Renewal dates in ClientSuccess drive several things — the Days to Renewal field on customer profiles, the Renewal Health report, automation triggers, and email placeholders. Understanding how the system calculates and displays renewal dates will save you from a lot of head-scratching when the numbers don't look right.
How "Days to Renewal" calculates
The Days to Renewal field on a customer profile is calculated from the end date of the customer's next upcoming active subscription. Specifically, ClientSuccess looks across all active subscription line items on the customer record and surfaces the earliest upcoming end date.
For a subscription to drive the Days to Renewal field, it must be:
Status: Active
Have a valid end date set in the future
Belong to a customer whose status is Active
If Days to Renewal is blank or not populating, check these things first:
Does the customer have at least one subscription with an end date set?
Is the subscription status set to Active (not Forecasted or Terminated)?
Is the customer's own status set to Active?
Customers with multiple active contracts
When a customer has more than one active subscription, Days to Renewal pulls from the contract with the earliest end date — not the largest, not the most recently added, but the soonest expiring.
This means if a customer has two contracts — one ending in 3 months and one ending in 18 months — Days to Renewal will show ~90 days, reflecting the nearer contract. Once that contract renews or terminates, the field will update to reflect the next upcoming end date.
If the field is showing a later date than you expect, check whether there's an earlier-ending contract on the customer record that may have been overlooked.
Linking renewal contracts with "Is Renewed By"
When a customer renews, ClientSuccess uses a contract relationship to connect the old contract to the new one. This is what allows the system to correctly calculate renewal ARR, track upsells and downsells, and avoid showing the renewal as churn.
To link a renewal contract:
Open the customer record and navigate to the Revenue / Subscriptions section.
Open the original (expiring) contract.
Find the Next (Is Renewed By) field.
Select the new renewal contract from the dropdown.
Save.
Don't see any options in the "Is Renewed By" dropdown? This means the new renewal contract hasn't been created yet, or it hasn't been set to the correct stage. The dropdown only shows contracts that exist on the same customer record and are in a valid stage. Create the new contract first, then come back to link it.
Once linked, ClientSuccess understands the relationship between the two contracts and will correctly categorize the transaction as a renewal (flat, upsell, or downsell) rather than churn followed by a new deal.
Early renewals and overlapping dates
Early renewals — where the new contract is booked and linked before the original contract's end date — are common and fully supported. Here's how to handle them cleanly:
Create the new renewal contract with its correct start date (which will be the day after the original contract ends).
Set the new contract's stage to reflect it's been booked (e.g. Closed Won).
Link the original contract to the new one using the Is Renewed By field (see above).
By linking them, ClientSuccess knows the customer is renewing — not churning — and cARR will reflect the committed renewal value immediately at the booking date, while ARR will update when the new start date arrives.
Renewing multiple contracts into one? If a customer has several separate contracts you want to consolidate into a single renewal, create one new contract covering the combined value and link each of the expiring contracts to it using Is Renewed By. ClientSuccess supports multiple contracts pointing to the same renewal.
Renewal date in automations and email placeholders
When you use renewal date placeholders in automation emails — such as ##{{customer.renewal_date}} — ClientSuccess uses the same logic as the Days to Renewal field: it pulls the earliest active subscription end date on the customer record.
If automation emails are showing the wrong renewal date, check:
Are there forecasted contracts with end dates? Forecasted contracts can sometimes interfere with the renewal date calculation. Make sure only active, live contracts have end dates set if they're not yet started.
Is the placeholder pulling from cARR vs ARR? Some automation configurations pull from committed values. If you have a future-dated renewal already booked, that contract's end date may be what's surfacing.
Is the trigger firing at the right time? Automations trigger based on a snapshot of data at the time they fire. If a contract end date changed after the automation was set up, check that the trigger conditions still match.
If you need an automation that triggers more than 365 days before a renewal, note that ClientSuccess automation triggers currently support date-based rules up to 365 days in advance. For longer lead times, consider using a custom date field populated via integration or manual entry and triggering off that field instead.
Common questions
Days to Renewal is blank even though I've added a subscription
Three things to check: (1) Does the subscription have an end date set? Days to Renewal won't populate without one. (2) Is the subscription stage set to Active? Forecasted or Terminated subscriptions don't drive the field. (3) Is the customer's status Active? Inactive or terminated customers won't show a Days to Renewal value.
Days to Renewal is showing the wrong date
It's showing the earliest end date across all active contracts — not necessarily the one you're thinking of. Check whether the customer has other active subscriptions with earlier end dates. If a contract that should have ended is still showing as Active, update its status to Terminated.
My early renewal is showing as churn in reports
This happens when the new renewal contract hasn't been linked to the original using the Is Renewed By relationship. Without that link, ClientSuccess reads the original contract ending as churn and the new contract as a new deal. Link them and the reports will recalculate correctly.
If I remove a Success Plan, will Days to Renewal change?
No. Days to Renewal is driven by subscription end dates, not Success Plans. Removing or changing a Success Plan has no effect on the renewal date field.
Days to Renewal looks different in sandbox vs production
Sandbox and production environments maintain separate data sets. If subscription data is different between the two environments, the Days to Renewal calculation will differ accordingly. If the sandbox appears to be on an older version of the platform, contact support to confirm both environments are running the same release.