This past week, I’ve heard from multiple customers who offer yearly subscriptions. They took the easy route and implemented it with one time transactions — in other words, the subscription is valid for a year and then never renews. When they find out about Recurly, sometimes they want to simulate that behavior and not have the subscription renew because that’s what their customers are used to. While Recurly can do that, there’s a better way to maximize your renewal rate (or retention rate) and still keep your customers happy.

If your users forget about your service during the year and then they see the yearly renewal on their statement, they’re going to remember your service… and not in a good way. Worse yet, they might want their money back. That usually means they’ll ask you for a refund (and you should be willing to issue it if they really haven’t used the service) or they’ll attempt a charge-back (and that sucks for you and your bank account).

So right before the yearly subscription renews, remind your users two weeks ahead of time about the upcoming charge. This gives them plenty of time to opt-out of the subscription. It also gives you a chance to remind them of the value you provide so they will continue paying for the service. It’s just that easy to keep everyone happy and make more money.

And yes, Recurly will be adding this feature before your yearly subscriptions get close to expiration.