Free Trial Ending Email Templates and Subject Lines

The templates

Each one copies with its subject line. Change the parts in brackets, and keep only the sentence about data that is actually true for your product.

A few days before, no card on file

Subject: Your [Product] trial ends on [date]

Hi [Name], Your [Product] trial ends on [date], [number] days from now. If you want to keep using it, you can choose a plan here: [link]. It is [price] a [month / year], and everything you have set up carries over. If you do nothing, [your account moves to the free plan / the app goes read-only]. Your [projects / data] stay [in your account for 30 days / on your Mac], so nothing is lost if you decide later. And if [Product] was not quite right, I would like to know why. A one-line reply is plenty. [Your name]

Card on file: the trial converts to paid

Subject: Your [Product] trial ends on [date], and your first payment is [amount]

Hi [Name], A reminder so nothing comes as a surprise: your [Product] trial ends on [date]. On that day, the card ending [last four digits] will be charged [amount], and then [amount] every [month / year] until you cancel. If you want to keep going, you do not need to do anything. If you would rather not, cancel before [date] here: [link to billing page]. Or reply to this email and I will cancel it for you. Either way you will not be charged, and [what happens to their data, for example: your projects stay available to export for 30 days]. [Your name]

The last day, the short version

Subject: Your [Product] trial ends today

Hi [Name], Your [Product] trial ends today. To keep it, choose a plan here: [link] ([price] a [month / year]). If not, there is nothing to cancel, and your [data] stays safe [for 30 days / on your Mac]. [Your name]

The day after it lapsed

Subject: Your [Product] trial has ended

Hi [Name], Your [Product] trial ended yesterday, so your account is now [on the free plan / read-only / paused]. Nothing you set up has been deleted. [Your projects and settings are kept until date.] If you pick a plan before then, everything is back exactly as you left it: [link]. If you have decided it is not for you, that is fine, and this is the last email you will get from me about it. [If something got in the way, I would still like to know what.] [Your name]

A trial that was barely used

Subject: Your [Product] trial, and a question

Hi [Name], Your [Product] trial ends on [date], and it looks like [you did not get as far as the first step / you signed up in a busy week]. That usually means something got in the way, not that you were not interested. So instead of a reminder, a question: what got in the way? Setup that was confusing, something missing, or simply no time? A one-line reply helps a lot. If it was time, I am happy to [extend your trial by a week / walk you through setup on a short call]. [Your name]

Offering a trial extension

Subject: An extra week with [Product], if you want it

Hi [Name], Your [Product] trial was due to end on [date]. A trial you did not get to use is not much of a trial, so I have extended yours to [new date]. You do not need to do anything. [Your card will not be charged until new date.] If [Product] is not for you, ignore this. [There is nothing to cancel. / You can cancel any time before then here: link to billing page.] [Your name]

Trial ending subject lines

Put the date in the subject, and on a trial that converts automatically, the amount too. For plenty of people the subject is the whole email, and it is the line they will search for if a charge ever surprises them.

Your [Product] trial ends on [date]
Your [Product] trial ends on [date], and your first payment is [amount]
Your [Product] trial ends today
Your [Product] trial has ended: your data is safe until [date]
An extra week with [Product], if you want it

What makes a trial ending email fair, and effective

A date, not “soon”. “Your trial ends on 14 October” can go in a calendar. “In a few days” cannot.
The price, and when it is taken. The amount, the currency if it could be ambiguous, and how often: “[amount] on 14 October, then [amount] a month”.
What happens to their data. Kept, read-only, exportable, deleted after thirty days: say which. It is the question behind most replies to this email.
Cancelling as easy as paying. A link in the email, and “reply and I will cancel it for you” as well. A customer who cannot find the way out before the charge tends to find their bank afterwards.
One email per moment. A reminder a few days before, perhaps the last day, one after it lapses. Stop the moment they pay or cancel.

And what not to write: “Last chance!”, countdown timers, “your account will be deleted” when it will not be, or a discount in the first reminder, which tells them the price was never the real price.

Who sends the reminder: you or Stripe

If you bill through Stripe and your subscriptions start with a trial, Stripe can email the customer a reminder before the trial ends. It is a setting in the Billing email settings of your Stripe dashboard, so it may already be on, or off, without you having looked. Stripe also sends a customer.subscription.trial_will_end webhook event three days before a trial ends, for when you would rather send your own email from your app. Card network rules can expect a reminder before a free trial turns into a paid subscription, which is one reason the setting exists; check what applies to your business, as this is not compliance advice.

Let Stripe send the mechanical one if you are happy with how it reads: the reminder before a card-on-file trial converts is mostly a date, an amount and a link, and Stripe fills those in from the subscription itself. Read it first, and check where its link goes.
Send the personal ones yourself: the barely-used question, the extension and every reply to someone who writes back.
Never both for the same moment. Two reminders on the same morning read as two different charges. Turn one of them off.
If the trial lives only in your app and no Stripe subscription exists until they pay, none of this applies, and every email on this page is yours to send.

The replies are where the trial is decided

A trial ending email that asks a question gets answers: “can I have another week?”, “what is the difference between the plans?”, “please cancel, I forgot”. Each one is a small decision someone is waiting on, and the last is a charge you have to stop before a date. They land in your inbox next to everything else.

Moorline cannot extend a trial or cancel a subscription; that still happens in Stripe or your own admin. What it does is keep each reply on your list until it is handled and the customer has been told, with their Stripe plan and payments beside the thread, read-only, so you can see whether they have already been charged before you answer. When you send the barely-used question and wait, the conversation sits in waiting on them and comes back to you rather than going quiet. And if the first charge after a trial fails, the failed payment email templates cover what to send next.

Questions people ask

When should I send a trial ending email?

A few days before the trial ends, so the customer has time to decide without it slipping their mind, and early enough that cancelling is realistic if a card is on file. A short note on the last day and one after it lapses are optional. If the trial converts to paid automatically, check the card network and consumer rules that apply to you, since some expect a reminder a minimum number of days before the first charge; this is not legal advice.

What should a free trial ending email say?

The date the trial ends, the price after that and how often it is charged, what happens if they do nothing, and what happens to their data. Then one link to choose a plan or cancel, and a line saying they can reply to a person. If a card is on file, say the amount and the date of the first charge in so many words.

Does Stripe send an email when a trial is ending?

It can. Stripe has a setting in its Billing email settings to send customers a reminder before a subscription trial ends. It also sends a customer.subscription.trial_will_end webhook event three days before a trial ends, which you can use to send your own email instead. Check which is switched on before adding anything, or the customer hears it twice.

Should I ask for a card at the start of a free trial?

It is a trade-off, not a rule. With a card up front the trial converts on its own, which makes the reminder email essential and a forgotten cancellation more likely to become a refund request. Without one, every conversion is a decision the customer makes, and the ending email has to ask for it. Either way, say which kind of trial it is in the welcome email and again before it ends.

Should I offer to extend a free trial?

To someone who clearly did not get a fair try, yes, once. Signing up in a busy week is common, and a week more costs you nothing. Offered to everyone automatically, an extension just moves the decision and teaches people to wait for it.