Setting up automated renewal reminders for customer success teams in Tray

If you’re tired of chasing spreadsheets and sending last-minute emails every time a customer renewal is coming up, you’re not alone. Most customer success teams know the pain: missed reminders, awkward “Oops, your contract expired” calls, and a lot of manual busywork. The good news? With Tray, you can automate those reminders and free up your team for more important stuff. Here’s how to actually get it working—minus the fluff.

Why Automate Renewal Reminders Anyway?

Let’s be blunt: relying on humans to remember every renewal is a recipe for mistakes. Even the best CSM will forget. Automating reminders means:

  • Fewer missed renewals (read: less lost revenue and awkward apologies)
  • More time for your team to focus on, you know, helping customers
  • Less manual data entry, which no one enjoys

But automation isn’t magic. It’s only as good as the setup. Get it right, and it saves you hours. Get it wrong, and you’ve got annoyed customers getting the wrong message at the wrong time.

What You’ll Need Before You Start

Before you touch anything in Tray, make sure you’ve got:

  • A source of truth for renewal dates.
  • Usually your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.), but maybe a database or even Google Sheets.
  • Reliable customer contact info.
  • No point sending reminders if you’re not sure who to send them to.
  • Access to Tray and the right permissions.
  • A clear idea of how far in advance you want to send reminders.
  • 30 days? 14 days? Both? Decide now.

Don’t have all that? Pause here and get it sorted. Half-baked data leads to half-baked automation.

Step 1: Map Out Your Reminder Workflow

Don’t skip this step. Even a rough diagram on paper is better than building blind. Ask:

  • Where do renewal dates live?
  • Who should get the reminder? (CSMs, customers, both?)
  • What should the reminder say?
  • How often should reminders go out?

Pro tip: Start simple—one reminder email, 14 days before renewal. You can always add more later. Overcomplicate it, and you’ll be debugging for weeks.

Step 2: Connect Your Data Source to Tray

Now, log into Tray and create a new workflow.

If you’re using a CRM:

  • Use Tray’s built-in connectors for Salesforce, HubSpot, or whatever you use.
  • Authenticate and test the connection. (Seriously, don’t skip the test.)
  • Pull in accounts or opportunities with a renewal date field.

If you’re using a spreadsheet or database:

  • Tray connects to Google Sheets, Airtable, and more.
  • Make sure your sheet/database is up to date and includes:
    • Customer name
    • Renewal date
    • Contact email
  • Set up the Tray connector and fetch the relevant data.

What to watch out for:
Garbage in, garbage out. If your renewal dates are missing or wrong, your reminders will be too.

Step 3: Set Up a Scheduled Trigger

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Use Tray’s scheduled trigger to:

  • Run the workflow daily (or weekly, if that’s enough).
  • Each run, fetch all customers with a renewal date in the chosen window (e.g. “renewal date = today + 14 days”).

Why not real-time triggers?
They sound cool, but for renewals, daily is fine. Real-time just adds complexity without real benefit.

Step 4: Filter and Format the Data

You’ll probably get more records than you need. So:

  • Add a filter step to include only customers whose renewal date matches your criteria.
  • Check for missing emails, weird date formats, duplicates, etc.
  • Format the data: fix up names, dates, whatever you want to appear in the reminder.

Pro tip: If your data is a mess, fix it at the source. Tray can do basic cleaning, but it’s not a full ETL platform.

Step 5: Compose and Send the Reminder

Here’s where you decide how the reminder goes out.

Option 1: Email

  • Use Tray’s built-in email connector, or connect to Gmail/Outlook.
  • Write a clear subject and body. Personalize with merge fields (customer name, renewal date, etc.).
  • Test with your own email first.

Option 2: Slack/Teams

  • Great for internal reminders to CSMs.
  • Use Tray’s Slack or Teams connector, format the message, and send to the right channel or user.

Option 3: CRM Task

  • Some teams prefer to create a task or notification in the CRM instead of (or as well as) an email.
  • Tray can create tasks in Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.

Honest take:
Start with email. It’s easiest to set up and troubleshoot. Add Slack or CRM tasks later if you need them.

Step 6: Test the Workflow (Don’t Skip This)

Testing isn’t glamorous, but it’s where most people screw up.

  • Set up a test record with your own email and a fake renewal date.
  • Run the workflow. Did you get the reminder? Does it look right?
  • Try edge cases: missing data, weird dates, duplicate emails.
  • Check that reminders aren’t sent multiple times for the same renewal.

What not to do:
Don’t test in production with real customers. One bad email to a customer is all it takes to lose trust.

Step 7: Monitor and Maintain

You’re not done after launch. Check regularly that the reminders are going out as expected.

  • Set up a “success” notification to yourself or your team (e.g., “5 reminders sent today”).
  • Watch out for errors or failed runs in Tray. Fix them fast.
  • Check with your CSMs and customers—are the reminders helpful, or annoying?

Be honest:
Automation isn’t “set and forget.” Stuff breaks. Data changes. People change jobs. Plan to review the setup at least once a quarter.

Common Pitfalls (and How to Dodge Them)

  • Bad data: Most reminder failures trace back to missing or wrong data. Spend more time cleaning your source, less time hacking fixes in Tray.
  • Too many reminders: Don’t spam people. One well-timed reminder beats five ignored ones.
  • Everyone gets the same message: Personalize, even if it’s just adding a name and date.
  • No way to stop reminders: Build in logic to exclude customers who’ve already renewed or churned.

What to Ignore

  • Fancy branching logic: Until you’ve got the basics working, skip complicated “if this, then that” flows.
  • Multiple channels at launch: Start with email. Add Slack, SMS, or other channels later if it’s worth the effort.
  • Over-engineering: Don’t build for every possible scenario on day one. You’ll burn out.

Wrapping Up

Automating renewal reminders in Tray isn’t rocket science, but it’s easy to overthink. Start simple: connect your data, set up a scheduled reminder, and test the heck out of it. Once it’s working, tweak and improve. Keep it straightforward, and you’ll save your team hours—and maybe a few awkward customer calls. Remember: the best automation is the one you actually use, not the one that looks good in a diagram.