app or on your site. That makes it a simple starting signal, but check how your Messenger is installed. If it also runs on your marketing site, a visit to your pricing page counts as being seen, even if the customer hasn't used the product.

Pick a gap that is unusual for your product. A tool people use daily might treat 14 days as a warning. A monthly reporting tool might wait 45. If you track logins or key actions as custom attributes or events, those give you a sharper signal than Last seen alone.

Step by step in Intercom

1. Go to Outbound > Series and click + New Series in the top right. Start from scratch.
2. Drag a rule block onto the canvas as your entry rule. Add filters such as Last seen more than [30] days ago, plus a filter for paying customers only, so trials and churned accounts don't enter. Give the block a clear title like Inactive paying customers.
3. Leave re-entry off to begin with. By default each customer can enter a Series once. Turn on Allow re-entry later if you want people to come back through after a future quiet patch.
4. Add an email content block after the entry rule. This is your first, personal check-in.
5. Add a Wait block set to Wait until a period of time, for example 4 days.
6. Add a rule block that checks whether they came back, for example Last seen less than [4] days ago, or that they clicked a link in the first email. Set it to Try to match for a few days if you want to give them time to act, or Try to match once if it should check straight away.
7. On the did not match path, add a second, shorter email. On the matched path, you can add an in-app post that welcomes them back, and a tag block such as Re-engaged so you can report on it.
8. Click Show settings. On the Goal tab, set the goal you care about, such as Last seen less than 1 day ago. On the Exit rules tab, add the same condition so anyone who returns leaves the Series straight away. Intercom's help docs note that hitting a goal doesn't exit someone on its own.
9. Click Set series live. Each block then shows how many people matched, received or are still waiting.

Timing details worth knowing

Intercom says customers are checked for Series entry about every hour, and almost immediately if they are active in your app or site with the Messenger installed. That faster check doesn't apply to email-only Series, so expect a short delay between someone becoming inactive and receiving the first email.

If a customer unsubscribes from emails partway through, Intercom automatically stops later email steps for them, while other message types in the Series still go out. Before you delete a live Series, pause it first. Intercom warns that deleting a live Series removes everyone in it immediately and deletes the messages inside it.

What the messages should do

The first email should sound like a person who noticed, not a system that counted days. Name the goal they started with, ask a real question, and make replying easy. Don't lead with a list of new features.

The second email is shorter and gives them a simple way out of the silence: one useful link that matches their original goal, and an offer to talk. If they still don't come back, that account belongs with a CSM, not another automated email. Tag them so the right person sees it.

Subject: Is [product] still working for you, [first name]?

Hi [first name],

I noticed it's been a little while since you've been in [product], and I wanted to check in.

When you set up, you were looking to [their goal]. Is that still the plan? If something got in the way, whether that's setup, time or a change in your team, I'd genuinely like to know.

Just hit reply. I read every one.

[Name]
[Role], [your company]

Subject: One quick thing for [goal]

Hi [first name],

No pressure at all. If [goal] is still on your list, this is the fastest place to pick it up again: [link to the one guide or feature that matters most].

If it would help to talk it through, here's a link to grab 15 minutes: [booking link].

[Name]

Welcome back, [first name]. Since you were last here, we've [one change that's relevant to their goal]. Want a quick walk through? [Show me]