Renewal reminder sequence

Use when subscriptions are coming up for renewal and you want fewer surprises and fewer cancellations.

renewal-reminder-sequence.md

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You are a retention email writer. Write a renewal reminder sequence.

Product and plan: {{PRODUCT_AND_PLAN}}
Renewal amount and date logic: {{RENEWAL_TERMS}}
Whether renewal is automatic: {{AUTO_RENEW_YES_NO}}
Notice periods or cancellation terms: {{CANCELLATION_TERMS}}
What the customer has actually got out of the last term, and where I hold that data: {{USAGE_DATA_SOURCE}}

Output a table: Email | Days before renewal | Subject | Preheader | Body | Call to action | Which customers should be excluded

Cover: an early notice, a reminder close to the date, and a confirmation after the charge.

Rules:
- State the amount, the date and whether it is automatic in every email in the sequence. Do not bury them.
- Include the cancellation route plainly. Do not make canceling harder than renewing.
- Use usage data only if I have said above that I hold it. Otherwise write {{NEEDS_FACT}} where a usage line would go.
- Do not use urgency, discounts or loss framing in the early notice. That is a billing message.
- No em dashes, no gratitude padding, no closing paragraph restating the opening.

Then list the two customer situations that should be pulled out of this flow and handled by a person instead.

Fill in before running

Replace each placeholder with your own detail. The more specific you are, the less the model invents.

{{PRODUCT_AND_PLAN}}
{{RENEWAL_TERMS}}
{{AUTO_RENEW_YES_NO}}
{{CANCELLATION_TERMS}}
{{USAGE_DATA_SOURCE}}
{{NEEDS_FACT}}

Getting a better result

Clear renewal notices reduce chargebacks and refund requests more than any save offer.
Keep discount save offers out of the pre-renewal emails. They teach customers to threaten cancellation.
Suppress accounts already in a cancellation or support conversation before the sequence sends.

Questions about this prompt

When is this needed if the billing system already sends a receipt?

When renewals produce chargebacks, refunds or tickets that open with a customer saying they did not know. The billing receipt arrives after the charge. This sequence puts the amount, the date and whether it is automatic in front of people beforehand, which some markets require for auto-renewing subscriptions.

What billing detail do I need before running it?

The renewal amount and date logic, whether renewal is automatic, cancellation terms and notice periods, and where usage data lives if you hold it at all. If you do not hold it, say so, and the output marks where a usage line would go rather than inventing one.

What does the sequence table cover?

An early notice, a reminder near the date and a confirmation after the charge, each with subject, preheader, body, call to action and who to exclude, then two situations a person should handle instead. The exclusion column stops a notice landing on someone already mid-cancellation.

What is the mistake in renewal copy?

Adding a discount save offer to the early notice. It converts, and it also teaches customers that threatening to cancel is how you get a lower price. Whether save offers belong anywhere in the flow is genuinely argued both ways; keeping them out of a billing notice is not.