Combine renewal campaigns with retention flows and special recognition for VIP customers, ensuring continuous engagement and appreciation.
About the Growth Play
Managing renewals and recognizing your most loyal customers shouldn't be an afterthought but too often, they are. Many teams rely on last-minute renewal emails or one-size-fits-all loyalty programs. The result? Higher churn, reduced loyalty, and missed opportunities to turn great customers into lifelong advocates.
This Growbook shows you how to use Intempt to unify your renewal, retention, and VIP recognition strategies into one connected system. You'll track engagement signals, build dynamic segments for at-risk and high-value users, and trigger tailored journeys - so that every user feels seen, supported, and rewarded.
We'll use Otto, a demo SaaS platform, as an example.
TL;DR
Track user activity and behavioral signals to identify accounts nearing renewal, disengaging users, and high-value VIPs.
Build dynamic segments like "Renewal Approaching," "Slipping Users," and "VIP Users" that update in real time.
Trigger tailored journeys for each group - from renewal reminders to feature nudges to VIP recognition emails.
Personalize in-product experiences: show different CTAs, dashboards, or banners based on engagement or plan.
Use unified Journey and Experience analytics to monitor performance and optimize over time.
Result: A system that renews proactively, retains intelligently, and rewards loyalty at scale.
Benefits
Drive timely renewals: Identify accounts approaching renewal dates and nudge them with personalized, well-timed campaigns.
Prevent churn before it starts: Detect early signs of disengagement and automate proactive retention journeys.
Recognize your best customers: Deliver exclusive perks, offers, or recognition to high-value accounts based on behavior, not just spend.
Build long-term loyalty: Use automated journeys to keep users engaged and appreciated throughout their lifecycle.
How It Works
Step 1: Track user engagement
Install Intempt's JavaScript SDK: Begin tracking user and account activity across your app or site.
Check or define key Events: 'login', 'created an object', 'created ml task' and 'invite team members' - along with others you define - representing meaningful actions across levels to provide the behavioral and lifecycle signals needed for renewal and VIP segmentation.
Step 2: Create real-time segments
Navigate to segments and define the following:
"Renewal Approaching": 'Subscribed to a basic plan' has been performed in the last 27 days and 'subscribed to premium plan' has not been performed in the last 5 days.
"Slipping Users": 'Login' has not been performed in the last 14 days and 'created an object' and 'created ml task' has not been performed in the last 10 days.
"VIP Users": 'Login' has been performed at least 10 times in the past 30 days and 'subscribed to premium plan' has been performed in the last 1 month.
These segments update dynamically based on real-time user and account behavior.
Step 3: Build multi-branch journeys
Go to Journeys, and build three separate flows:
a. Renewal Journey
Trigger: Segment - "Renewal Approaching"
Day 0: Reminder email with renewal CTA
Day 2: Feature highlights or value recap
Day 5: Personalized message and offers
Optional branch: Additional offer incentive if no response
b. Retention Journey
Trigger: Segment - "Slipping Accounts"
Day 0: Friendly check-in ("Need help getting value from Otto?")
Day 2: Suggested feature not yet used
Day 4: Link to async product walkthrough or quick call
Exit if user re-engages with core feature
c. VIP Recognition Journey
Trigger: Segment - "VIP Accounts"
Day 0: "Thanks for being a valued customer" email with badge or gift
Day 3: Invite to roadmap preview or customer advisory panel
Day 7: Early access to a new feature or beta program
Step 4: Personalize site content for VIPs and Slipping Users
In Experiences, create personalized experiences for the "VIP Accounts" segment:
Homepage header: "Welcome back! You're one of our top customers, here's what's new."
Pricing page: Highlight premium features unlocked
Dashboard: Display badge or loyalty streak tracker
Create an Experience for the "Slipping Users" segment:
Homepage banner → "We haven't seen you in a while. Need help finding what's valuable to you?"
Dashboard CTA → Suggest a feature they haven't used yet: "Try automating your first project - it's just a 3-minute setup."
Navigation bar → Add a "Get Help" or "Restart Onboarding" shortcut for quick reactivation
Step 5: Monitor journey and experiences performance
Use Journey Analytics to track:
Entered
Messaged
Converted (e.g., renewal completed, core feature used, VIP invite accepted)
Exited
Use Experience Analytics to track: Conversion rate, Lift.
Create Dashboard in Analytics and add the Journey and Experience Metrics to get a unified analytics view.
Iterate and scale
Add branches for different renewal plans (monthly vs annual).
Expand VIP criteria to include product usage depth or NPS.
Layer in A/B tests to optimize message timing, copy, and offer type.
Frequently asked questions. Answered.
Track meaningful engagement signals: login frequency, core feature usage (like creating objects or tasks), team invites, and subscription events. These tell you who's actively getting value, who's slipping away, and who's due for renewal. The combination of subscription timing and engagement behavior is what makes your segments smart.
Base it on subscription timing. For example, users who subscribed to a basic plan in the last 27 days but haven't upgraded to premium in the last 5 days. Adjust the timeframe based on your billing cycle. The goal is to catch users before their renewal date so you have time to nudge them, not after they've already lapsed.
Look for declining engagement signals. For example, users who haven't logged in for 14 days and haven't performed key actions like creating tasks in the last 10 days. These are people who were active but are now pulling back. Catching them early gives you a chance to re-engage before they fully disengage.
Start with a reminder email that includes a clear renewal CTA. A couple of days later, send a value recap highlighting features they've used or benefits they've received. If they still haven't renewed, send a personalized offer or incentive. Add a branch condition to trigger an extra discount if there's no response to earlier messages.
Create Experiences targeted to each segment. For VIPs, show a welcome message acknowledging their status, highlight premium features, and display loyalty badges on their dashboard. For slipping users, show a banner inviting them back, suggest underused features, and add shortcuts to help or restart onboarding. Same site, different experience based on who's visiting.
Use Journey Analytics to track entered, messaged, converted (renewal completed, feature used, VIP invite accepted), and exited. Use Experience Analytics to track conversion rate and lift for your personalized content. Build a unified dashboard combining journey and experience metrics so you can see the full picture and optimize over time.
About the author
Sid Chaudhary
Founder & CEO
Sid is the Founder and CEO of Intempt. He writes about AI-powered marketing, customer data, and growth strategy for B2B and e-commerce teams.
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