Bring up renewal emails with a SaaS or a subscription ecommerce brand, and they will react in one of two ways:

1. No! We don't want to send any. Why increase our churn rate?
2. Must we? Okay, fine.

Neither camp is excited about sending renewal emails and given the choice, would rather not send them at all.

I mean... I understand the reaction.

Renewal emails almost always spike cancellations.

But honestly, that's because we aren't planning them right.

We all get the standard (and generic AF) "Your subscription will renew soon" email.

Exhibit A 👇

Renewal emails are the perfect retention play

Using your renewal email to remind customer why your product is important and what they'll be losing if they cancel is the BARE MINIMUM.

(And yet no one's doing it.)

Companies need to build entire retention strategies around renewals because if you know you're going to lose customers when that email goes out... why the heck aren't you doing something to fix it?!

(Sorry, I tend to get emotional about this stuff.)

Grammarly does a decent job with their renewal email. They highlight what features you'll be losing if you cancel your subscription. I'm not a fan of how they do it but at least they're trying.

(Annotated because I haven't met an email I didn't mentally review😄)

Vimeo does slightly better. They identified a segment of customers who did not have auto-renew on and sent an email highlighting what they'll lose if they don't turn on auto-renew.

But their subscription renewal email is the definition of a cookie-cutter email.

If there's one company that seems to have their email game on track, it's Canva.

But even they drop the ball when it comes to renewal emails.

Their cancellation email — which I found in the wild — does a better job but this email is giving mixed signals + trying to do too much at the same time.

Also, where's the sadness to see them go?! (I'm kidding.)

Simple ways to improve your renewal emails

1. Send a "upcoming renewal" email like Senja. ​
   ​
   But for the love of god make it interactive. Have a section that celebrates their usage but also reminds them how crucial your product is. E.g. "You've used Senja to capture X testimonials 🎉".
   ​
   In case someone's not using them as much, have a "Make the most of your Senja subscription" section and highlight 3 ways they can use your app NOW.
   ​
2. Set up "auto renewal reminder" email like Vimeo. ​
   ​
   Anyone who hasn't set their subscriprion to auto-renew, send them an email highlighting the pain of what will happen if their subscription cancels.
   ​
   But instead of listing the features they'll lose, highlight what losing those features would mean for the user. E.g 👇
   ​
   ​100 GB of video storage — videos will get restricted, team members kicked out, and embedded videos will start displaying an error.​
   ​
3. Don't let your renewal emails be the only emails your customers receive.​
   ​
   As much as I love using Senja, I'm now officially annoyed at seeing the reminder email every month for a $29 plan.
   ​
   - They've never once tried to move me to the annual plan.
   ​
   - They don't send me emails telling me all the ways I could be making the most of their incredible tool.
   ​
   - No one has ever checked in when I go a month without adding a testimonial to their app.

The renewal-retention playbook

Renewal is not the time we should be thinking about renewal. We should be planning for renewal ALL YEAR LONG.

• Grammarly does this very well with their weekly progress emails.
• Google Health and Fitbit with their weekly stats.
• Kit with their "Your week with Kit" emails (although that email can do with some improvement too!)

But this email has already gotten long enough.

Next time, I'll lay out what my renewal retention playbook looks like.

In the meantime, tell me about your renewal email woes. Or share the worst or best renewal emails you've seen.

— Samar

P.S. Want me to share my renewal email swipe file?

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