Pay-Per-Result Database Reactivation Companies: How to Choose

A pay-per-result database reactivation company bills only on outcomes: Recupra publishes $40 per dormant clinic patient brought back, Database Reactivation Australia mainly charges per qualified appointment or outcome, and LeadsNow charges 5–25% of the revenue it generates (revenue share), an equivalent fee per appointment, or a mix of both. Choose on the invoice trigger, then prove the results were incremental.

• Four invoice triggers exist: a reply, a booked appointment, a held appointment, or a sale (revenue share). The later the trigger, the more risk the provider carries.
• Named options, read on their own sites on 9 October 2026: HighLevel (software you run), Recupra (per-outcome AI agents for clinics), VisQuanta (managed AI reactivation on a fixed monthly fee), Database Reactivation Australia (performance-based specialist) and LeadsNow (pay-per-result, done for you).
• The test nobody runs: the Holdout Test below. A 10% untouched control group shows how many “reactivated” leads would have returned anyway.
• The number to compare: what you pay per incremental appointment, not per appointment.
• Our own record: LeadsNow’s reactivation campaigns have booked 4.4% of dormant records on average and 8.9% at peak (no window or sample published; one operator’s record, not an industry benchmark).

What counts as a “result” when a company reactivates my database?

A reactivation company is only as pay-per-result as the event that triggers its invoice. The same campaign can be billed at four points, and each moves a different cost from you to the provider.

Recupra’s per-outcome menu shows how granular this gets: its pricing page lists separate fees per waitlist slot filled, per confirmed appointment, per no-show recovered and $40 per dormant patient reactivated, with no platform or setup fee. A reactivation quote that names a fee but not its trigger has not told you the price.

Five questions to ask a reactivation company before it touches your CRM

These five questions separate database reactivation companies faster than any case study, because each one has a checkable answer.

1. What exactly triggers the invoice, and over what date range? Get the trigger from the table above in writing, plus how long after the first message an outcome still counts.
2. Who decides which records are in scope? Current customers, open deals and anyone a salesperson is already working should be excluded before the first send. VisQuanta’s reactivation page, for example, says “You say who to leave alone.”
3. Who holds consent, and who answers for it? Outsourcing the sending does not outsource the obligation. In Australia, the ACMA says that even if someone else sends your marketing messages, you must still have consent from each person who receives them. Other countries have their own rules; check them before you upload a list.
4. Who answers replies, and how fast? A reactivation wave produces replies in bursts, often in the evening. Ask what happens to a reply at 9pm on a Sunday.
5. Will you accept a holdout group? A provider confident in its incremental effect will let you hold back 10% of the list untouched. The next section shows why that matters more than the headline rate.

Which companies offer pay-per-result database reactivation?

Database reactivation is sold by five kinds of provider, from software you run yourself to services paid only on outcomes. Every named company below was read on its own website on 9 October 2026 and is described only with what that site says.

For the full cost of each model, including the hours a DIY campaign takes, see what database reactivation costs by pricing model; for how a campaign runs end to end, the database reactivation guide.

The Holdout Test: would those leads have come back anyway?

The Holdout Test measures how many reactivated appointments a provider actually caused, by leaving a random 10% of the dormant list untouched and comparing it with the 90% that was worked. Some dormant records always come back on their own, and on a pay-per-result contract you pay for those too unless you measure them.

Worked example, with every rate an assumption to replace with your own: a 6,000-record dormant list, 600 held back at random, 5,400 worked over 60 days, and 3.0% of the worked records booking (162 appointments). The only thing that changes between the three rows is how many records book on their own with nobody contacting them.

The arithmetic: unprompted bookings = 5,400 × holdout rate; incremental = 162 minus that; the multiplier is 162 divided by the incremental figure. On a list that is only weeks old, half the “results” would have arrived anyway, so every incremental appointment effectively costs two fees. The fresher the list, the more a per-appointment price flatters the provider.

Two practical limits. A holdout needs enough records to produce countable events: with 600 held back at 0.5%, you expect 3 bookings, so treat any single holdout as a rough read and repeat it on the next wave. And the cut-off for “dormant” should be written down before you pull the list, so nobody quietly adds last month’s warm leads.

Which reactivation option suits which database?

The size, age and ownership of the database decide the right reactivation provider more than any feature list does.

• Under about 500 dormant records: do it yourself. A personal text from the person who quoted the job, in batches you can answer the same day, beats any provider at this size.
• A clinic that wants a fixed price per returning patient: a per-outcome tool such as Recupra fits, because its fee is tied to a patient back in care and it is built around clinic workflows.
• A team with a marketing operations person and time to answer replies: software such as HighLevel. You keep full control and pay in hours instead of fees.
• A dealership or home-services business that wants a managed AI agent on a fixed monthly fee, with an account manager watching the account: VisQuanta’s site lists automotive, home services and medical among its industries.
• An Australian SME that wants a specialist on a performance basis: Database Reactivation Australia, or LeadsNow if you also want the reactivated leads followed by phone and DM as well as text.
• Nobody should reactivate a list without a lawful basis to contact it. If your records came from a bought list, the problem is the list, and no provider fixes that.

When should I hand my dormant database to a pay-per-result company?

A pay-per-result reactivation company beats doing it yourself when the list is past about 500 contactable records, nobody on your team can answer replies within the hour, and you would rather the provider carry the cost of every record that never replies. If you have a few hundred records, a salesperson with spare hours and a CRM that already sends texts, run it yourself first; the reactivation guide gives you the method.

LeadsNow is one such company. The facts, plainly: we book calls using AI calling, SMS and DM follow-up; you pay on results, through a revenue share, a fee per appointment, or a mix of both, set by your lead volume, what you sell and its price, your type of business and how much of the funnel we run; no-shows aren’t charged; there is no retainer; and you can cancel any time with 14 days notice. Since 2017 we have booked 50,769+ sales appointments with AI. On reactivation specifically, our Colliers-era campaigns booked 4.4% of dormant records on average and 8.9% at peak; no window or sample size is published for those figures, so treat them as our record, not a forecast for your list. How the model compares with a monthly fee is set out in pay-per-result vs retainer agencies, and the service itself is our AI appointment setting.

Frequently asked questions

Do database reactivation companies only charge when they book appointments?

Not all of them. Some charge a monthly retainer whatever is booked, some charge per reply or re-engaged lead, and some charge per booked appointment, per held appointment or as a share of revenue. Ask for the invoice trigger in writing before comparing prices.

How many old leads do I need before pay-per-result reactivation is worth it?

Roughly 500 contactable records is where hiring starts to make sense. Below that, a personal message from the original salesperson usually works better and costs only time. You also need a few thousand records before a 10% holdout produces enough bookings to read.

Is it legal for a company to text my old leads for me?

It depends on the country and on the consent you hold, and the obligation stays with you. In Australia, the ACMA’s guidance on avoiding spam under the Spam Act 2003 says that even if someone else sends your marketing messages, you must still have consent from each person who receives them, and you cannot send a message to ask for consent. This is general information, not legal advice.

What reactivation rate should a pay-per-result company deliver?

No public benchmark for database reactivation exists with a disclosed sample and denominator. LeadsNow’s own record is 4.4% of dormant records booked on average and 8.9% at peak, with no window or sample published. Judge any provider on incremental appointments against a holdout group rather than on a headline rate.

How long should a holdout test run?

Run it for at least one full reactivation wave, and longer than your usual time from enquiry to booking. For most service businesses that means 30 to 60 days. Compare bookings per record in the worked group and the untouched group over the same dates.