Domain renewal reminder emails for clients: 3 copy-paste templates
By the RenewRoster team · · 6 min read
The registrar's renewal emails go to whoever holds the registrar account. When that's your agency, the client hears nothing until you tell them. When it's the client, their reminder often lands in an old inbox nobody reads. Either way, a short email from you, sent on time, is what actually keeps the domain alive.
Below are three reminders that cover most renewals: an early heads-up, a follow-up, and a final notice. Each comes in two versions, because what you ask the client for depends on who controls the registrar account.
When to send them
- 60 days before expiry: the heads-up. Plenty of time for the client to approve a cost, update a card or hand over access.
- 14 days before: the follow-up, only if nothing has happened yet.
- 3 to 5 days before: the final notice. Short, specific, and clear about what breaks.
Sixty days sounds early, but it's the reminder that saves you. Approvals sit in someone's inbox, cards expire, and the person who owns the registrar login is on holiday. Starting early means the later emails are rarely needed.
Template 1: the 60-day heads-up
Subject: [domain] renews on [date]
If you manage the renewal and bill it back:
Hi [first name],
Quick heads-up: [domain] is due to renew on [date]. We'll renew it for another year at [price], added to your next invoice.
Nothing to do unless you'd rather not renew, or you want to move it into your own registrar account. Just reply and let us know.
Thanks, [your name], [agency]
If the client owns the registrar account:
Hi [first name],
Your domain [domain] is due to renew on [date] at [registrar]. It's what keeps your website and email working, so it's worth checking now that auto-renew is on and the card on file is still valid.
If you'd like us to take care of it, add us to the account or reply and we'll walk you through it.
Thanks, [your name], [agency]
Template 2: the 14-day follow-up
Subject: Action needed: [domain] renews in 2 weeks
Hi [first name],
Following up on [domain], which renews on [date]. We haven't seen [approval / the renewal go through] yet.
Could you [reply to approve the renewal / check auto-renew and the card at [registrar]] this week? If it lapses, your website and email addresses on [domain] stop working, and getting it back after expiry usually costs more than the renewal.
Thanks, [your name]
Template 3: the final notice
Subject: Urgent: [domain] expires on [date]
Hi [first name],
[domain] expires on [date], [N] days from now, and it hasn't been renewed. After that date your website and email on this domain can stop working.
To keep it, please [reply "approve" today / renew it at [registrar] now]. If you've decided to let it go, reply and tell us so we can update our records.
[your name], [agency], [phone]
Asking them to confirm they're letting it go matters. It turns "the agency forgot" into a written decision by the client.
A version for SSL certificates
Most certificates now renew automatically, and public certificate lifetimes are shrinking, falling to 47 days by 2029. You rarely need to email a client about an ordinary renewal. You do need to email when automatic renewal fails, or when the client pays for a certificate themselves:
Subject: The security certificate on [hostname] expires on [date]
Hi [first name],
The security (SSL) certificate on [hostname] expires on [date] and hasn't renewed. Once it expires, visitors will see a "not secure" warning instead of your site.
[We're fixing it on our side and will confirm once it's done. / Your host, [host], manages this certificate. Please ask them to renew it, or give us access and we'll handle it.]
[your name]
Want them filled in for a specific domain? Use the free renewal reminder email generator.
Tips that make these work
- Name the exact domain and date. "Your domain is expiring" reads like phishing; "[domain] renews on 14 March" doesn't.
- Say what breaks. Clients understand "your website and email stop working", not "the domain enters redemption".
- Send from your agency's address, not a no-reply. You want the reply.
- Ask for one thing. Approve, check the card, or grant access. Not all three.
- Record what you sent. If the domain lapses anyway, a dated record of three reminders ends the argument. Pair it with a clear renewal clause in your contract.
Sending these without a calendar full of reminders
The hard part isn't writing the emails; it's knowing which of 80 client domains renews in 60 days. Start by pasting your client list into the free bulk domain expiry lookup to see every expiry date at once.
RenewRoster does the rest on its own: it reads each domain's expiry from public registry records, checks the certificate each site serves, alerts your team at 60, 30, 14 and 3 days, and on paid plans sends these client reminders under your agency's name and logo. It's free for 5 domains, no card needed.
Let RenewRoster watch every renewal for you
RenewRoster tracks every client's domain and SSL expiry dates, sends reminders at 60, 30, 14 and 3 days (under your agency's brand if you like) and gives you a monthly renewals report. Free for 5 domains, no card needed.