Trial expiration email templates for three different endings

“Your trial is ending” leaves the important part unanswered. Will the person be charged? Will they lose access? Will their account move to a free plan? The answer changes the message, the button, and the information the customer needs.

Postmark’s trial expiration guide distinguishes trials with and without a card on file. Treat that as a starting point and verify your own product’s behavior: having a card does not by itself prove that your app will charge it automatically.

The original templates below use square brackets for details you must supply. Do not leave placeholder statements about price, retained work, cancellation, or access in a live message. Those details need to come from the account and your actual product policy.

Use when: the trial will end without an automatic charge, and a customer must choose a paid plan to keep the relevant access. Keep this separate from the automatic-billing version.

Use a recognizable date rather than “soon.” If the account has already been extended, the reminder should use the new end date. Avoid describing unfinished work as a completed result merely because a project or report exists in the account.

Use when: the agreed trial will automatically move to a paid subscription. Explain the billing event directly. A cheerful “keep enjoying your benefits” message should not obscure what the customer will pay or how to manage the subscription.

Confirm that the amount belongs to this account and the chosen billing interval. Annual and monthly pricing are easy to confuse in a generic template. If the recipient is not the billing owner, send the notice to the appropriate account contact and use wording that reflects their permissions.

Use when: the customer keeps an account but loses particular capabilities or receives different limits. The reminder should make the continuing free option as clear as the upgrade path.

This is the wrong place to imply that the whole account disappears if only a paid feature becomes unavailable. Naming the real change lets the customer decide whether the free plan still meets their needs.

Use when: the trial has actually ended and the customer has not already taken the required action. Read the latest account status rather than assuming yesterday’s scheduled expiration occurred unchanged.

Do not describe data as saved indefinitely unless your policy supports that promise. If there is a real retention deadline, show the actual date and the available export route. If there is no such deadline, avoid inventing one to create urgency.

A starting schedule could include an advance reminder, another close to the end, and a notice after the state changes. The right spacing depends on the trial length and the time someone needs to decide. A short evaluation does not need the same calendar as a month-long team trial.

Customer.io’s trial reminder recipe uses a stored expiration timestamp and excludes people who have upgraded. The transferable lesson is to schedule from the account’s real end date, rather than relying only on a fixed number of days since signup.

Before each send, recheck subscription status, the current expiration date, cancellation, and which contact should receive billing information. If an account upgrades or receives an extension while waiting, the queued message must be skipped or updated.

Keep reminder logic distinct from onboarding. A customer can have completed setup while still needing a billing reminder. They can also be inactive while the subscription date remains important. Use the onboarding templates for product guidance and keep the trial message focused on the account transition.

Create a small review matrix before activating the sequence. Include an account that upgrades, one that receives an extension, one that cancels, and one that reaches the end without action. The expected message for each case should be explicit.

Then test data variations: missing first name, a different time zone, annual billing, and a recipient who is not the billing owner. Verify that account and billing links respect permissions after login.

Measure the useful outcomes, including upgrades, support questions, and incorrect-reminder reports. A noticeable click rate does not compensate for a reminder with the wrong price or expiration date. Correctness is part of the customer experience.

Use Cmora for the editable copy and visual design. Supply the live account values and configure the sending rules in your email platform. The final rendered email should read like a clear account update, with no unresolved placeholders or uncertain promises.