Renewal automation

An automated renewal process reduces churn for lower-value orders while lowering costs. Instead of requiring sales representatives or partners to contact customers about renewals, Cleverbridge can automatically identify eligible subscriptions, send personalized renewal offers, and process payments without manual intervention.

Automation works best for high-volume, low-touch renewals — while more complex cases, such as those requiring formal approval, may be better handled with renewal quotes.

Key benefits

• Eliminate Manual Processes: Renewing a high volume of low-value subscriptions manually takes significant time, money, and manpower. Automation removes these repetitive tasks—freeing your sales team to focus on high-value opportunities and sparing your partners, reps, and customers the friction of manual renewals.

• Deliver a Better Customer Experience: Smaller customers often get left behind without easy self-service options. Moving from offline to online renewals makes the process simple, fast, and customer-friendly.

• Reduce Churn: For low-value segments, sales teams and partners may have little incentive to chase renewals. Automated renewal flows ensure these customers don’t slip away—reducing churn while lowering operational costs.

• Maintain One System of Record: Even if some renewals are processed through automated ecommerce, you can keep all subscription data in a single system of record. The Cleverbridge platform integrates seamlessly with CRM tools like Salesforce, consolidating all customer and renewal information in one place.

Automation set-up

To automate your subscription renewal process, move your existing subscriptions to the Cleverbridge platform using the following flow:

1. Create a purchase link: Create a link and add the following parameters for mapping and customer experience purposes:

   • internalcustomer: Assign your unique customer identifier (UUID) to the parameter so that you can map the individual within your system.

   • dp: Add a unique renewal date for the customer using the dynamic product parameter.

   • languageid: Assign the language code to the parameter. This corresponds to the customer's preferred language (ISO 639-1).

   • currencyid: Assign the currency code to the parameter. This corresponds to the customer's preferred currency (ISO 4217).

   • Add the customer's existing billing profile to make the renewal as seamless as possible.

     https://www.cleverbridge.com/864/purl-checkout
     ?internalcustomer=UUID-YOUR-UNIQUE-ID-1234-5678
     &dp_97771=__RENEWALDATE:20201015__CHECKSUM:71B696A71870AF93636EDD23E88B7789
     &currency=EUR
     &language=de
     &billingCity=Bonn
     &billingCompany=Acme%20Inc.
     &billingCountryId=DE
     &billingEmail=han.solo%40cleverbridge.com
     &billingFirstname=Han
     &billingLastname=Solo
     &billingPostalcode=53123
     &billingStreet1=123%20Falcon%20Way
     &deliveryCity=Bonn
     &deliveryCompany=Acme%20Inc.
     &deliveryEmail=han.solo%40cleverbridge.com
     &deliveryFirstname=Han
     &deliveryLastname=Solo
     &deliveryPostalcode=53123
     &deliveryStreet1=123%20Kessel%20Run%20Way

2. Protect the purchase link: Call the Generate User Session URL API endpoint to protect the parameters in the TargetURL.

   curl --request POST \
   --url 'https://rest.cleverbridge.com/urlgenerator/generateusersessionurl' \
   --header 'accept: application/json' \
   --header 'content-type: application/json' \
   --header 'authorization: Basic xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' \
       --data '{
           "TargetUrl": "https%3A%2F%2Fhttps://www.cleverbridge.com%2F864%2Fpurl-checkout%3Finternalcustomer%3DUUID-YOUR-UNIQUE-ID-1234-5678%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3Bdp_97771%3D__RENEWALDATE%3A20201015__CHECKSUM%3A71B696A71870AF93636EDD23E88B7789%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3Bcurrency%3DEUR%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BLanguage%3Dde%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BbillingCity%3DBonn%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BbillingCompany%3DAcme%2520Inc.%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BbillingCountryId%3DDE%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BbillingEmail%3Dhan.solo%2540cleverbridge.com%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BbillingFirstname%3DHan%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BbillingLastname%3DSolo%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BbillingPostalcode%3D53123%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BbillingStreet1%3D123%2520Falcon%2520Way%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BdeliveryCity%3DBonn%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BdeliveryCompany%3DAcme%2520Inc.%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BdeliveryEmail%3Dhan.solo%2540cleverbridge.com%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BdeliveryFirstname%3DHan%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BdeliveryLastname%3DSolo%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BdeliveryPostalcode%3D53123%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BdeliveryStreet1%3D123%2520Kessel%2520Run%2520Way%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3BcopyBillingToLicenseeOut%3Dfalse%0A%09%09%09%09%09%26amp%3Bshowrcl%3Dfals"
           }'

3. Forward the customer to checkout process with protected link: In the checkout process, the customer is instructed on how to complete the transaction and submit their payment information. If the payment is successful, the customer receives a payment confirmation, as well as delivery details. If a key generator is configured for your account, a license key is generated in this process, and the license key is displayed in the delivery details.

4. Recieve a PaidOrderNotification: Cleverbridge sends you a PaidOrderNotification, which contains information that allows you to map the payment profile and update your local ecosystem (CRM, ERP, and so on). It includes:

   • internalCustomer - your unique customer identifier.

   • subscriptionID - the Cleverbridge subscription ID.

   • renewalType - whether the subscription has an automatic or manual renewal type.

   • intervalNumber - the current billing interval, which for initial sign-ups is always 0.

   • nextBillingDate - the next billing date which is calculated based on your product settings.

     {
         "meta": {
             "type": "PaidOrderNotification",
             "date": "2019-03-19T14:47:34.857671",
             "schemaUrl": "https://www.cleverbridge.com/JsonNotificationSchemas/PaidOrderNotification"
         },
         "purchaseId": 123456789,
         ...
         "internalCustomer": "UUID-YOUR-UNIQUE-ID-1234-5678",
         ...
         "items": [
             ...
             "recurringBilling": {
             "subscriptionId": "S12345678",
             ...
             "intervalNumber": 0,
             ...
             "nextBillingDate": "2020-03-19T14:47:34.857671",
             ...
             "renewalType": "Automatic"
             ...
             }],				
         ...
         }

Watch a video to understand the flow even better!

tip

To boost the effectiveness of your renewal campaigns, Cleverbridge also offers:

• Email Marketing – We tailor and run targeted email campaigns to maximize and automate renewals. Learn more in Email tactics and Email marketing services.
• Revenue Retention Tools – These tools help prevent involuntary churn from outdated payment details or failed transactions, improve the renewal experience for customers, and protect your revenue. Learn more in Collect Failed Online Payments Automatically.

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