If you sell software with the Easy Digital Downloads extensions Software Licensing or Recurring, Hive Mail can email your customers when a license is about to expire, has expired or was renewed, and when a subscription renews, a payment fails or it is cancelled. These are part of Hive Mail Pro (Requirements and installation). Each set of triggers, rules and merge tags shows only while its extension is active. For the rest of the Easy Digital Downloads features, see Easy Digital Downloads with Hive Mail.
Triggers #
In a flow, open What starts the flow and look in the Easy Digital Downloads group.
| Trigger | Starts when | Settings (default) |
|---|---|---|
| Easy Digital Downloads: a license is about to expire | A license comes within the number of days of expiring | Days before it expires (1 to 365, 30) |
| Easy Digital Downloads: a license has expired | A license has expired | Days after it expired (0 = the day it expires) (0 to 365, 1) |
| Easy Digital Downloads: a license was renewed | Software Licensing renews a license, the moment the customer pays for the renewal | None |
| Easy Digital Downloads: a subscription renewed | Recurring records a renewal payment (not the first payment) | None |
| Easy Digital Downloads: a renewal payment failed | A subscription goes to "failing" because a payment did not go through | None |
| Easy Digital Downloads: a subscription was cancelled | A subscription is cancelled, by the customer or by you | None |
All six also have Download (any when empty), to limit the flow to one product, and Add customers who are not contacts yet (on): customers who are not contacts become transactional contacts, so the flow's transactional emails reach them and marketing emails never do.
Expiry is checked once a day. Software Licensing does not announce an expiry by itself, so Hive Mail looks at your licenses once a day. A license starts the flow once per expiry date, so a renewed license can start it again next year. A license that was renewed in the meantime is not started. Lifetime and disabled licenses never start it. When you switch an "about to expire" flow on, licenses that already expire within its days start at the next daily check. An "expired" flow ignores licenses that expired more than 30 days before, so switching it on does not email people about licenses that lapsed long ago.
Each renewal, failed payment or cancellation starts the flow once. See Triggers.
Rules for segments, If and Goal #
The rule editor's Easy Digital Downloads group has two more rules. A contact is matched to the customer by email address.
| Rule | Choices |
|---|---|
| Software Licensing license | has a license that expires within N days / has a license that has expired / has a license that is active / has licenses and none of them is active |
| Recurring subscription | has a subscription that is / has subscriptions and none is: Active, Payment failing, Cancelled, Expired, Completed or Pending |
A lifetime license counts as active and never expires. Use them as a Goal or an If so a reminder stops when the license was renewed or the payment was fixed (Waits, conditions, goals and splits, Segments).
Merge tags #
| License tag | Shows |
|---|---|
{{license_product}} |
The product the license is for |
{{license_key}} |
The license key |
{{license_expires}} |
The date it expires ("never (a lifetime license)" if it does not) |
{{license_renew_url}} |
The link that renews it |
{{licenses_url}} |
The page where the customer manages their licenses |
| Subscription tag | Shows |
|---|---|
{{subscription_product}} |
The product |
{{subscription_amount}} |
What each payment costs |
{{subscription_next_payment}} |
The date of the next payment |
{{subscription_update_url}} |
The link to update the payment method |
{{subscriptions_url}} |
The page where the customer manages their subscriptions |
They are filled in when the email is sent, from the license or subscription that started the flow. See Merge tags and fallbacks.
Ready-made automations and emails #
Five recipes under Automation > Automation recipes (Automation recipes). Each makes a Draft flow, and shows only when Easy Digital Downloads and the extension it is about are active.
| Recipe | What it does |
|---|---|
| License renewal reminders (Software Licensing) | Three calm reminders: a month, a week and a day before expiry. Each checks that the license has not been renewed, so someone who renews after the first never gets the others |
| License expired: notice and a follow-up (Software Licensing) | The day after it expires, a plain notice of what changes and how to renew. Two weeks later, if every license is still lapsed, one friendly note asking whether they still want updates |
| License renewed: a thank-you (Software Licensing) | A short thank-you the moment a license is renewed, with the new date |
| Failed renewal payment: three reminders (EDD Recurring) | At once, then three days and four days later, each with a button to update the payment method. Each checks that the subscription is still failing |
| Subscription cancelled: a note, then a way back (EDD Recurring) | A day after it is cancelled, a short note on what happens next. Two weeks later, if they have not come back, a friendly note that they are welcome |
The 11 emails are starters in the template picker: License expiring: 30 days, License expiring: 7 days, License expiring: tomorrow, License expired, License expired: still there?, License renewed: thank you, Subscription: payment did not go through, Subscription: payment still failing, Subscription: last reminder, Subscription cancelled: sorry to see you go and Subscription: come back any time. The reminders and notices are neutral service emails about the customer's own license or subscription. The two that invite someone back are marketing, so they reach only people who gave permission. See Starter designs and seasonal recipes.
Tip: Keep reminders about a customer's own license or payment free of offers. A promotion in a Transactional email skips the unsubscribe link and reaches people who opted out.
