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Overview

Subscription emails keep customers informed about their recurring billing status. They cover the full lifecycle: successful renewals, upcoming charges, payment issues, paused/canceled states, and dunning.

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Renewal Success

Trigger: Sent after a successful subscription renewal charge. Template: renewal-success Key sections:
  • Green success banner
  • Order details (order number, date, billing cycle number, next charge date)
  • Product list with totals
  • Card statement descriptor note

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Renewal Failed

Trigger: Sent when a subscription renewal payment fails. Template: renewal-failed This template uses escalating urgency based on the retry count: The body text also escalates, becoming more urgent with each retry. The template includes:
  • Subscription details (product, amount, card on file, next retry date)
  • Support contact box with phone and email
  • “Update Payment Method” CTA
Use the subscription.retry_count variable with @if directives to customize urgency levels further.

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Pre-Renewal Reminder

Trigger: Sent 3 days before an upcoming subscription renewal. Template: pre-renewal Key sections:
  • Indigo banner with bell icon
  • Subscription details (product, amount, charge date)
  • Product list
  • “Manage Subscription” CTA

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Subscription Paused

Trigger: Sent when a subscription is paused. Template: subscription-paused Key sections:
  • Amber banner with pause icon
  • Product name and resume date (or “No date set”)
  • “Resume Subscription” CTA

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Subscription Canceled

Trigger: Sent when a subscription is canceled. Template: subscription-canceled Key sections:
  • Red banner
  • Product and order details
  • “We’re sorry to see you go” message with green reactivation CTA
  • Encourages the customer to return

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Payment Method Expiring

Trigger: Sent when a customer’s card on file is about to expire. Template: payment-method-expiring Key sections:
  • Orange banner with credit card icon
  • Card details (last 4 digits, expiration date highlighted in orange)
  • Next charge date
  • Support contact box (amber) explaining how to update payment
  • “Manage Subscription” CTA

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Dunning Final Notice

Trigger: Sent as the last dunning attempt before subscription cancellation. Template: dunning-final For a deep dive on dunning configuration, see Dunning. Key sections:
  • Red banner with warning icon
  • Amount due and card on file
  • “Pending Cancellation” status in red
  • Support contact box (red) with instructions
  • “Update Payment Method” CTA

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Configuring subscription emails

Subscription email templates are chosen in two places, checked in this order:
  1. Merchants -> open the merchant -> Email tab -> Subscription Emails. This wins.
  2. Settings -> Subscriptions, which holds brand-wide defaults for the same events.
  3. The brand’s built-in system template for that event.
A merchant with an empty slot and no brand default still sends, using the system template. Subscription slots only appear for merchants that bill recurring charges through ElasticFunnels (NMI and Stripe). Nothing sends until the brand has a sender configured. See Sending Setup. See also: Emails & Dunning settings and Emails Not Sending