Subscription Renewals
No surprise charges.
A renewal the customer expected is revenue. A renewal they did not is a refund request and a lost customer.
The problem
Two things break subscriptions, and both are solvable by message. The first is the unexpected charge: a customer who has forgotten they subscribed disputes the payment, and a dispute costs more than the refund. The second is the failed payment — an expired card that silently ends a subscription the customer was perfectly happy with. Email handles neither well, because neither message gets opened in time. Both are ordinary WhatsApp messages that get read within minutes.
How it works
Set it up once. Then leave it running.
-
Warn before the charge
A few days ahead, say what is renewing, for how much and when. No surprise means no dispute.
-
Catch failed payments fast
If the card fails, tell the customer immediately with a link to update it, while they still remember wanting the subscription.
-
Confirm the renewal
Confirm what was charged and when the next one falls due, so the record lives somewhere they can find it.
Message sequence
What your customer actually receives.
Every step is configurable — change the timing, drop a step, or keep it to a single message.
-
3 days before
Renewal notice
Your monthly serum subscription renews on 14 March for ₹849. Reply here if you would like to pause, skip or change it.
-
On failure
Payment failed · Optional
We could not take payment for your subscription — the card may have expired. Here is a link to update it, and we will retry.
-
On success
Renewal confirmed
Renewed — ₹849 charged and your next delivery is on its way. Next renewal is 14 April.
Offer pause before they reach cancel
Most subscription cancellations are about timing, not the product — too much stock, a month away, a tight month financially. If the only option presented is cancel, that is what people choose.
Putting pause and skip in the renewal notice keeps a lot of subscriptions that would otherwise end permanently.
Treat failed payments as urgent
An expired card is not a decision to leave, but it becomes one if nothing happens for a week. Recovery rates fall sharply with delay, so this is the message that most benefits from being read within minutes rather than eventually.
Confirm in writing
A confirmation message is cheap and settles most future queries: what was charged, when, and when the next one falls due, in a thread the customer can search.
Works with your store.
Order and cart data flows straight into the conversation.
-
Shopify
Sync orders, carts and customers.
Frequently asked questions
How far ahead should the renewal warning go out?
Far enough that the customer can act on it — typically around three days. Warning on the day of the charge tells them what happened rather than giving them a choice, which is most of what causes disputes.
Does warning people cause more cancellations?
Some customers will pause or cancel who would otherwise have been charged, but those are largely the same ones who would have disputed the payment or churned angrily afterwards. A voluntary pause is a far better outcome than a chargeback.
What is the best way to recover a failed payment?
Speed and a single tap. Tell the customer immediately, give them a direct link to update the card, and retry. The longer the gap, the more likely they treat it as a decision already made.
How to set this up
The guides and articles behind this use case.
Product
Journey Builder
Build multi-step WhatsApp automation flows that trigger from customer actions — abandoned carts, sign-ups, purchases and more. No code required.
Guide
Managing Message Templates
Create, submit and track WhatsApp message templates, and understand why one gets rejected.
Article
WhatsApp now charges per message, not per conversation
Meta retired conversation-based billing on 1 July 2025. Here is what you actually pay for now, what is still free, and the three things that change your bill.
Put this to work on your store.
Seven days free. No credit card. Live in minutes.