Email and Setting: Subscription Is Almost Over

Summary

Subscription fatigue poses a challenge for consumers in managing their subscription payments and contract renewals. While the renewal of a subscription contract is typically viewed as a positive sign of customer retention, unexpected charges and renewals can lead to frustration among consumers. This presents a significant issue for subscription companies, as they desire customers who willingly extend their contracts without causing dissatisfaction or annoyance. 

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When you use circuly to manage your subscriptions, you can easily solve this pain point by sending a reminder email to your customers before the end of their subscription. Additionally the circuly system enables you to automate the renewal of the subscription if the customer doesn't actively cancel.  

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In this article, we’ll explain the process of subscription renewal, reminder emails and the associated settings in detail. 

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Article Overview

• Background 
• Subscription management with circuly
• Set up process for sending reminder emails
• Set up process for renewing subscriptions
• Benefits of sending reminder emails

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Background 

An average person is subscribed to multiple products (avg. 5) at the same time. As the number of subscription services available continues to grow, it becomes challenging for individuals to keep tabs on all the services they have signed up for, along with their renewal dates and costs.

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The extra tasks associated with subscription contracts are slowly becoming unappealing for consumers and can lead to issues like:

• Financial Overload: Subscriptions are often billed on a recurring basis, and the cumulative cost of multiple subscriptions can add up quickly. Consumers may find themselves spending more than they intended due to forgetting about certain subscriptions.
• Subscription Fatigue: With numerous subscriptions, consumers may feel overwhelmed and suffer from subscription fatigue. This can lead to a lack of interest in utilising the services they are paying for, which in turn can make the subscriptions seem less valuable.
• Difficulty in Cancelling: Some subscription services might make it intentionally challenging to cancel, leading to consumers inadvertently continuing to pay for services they no longer use or want.

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Luckily consumers still appreciate companies that take these pain points away. 

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Multiple subscription companies offer to send reminder emails when the subscription contract is about to end so that the customer can decide whether or not they would like to continue using the product and staying subscribed. 

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This benefit often proves to be extremely attractive for the customers and reduces the burden of subscribing. Additionally it makes the subscription company stand out among its competitors and other related services. 

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Subscription management with circuly

Typically every subscription contract has a start date and an end date that is assigned to it when a subscription is created. However subscription contracts can in theory always be extended beyond the minimum duration. 

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In circuly subscription contracts are extended if you make use of the auto-renew feature. 

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When a subscription is renewed the end date becomes fictitious meaning that as long as the auto-renew function is active, a subscription will have an end date but the end date will continue to change as the subscription continues to be extended.

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With the auto-renew feature subscription contracts are automatically extended at the end of the subscription period. Your customers actively need to cancel their subscription if they would like to stop their subscription contract. 

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Automatically renewing a subscription has its pros and cons. The benefit is that if the customer wants to extend the subscription contract, they are not required to take any action and the process remains lean, requiring no effort from their side. 

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However, subscription fatigue can leave customers feeling annoyed when they see an unexpected renewal charge on their card. 

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In order to solve this problem you can set up a workflow with circuly that reminds your customer when their subscription is about to end and renews the subscription automatically if the customer doesn't express any interest in cancelling the subscription.

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Setting up the process to send reminder emails

With circuly you can easily set up an automated process for sending a reminder email to your customers “x” days before the end of their subscription. 

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Email used: Subscription is almost over

Settings: Subscription is almost over when auto renew is off, days calculation before ending. 

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To access the settings > Go to the Settings tab > Emails > SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION. 

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Step 1: Enable the switch for "Subscription is almost over when auto renew is off" Setting.

Enabling the switch means that you would like to send the “subscription is almost over” email to the customer. 

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Step 2: Add a numeric value in the Days calculation before ending email setting. 

Then decide when you would like to send this email. If you would like to send the email 14 days before the end of the subscription, add 14 in the input field. 

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Here’s what will happen 

When the subscription end date is approaching, the circuly system will trigger the subscription almost over email and send it to your customer 14 days (custom value in the Days calculation before ending input field) before the end date. 

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Conditions

The subscription is almost over email is triggered and sent to the customer ONLY IF the auto renew button switch in the subscription overview window is in a non-active state. 

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Active and non-active state of the auto renew button switch

The auto renew button is in a non-active state as long as the Auto-renew subscriptions setting is disabled. When the auto-renew setting is enabled the auto-renew button becomes active.

Important to note: The auto-renew button only becomes active for subscriptions that are created AFTER the auto-renew subscription setting was enabled. 

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Why is the auto-renew button not activated for all existing subscriptions? 

The auto-renew button is only activated for subscriptions that are created AFTER the auto-renew subscription setting is enabled to prevent the scenario in which subscriptions that should be ended because the customers want to end the subscription, are renewed. 

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Note: Simply enabling the auto-renew button without enabling the Auto-renew subscription setting will not renew the subscription. 

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Summary

• Auto renew switch > Not active > “Subscription is almost over” email is triggered. 
• Auto renew switch > Manually activated for a subscription > Auto-renew subscription setting is disabled > “Subscription is almost over” email will be triggered for this subscription but the subscription will not be renewed.  
• Auto renew switch > Automatically activated by enabling the Auto-renew subscription setting > “Subscription is almost over” email is not triggered for any subscription.

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Settings options for subscription is almost over email

As explained above the subscription is almost over email serves as a reminder email that can be sent to the custom to inform them their their subscription is about to end. 

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However the email is skipped in a few cases, such as:

• The setting to send the email is not enabled. 
• The auto-renew switch in the subscription overview window is active.
• The subscription duration is less than or equal to one month and 

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If you still wish to send a reminder email in situations where the subscription is almost over email is skipped, you can enable some settings available in the Settings tab. Given below are the available options:

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• "Subscription is almost over" email for one-month subscriptions - enabling this switch will send the subscription is almost over when subscription duration is less than or equal to one month.
  
  Use case: When you do not have a minimum subscription duration and all your subscriptions are for a month. The subscriptions are extended on a monthly basis. If you enable this switch then the subscription is almost over email will be sent to the customer every month.
  
  
• "Subscription is almost over" email for auto-renewed subscriptions - typically when subscription have been auto-renewed there is no need to send the subscription is almost over email to the customer. Additionally when subscriptions are auto-renewed due to the auto-renew subscription setting, the auto-renew switch in the subscription overview window is made active. The active state of the auto-renew switch prevents the “subscription is almost over” email from being sent. 
  
  However enabling this setting will bypass this rule and send the email even if subscriptions have been auto-renewed and the auto-renew switch in the subscription overview window is active. 

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• "Subscription is almost over" email also if auto-renew is active - as explained above, the subscription is almost over email is not sent to the customer i the auto-renew button switch is active. However you can still decide to send the email and by pass this rule.
  
  

Setting up the process to renew the subscription 

In circuly there are two manual ways and one automated way to renew subscription contracts. 

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The manual way to renew a subscription is via the extend subscription duration functionality and the automated way to renew a subscription is via the auto-renew settings. 

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As you can imagine, the extend subscription duration function can only be performed on one subscription at a time while the auto-renew setting is for all subscriptions.

Learn more about renewing subscriptions in the article about subscription renewals. 

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Benefits of sending reminder emails

Sending a reminder email before your subscription ends is a smart idea with some great benefits:

• It makes subscribing easier: When you let customers know that you'll remind them before their subscription ends, they're more likely to sign up for your product instead of abandoning the purchase.
• Encourages action: The reminder email prompts your customers to decide what they want to do next – whether it's staying subscribed, canceling, or buying the product outright.

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Even if they decide to cancel, it's actually a positive thing as it means you're not trapping them in the subscription. This makes them more likely to come back to you in the future or speak positively about your brand to others.

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• Acts as a gentle nudge: If a customer hasn't used the product much, the reminder email serves as a helpful cue, motivating them to give it a try and make the most of it.

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So, by using reminder emails, you make it easier for customers to stay engaged, increase their satisfaction, and build a positive reputation for your brand.

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