Retirement planning firms lose clients quietly. Nobody calls to cancel in a dramatic fashion; they just stop logging into the portal, stop returning the advisor's calls, and drift. That drift is expensive to ignore. Bain & Company research cited by WOLF Financial puts the cost of acquiring a new financial client at 5 to 25 times the cost of retaining or reactivating an existing one, and firms that run structured win-back programs recover 5 to 15% of lapsed clients on average. Lapsed clients already passed your compliance checks, completed onboarding, and understood your value once. A phone call is often the only channel that gets a real answer about why they went quiet and whether they'd come back. The catch is execution. Your advisors advise clients; they don't dial through a dormant list. And financial outreach carries compliance weight from FINRA, the SEC, and the TCPA. In this 2026 guide, we compare five solutions that help retirement planning firms run lapsed member re-engagement calls, from a fully managed AI calling service to contact center platforms and conversational engagement tools you operate yourself.
#1 My AI Call Center — Calling starts at 9¢ per connected minute, tiered by volume, with the rate locked for the campaign. Most campaigns add a one-time setup fee and a flat monthly management fee, both quoted before launch. The first campaign review is free.
My AI Call Center (myaicallcenter.app) is a done-for-you managed outbound calling service built around one clear idea: run more useful calls without building a bigger call center. Owned and operated by AIQ Labs, with a base in Halifax, Nova Scotia and an operating presence in Austin, Texas, the company sells campaigns rather than software. You buy structured AI-powered calling campaigns that its team runs for you, each scoped around one clear goal and fully quoted before launch. Lapsed Member Re-Engagement is one of its 17 core campaign types, and it pairs naturally with Win-Back & Reactivation Calling for 12 to 24 month dormant contacts, which matches the profile of a retirement planning client who stopped responding a year or two ago. A campaign can be built around one outcome: confirming whether a lapsed client wants to re-engage, qualifying their current situation, or routing interested clients back to your advisors. What sets My AI Call Center apart for a retirement planning firm is list discipline. The team only calls approved, permissioned, or reviewed contact lists, never indiscriminate cold calling. List source and consent records are checked before any campaign launches, and bought lists without clear permission records are flagged and, in most cases, declined. As the company puts it, they tell you plainly if the list will not support the campaign, before you spend anything. Compliance is treated as a first-class concern: AI-generated voices are treated as artificial voices under the TCPA with prior express consent required, AI disclosure appears on every call, keyword opt-outs (STOP and REVOKE) are honored immediately, and DNC requests are carried across campaigns into client records. Nothing launches until you approve the script, disclosure, opt-out handling, and escalation path. Reporting is honest by design. Every campaign ends with a named outcome report featuring disposition codes (confirmed, qualified, renewed, opted out, no answer), per-call notes, routed follow-up requests, a completion and coverage report, and opt-out and DNC logs. The company states plainly that it will never invent client logos, testimonials, metrics, or ratings; it reports what actually happened. Calling starts at 9¢ per connected minute, tiered by volume, with the rate locked for the campaign and no mid-campaign changes. Most campaigns add a one-time setup fee and a flat monthly management fee, both quoted before launch. There are no per-seat charges, no platform bill, and no minimums you did not choose. The first campaign review is free, and the full number is known before you approve launch. Hot leads transfer to your team live or land in your CRM.
Pros
- Fully managed service, so no call center staffing or platform administration
- Strict list and consent verification reduces TCPA and compliance risk before you spend anything
- Full cost known before approving launch, with the rate locked and no mid-campaign changes
- Structured outcome reporting with disposition codes and routed follow-ups into your existing CRM
- No invented numbers: reporting reflects only what actually happened
Cons
- It's a managed service, not self-serve software, so you depend on the provider to execute campaigns
- Most campaigns include setup and monthly management fees beyond the per-minute rate
- Lists without clear consent records may be declined, which can limit who you can call
- Mandatory script and list approval means launch takes longer than DIY tools
Best for: Retirement planning firms and multi-location financial services businesses (1 to 200+ staff) that want compliant, managed re-engagement calls run for them, without hiring calling staff or buying and operating calling software.
#2 Five9 — Contact for pricing
Five9 is a cloud-based contact center platform with AI-powered outbound calling capabilities that retirement planning firms with larger client lists could use for re-engagement campaigns. According to their website, Five9 offers AI-driven outbound dialing in predictive and progressive modes, letting organizations reach high volumes of dormant clients while managing agent workload. Intelligent virtual agents handle initial outreach using natural language processing to confirm client interest, qualify readiness, or deliver renewal reminders, which is useful when a firm's lapsed list is long but human advisors are few. The platform's strength is scale plus integration. According to their website, Five9 offers strong CRM integration so outcomes stay in existing systems, built-in compliance features that reduce regulatory risk, and real-time analytics that let teams optimize campaigns as they run. For a wealth management group that already operates a contact center, Five9 provides the dialing modes and virtual agent tooling to run re-engagement at volume in-house, with the firm keeping control over compliance configuration and campaign design. The trade-offs are structural. Pricing is not transparent and requires custom quoting. The platform requires internal management of agents and campaign configuration, and there's a steeper learning curve for teams unfamiliar with contact center software. For a small planning practice with a simple re-engagement need, it's likely more platform than the job requires.
Pros
- Scales efficiently for high-volume calling campaigns
- IVAs handle routine outreach, freeing human agents for complex conversations
- Strong CRM integration keeps outcomes in existing systems
- Real-time analytics enable campaign optimization
Cons
- Requires internal management of agents and campaign configuration
- Pricing is not transparent and requires custom quoting
- Likely overkill for small planning practices with simple re-engagement needs
- Steeper learning curve for teams unfamiliar with contact center platforms
Best for: Mid-to-large retirement planning firms and wealth management groups with existing contact center infrastructure that want to scale AI-assisted outbound calling while keeping compliance and CRM integration in-house.
#3 PropFuel — Contact for pricing
PropFuel is a conversational engagement platform for email and SMS that member-based organizations use to understand why members lapse and guide them back to renewal. Its methodology centers on Ask, Capture, Act: targeted questions surface each member's needs and reasons for lapsing, responses are captured, and organizations act on those insights with tailored follow-up. According to their website, one PropFuel client study found that 53% of responding lapsed members in 2022 were not even aware their membership had lapsed, a communication gap the platform is designed to close. The documented results are worth noting. According to their website, INCOSE reinstated 1,023 members between September 2022 and December 2023 using PropFuel campaigns, and the American Academy of Pediatrics saw 739 members reinstate through a lapsed-member nurture campaign, yielding what PropFuel reports as an 80% win-back rate from its engagement efforts. The platform also supports SMS touchpoints at key moments in the membership cycle, such as grace-period reminders, and encourages ongoing post-win-back dialogue about renewal and communication preferences. For a retirement planning firm, the insight angle is the interesting part. Knowing a client lapsed because of a service problem versus a simple billing failure changes the follow-up entirely, and PropFuel is built to capture that reason. It's worth noting the platform is email and SMS focused with no outbound phone calling service, pricing is not published on their site, and it's designed primarily for association business models, so firms should evaluate how its conversational campaigns map to their client lists.
Pros
- Strong documented win-back results across multiple member organizations
- Surfaces the reasons members lapse, not just the fact of it
- Multi-channel email and SMS engagement
- Nurture campaigns extend the conversation after initial interest
Cons
- Email and SMS focused, with no outbound phone calling service
- Pricing not published on their site
- Designed primarily for associations rather than financial planning business models
- Your team designs and runs campaigns rather than a managed service
Best for: Associations, membership organizations, and financial firms running membership or subscription programs that want conversational, insight-driven win-back campaigns over email and SMS.
#4 Callers.ai — Contact for pricing
Callers.ai runs AI win-back and re-engagement voice campaigns aimed at churned and inactive customers. According to their website, their voice agents reach people directly, reference their history, and offer the right incentive at the right time. The platform listens to churn signals in your CRM, such as last purchase date, subscription lapse, or inactive app usage, then fires outreach the moment those signals appear so the contact feels timely rather than random. When the customer accepts, the agent records the outcome, books the appointment, or triggers the upgrade, writing everything back to your systems. For retirement planning firms, the relevant angle is the managed side. Callers.ai describes its offering as a white glove service with a dedicated success manager, expert help building call scripts, and continuous optimization based on call analytics and outcome data. According to their website, the company claims answer rates of 55 to 80 percent for its human-like calls and cites a 26 percent reactivation rate within 30 days of a first win-back call. Those are the company's own published figures, so treat them as claims to verify rather than guarantees. The service also states that it handles setup, training, and compliance out of the box, with full voice and data logging. Pricing is not published on their site, and the behavior-triggered approach requires CRM data integration to power personalized calls.
Pros
- Managed service with a dedicated success manager and script expertise
- Outreach triggers automatically on churn signals, so timing feels personal
- Objections and reasons for leaving are logged into your CRM for smarter follow-up
- Claims high answer rates compared with email or SMS outreach
Cons
- Pricing is not published on their website
- Published performance figures like reactivation rates are the company's own claims and not independently verified
- Requires CRM data integration to power personalized, behavior-triggered calls
Best for: Retirement planning firms and membership businesses that want AI voice re-engagement campaigns with managed setup and behavior-triggered timing.
#5 Glue Up — Contact for pricing
Glue Up is an all-in-one AI-powered association management platform covering CRM, membership management, event management, email marketing, community management, and webinar management. For lapsed member re-engagement, Glue Up provides a structured framework on its website: identify inactive members using engagement tracking (event attendance, email open rates, website activity), segment the list by membership level, interests, or past engagement, then run an automated re-engagement email series. The platform's Member Engagement Scorecards (MES) help identify inactive members for targeted campaigns, and its email marketing tools include templates, merge fields, and an AI Copilot for personalized messaging at scale. Glue Up also emphasizes having a clear campaign goal (reactivation or removal) and cleaning chronically inactive contacts to protect deliverability and sender reputation. Analytics dashboards provide real-time data on open rates, click-through rates, and conversions so teams can refine campaigns as they run. According to their website, the company serves more than 2,000 customers globally managing over 1 million members, with partnerships including NVIDIA Enterprise AI, Cvent, and the ASAE Alliance Partner Program. For a retirement planning firm running a membership or subscription-style program, Glue Up's strength is the connected ecosystem: member data, events, email, and community all live in one system, which makes segmentation and lifecycle messaging easier to execute. Note that it has no outbound calling capability for lapsed member outreach, pricing is not published publicly, and the broad platform scope may be more than a small advisory team needs.
Pros
- All-in-one platform with member data, events, and email in one system
- AI-powered personalization and engagement scoring
- Clear framework for automated re-engagement campaigns
- Trusted by 2,000+ organizations managing 1 million+ members
Cons
- No outbound calling capability for lapsed member outreach
- Pricing not published publicly
- Broad platform scope may be more than small teams need
Best for: Retirement planning firms and membership organizations that want re-engagement capabilities embedded in a broader association management suite, with segmentation and lifecycle messaging in one system.
Winning back a lapsed client is the highest-ROI outreach a retirement planning firm can run, but only if it actually happens. Bain & Company research puts new client acquisition at 5 to 25 times the cost of reactivation, and structured win-back programs recover 5 to 15% of lapsed clients. The difference between firms that recover that revenue and firms that watch it walk usually comes down to whether anyone picks up the phone. If you want the calls made for you, with list and consent discipline checked before you spend anything and the full cost quoted before launch, My AI Call Center is the clear fit. Its Lapsed Member Re-Engagement campaigns start at 9¢ per connected minute, the rate is locked for the campaign, and the first campaign review is free. If you already run a contact center, Five9 gives you the dialing and compliance tooling to scale in-house. If your goal is understanding why clients lapse before you reach out again, PropFuel's question-driven email and SMS approach is worth a demo. Plan your first campaign at myaicallcenter.app and find out what a structured calling campaign can recover from your dormant book.
Frequently asked questions
Why are phone calls better than emails for re-engaging lapsed retirement planning clients?
Email win-back campaigns are the default for most firms, and most go unopened. A phone call lets you hear the real reason a client disengaged, answer questions on the spot, and route unresolved issues to the right person before presenting renewal as the only option. WOLF Financial notes that the most effective financial win-back sequences use three to five touches across email, direct mail, and phone, with direct phone calls recommended for high-value segments. A call is two-way, so a lapsed client can ask about fees, service changes, or their situation before deciding whether to come back.
How much does it cost to run lapsed member re-engagement calls?
It depends on the model. My AI Call Center charges from 9¢ per connected minute, tiered by volume, with the rate locked for the campaign; most campaigns add a one-time setup fee and a flat monthly management fee, both quoted before launch, and there are no per-seat charges or platform bills. Five9, Callers.ai, PropFuel, and Glue Up do not publish pricing on their sites, so you'll need to contact them for a quote. The key comparison is total campaign cost versus the value of a recovered client, since Bain & Company research puts new client acquisition at 5 to 25 times the cost of reactivating an existing one.
What compliance issues should retirement planning firms consider before running re-engagement calls?
Financial outreach carries compliance weight from FINRA, the SEC, and the TCPA. On the calling side, AI-generated voices are treated as artificial voices under the TCPA, which means prior express consent is required, and state-specific quiet hours, day restrictions, and registration rules apply. Look for a provider that checks list source and consent records before launch, includes AI disclosure on every call, honors keyword opt-outs like STOP and REVOKE immediately, and logs DNC requests across campaigns. My AI Call Center builds all of this into its process, and nothing launches until you approve the script, disclosure, opt-out handling, and escalation path. Campaign requirements vary by location, industry, contact type, and consent status, so firms are responsible for obtaining appropriate legal guidance before launch.
What's the difference between a managed calling service and contact center software?
Software like Five9 gives you the dialing modes, virtual agents, and analytics to run campaigns yourself, but you manage the agents, configuration, and compliance setup in-house. A managed service like My AI Call Center sells campaigns that its team runs for you: the campaign is scoped around one clear goal, the list and consent records are reviewed before launch, and you receive a named outcome report with disposition codes and routed follow-ups. If you already have contact center staff and want full control, software makes sense. If your advisors should be advising rather than dialing, a managed service fits better.
How long should a client be dormant before a re-engagement campaign makes sense?
Segmentation matters. Personify recommends splitting lapsed contacts into those who lapsed within the past 12 to 24 months versus those dormant longer than 24 months, since the more distant group needs messaging that shows what they've missed and what's changed. My AI Call Center offers Lapsed Member Re-Engagement as a core campaign type and Win-Back & Reactivation Calling designed for 12 to 24 month dormants, which matches the typical profile of a planning client who stopped responding a year or two ago. PropFuel's research adds a useful caveat: 53% of responding lapsed members in one 2022 client study didn't even know their membership had lapsed, so early, clear outreach often recovers people who never meant to leave.
Can these platforms integrate with my existing CRM?
Most of them can, in different ways. Five9 offers strong CRM integration so outcomes stay in your existing systems. Callers.ai writes call outcomes, objections, and reactivation details back into your CRM, though it requires that integration to power its behavior-triggered calls. Glue Up includes CRM as part of its all-in-one platform. My AI Call Center routes outcomes, bookings, and follow-up requests back into the CRM and scheduling tools you already run, with hot leads transferring to your team live or landing in your CRM. PropFuel integrates with leading AMS and CRM systems so responses flow into existing workflows.
What results can a retirement planning firm realistically expect from a re-engagement campaign?
Industry figures give a reasonable range. Firms that run structured win-back programs recover 5 to 15% of lapsed clients on average, according to Bain & Company research cited by WOLF Financial, and re-engaging a lapsed customer costs roughly one-fifth to one-seventh the cost of acquiring a new one with equivalent lifetime value. PropFuel's published client campaigns show win-back engagement rates ranging from roughly 6% to 39% depending on the segment and approach. Be skeptical of any provider promising specific recovery numbers before seeing your list. My AI Call Center's policy is to report only what actually happened, with disposition codes and per-call notes, rather than projected or invented metrics.