Every flourishing business knows that in order to achieve the utmost success, retaining old customers is even more crucial than acquiring new ones. By perfecting renewal emails, you can help keep a strong relationship with your existing customers which will in turn strengthen your brand’s reputation. After all, loyal customers are your greatest advocates.
So, what exactly are renewal emails?
Renewal emails are automated messages sent to customers reminding them that their memberships, subscriptions, or contracts are soon to be expired. They are essential to customer retention and loyalty. These emails call on clients to take action in order to continue using your service or product.
1. Personalize
Using your customer’s name in the subject line and email body is an excellent way to let them know that they are in your thoughts. The more personalized your email is, the more likely your customers are to read it. Furthermore, If you know a thing or two about this customer, you may want to use that information as well, to spark the user’s interest further. One good example of this is to refer to the period of time they have been a customer of yours(i.e. “Hi Daniel, thank you for being a loyal customer for almost a year now”).
2. Make the renewal process easy - add a clear CTA
Your customers will appreciate that you value their time! A complex renewal process can drive customers away. Make it easy and timely for your customers to renew their subscription by adding a CTA button that stands out from the rest of the email, and allows a one-click renewal via email, website, or member profiles. It can read as simple as “Click here to renew your subscription”.
3. Keep it simple
Renewal emails are sent to customers that are previously familiar with your business, so there is no need to burden them with promotional content and lengthy descriptions of your products or services. Keep your message short and to the point and draw your customers to understand the main purpose of your email.
4. Try offering incentives
Motivate your customers to continue their business with you by offering them an enticing reward. This is a great way to keep them aware of the value you provide. Discounts on annual plans and one month free services are some of the many extra benefits you can offer your customers. To increase the chances of renewal, you can also create a sense of urgency by adding a time limit on your offers.
5. Send a sequence of emails
Instead of sending one solo email, create a sequence of emails in order to increase the chances that customers will open the email and renew their subscription. Three emails are likely to do the trick. The first email should be sent one month prior to the account expiration involving a friendly easy-going reminder that it’s almost time to renew the subscription. The second email is usually sent 10 days before the account expiration and can include an incentive (refer to #4 above). Lastly, the third email should be sent 3 days before the account expiration, and ought to include a very clear and obvious call-to-action button.
6. Use a reliable email service provider
The most effective way to guarantee that your renewal emails will reach your customer’s inbox is to use a reliable email service provider. With the help of our simple, secure, scalable, and automated email delivery service, Mailer To Go, you can send out well timed, automated renewal email sequences and succeed at your customer retention goals!