Case study: the pre-renewal alert email

A LinkedIn connection shared a screenshot and asked for my opinion. Here’s my analysis based on best practices and regulatory requirements.

Note I am not affiliated with this company and that I am not a lawyer. I’ll describe only what I observe.

Pre-renewal alert email

1. The context of the message

This is the message sent by the merchant alerting the subscriber of the imminent withdrawal of the subscription renewal fee.

The message was sent and received on January 30, 2025, by an EU subscriber. The annual subscription was initially purchased in 2023, renewed in 2024. This is the second automatic annual renewal.

The subscriber hasn’t consented to marketing.

This is a message that is essential to the commercial relationship between the merchant and the subscriber. As a “service message”, it doesn’t require the customer’s consent.

2. Content analysis

1. Marketing content

The alert message of the imminent renewal doesn’t require the customer’s consent provided it doesn’t include a marketing message inside.

The part, whose title is “Your benefits include”, is a reminder of what the subscriber is paying for. This part is supposed to help the customer clearly identify which product is being discussed. However, since the company only offers 2 different subscriptions, it is easy to know which one is being discussed. This content is more marketing than subscription identification. In addition, this part represents more than 1/3 of the email.

In my opinion, given the surface area used by the marketing content, this email is essentially a marketing email.

2. Transactional content

The purpose of this email is to alert the subscriber that

• The subscription expires on DD/MM/YYYY 📆
• The renewal amount will be charged on DD/MM/YYYY 📆
• This amount will be $XX.xx for X year(s) 💰
• The payment method used will be XYZ 💳

Upon receipt of this information, the subscriber is entitled to a grace period to decide whether to renew or cancel their subscription.

The message must:

• Be sent long enough before the first payment attempt
• Indicate how to unsubscribe

If the merchant offers the feature, indicate to the customer how they can update or change their payment method.

In case the customer may have several subscriptions renewing on different dates, the subscription concerned must be identifiable with certainty by the customer.

Emails should include links to terms, FAQs, support, and communication preferences.

❌ In my opinion, given the amount of service information, this email is not comprehensive enough. ❌

3. My Rating

1. The Renewal information

• 🟢 The registered payment method is indicated
• 🟢 The date of the first withdrawal attempt is indicated
• 🟠 We understand that the name of the subscription is “Icon Pro”
• 🔴 The renewal price is not indicated
• 🔴 The expiration date of the subscription is missing
• 🔴 The duration of the renewal and the future expiration date are not indicated
• 🔴 This email is sent only 7 days before the first withdrawal attempt. For an annual subscription, the reflection period is a bit short, we should rather expect 14 days
• 🔴 No indication of the means of unsubscribing
  

2. The design of the email

• 🟢 The renewal information comes first which is positive
• 🟠 Total number of words: 96. Number of words in the Marketing section: 42 or 45%. One may wonder if such a ratio is not made as a distraction for the subscriber. Be careful, a regulator might think this is a dark pattern.
  

3. The Customer experience

• 🔴 The merchant’s website doesn’t allow you to unsubscribe. The Cancelation is done from the PayPal website. The Cancelation procedure is explained in the Support section of the merchant’s website.
• 🔴 Customers from the European Union must be treated according to the rules applicable in the EU. We should therefore see the prices including all taxes for example.
  

4. Summary and conclusion

1. A lot of essential information such as the price is missing. ❌
2. The grace period to allow the subscriber to cancel the subscription seems too short to me. ❌
3. The lack of information and means concerning cancelation could suggest a desire to prevent it. ❌

❌ This company could do much better in terms of transparency, communication and compliance. ❌