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Never Miss a Renewal or Upsell

By the end of this recipe you'll have a self-updating watchlist that flags every account before its contract renews, spots the ones ready to expand, and nudges the right owner — so renewals stop slipping and upsell moments stop passing you by. Because your accounts, usage signals, conversations, and meetings all live in one workspace, the automation has the context to act on a renewal date instead of just reminding you a spreadsheet exists.

Readiness: Available now (built as Automations). The single named teammate that owns the watchlist and works it on its own schedule is rolling out in early access.

What it does​

The watchlist is three automations working together on one Accounts board, with a person always in the loop for anything customer-facing:

  1. Renewal radar — a set number of days before each account's renewal date (say 60), it flags the account, drafts renewal talking points from that account's own data, sets a follow-up date, and direct-messages the owner. If you want to reach out, it drafts the outreach email for the owner to review and send.
  2. Upsell watch — whenever a usage signal changes (seats used, usage percentage, health score), it checks a condition — for example, seats used has passed 90% of the plan limit — and if it's met, flags the row as an Expansion opportunity, drafts a pitch, and pings the owner.
  3. Weekly digest — every Monday it finds every account on the watchlist, turns the list into a readable digest ("4 renewals in the next 60 days, 3 accounts ready to expand"), and posts it to your revenue channel.

The first two react in real time to dates and signals; the third gives leadership a standing, scannable view. Together they surface the accounts that need attention instead of waiting for someone to remember to look.

Build it yourself​

One-time setup​

Create your Accounts board

Make a board with a table for accounts. Add columns for Account name, Owner (a people column), Renewal date (a date column), Contract value (number), Seats used and Plan seat limit (numbers), Health score (number or single-select), a Renewal stage single-select (options like Healthy, Renewal — Upcoming, At risk, Renewed), and an Upsell flag single-select (None, Expansion opportunity, Expansion in progress). This board is your CRM view, your watchlist, and your archive in one place.

Add an optional expansion score

If you want the upsell logic in one place, add a formula column — for example an Expansion score that rises as Seats used approaches Plan seat limit and the Health score stays high. You can trigger and branch on this single field instead of re-deriving the math in every automation.

Automation 1 — the renewal radar​

Trigger: Date reached

Add a Date reached trigger on the Renewal date column, set to fire 60 days before it. Because this trigger evaluates per row, it fires once for each account, exactly 60 days ahead of that account's own renewal.

Condition: Row filter

Add a Row filter condition so the flow only continues for accounts you actually manage — for example Renewal stage is not Renewed and Contract value is not empty. Combine checks with an AND group to keep it precise.

AI step: Generate the renewal brief

Add an AI → Generate step that writes short renewal talking points from the account's own fields — value, seats, health, and recent notes — so the owner walks into the conversation prepared. Want outside context too? Add an AI → Web research step first to pull recent news about the customer, and feed it into the brief.

Actions: Flag it and schedule the follow-up

Add a Set field action to move Renewal stage to Renewal — Upcoming (this is what puts the account on the watchlist), an Update row action to store the AI brief in a notes or description field, and a Set date relative action to set a Kickoff by date — for example, the renewal date minus 45 days.

Actions: Alert the owner (and draft the outreach)

Add a Send direct message action to the account Owner with the brief and a link to the row. If you want to reach out to the customer, add a Send or draft email action in draft mode so the owner reviews and sends the renewal email — nothing leaves for a customer without a person approving it.

tip

Fire a second, earlier Date reached trigger (say 90 days before) in its own automation for high-value accounts, and a later one (30 days before) as a last-call nudge. Layering two or three lead times turns a single reminder into a real renewal cadence.

Automation 2 — the upsell watch​

Trigger: Field changed

Add a Field changed trigger watching your usage signal — Seats used, a usage percentage, or Health score. It fires however that value changes: a CS manager updating it by hand, a formula recomputing, or an inbound webhook writing live product-usage data into the column.

Condition: Compare (or Formula)

Add a Compare condition for the expansion signal — for example Seats used greater than or equal to 90% of Plan seat limit — or a Formula condition on the Expansion score from setup. Add an AND group so it only continues when Upsell flag is None and Health score is strong, so you never pitch an unhappy account.

AI step: Generate the expansion pitch

Add an AI → Generate step that drafts a short next-best-action from the account's data — which plan or add-on fits, and why now — so the owner has a concrete angle instead of a vague "they look active."

Actions: Flag it and ping the owner

Add a Set field action to move Upsell flag to Expansion opportunity, an Update row action to store the pitch, and a Send direct message (or Send notification) to the Owner so they can act while the signal is hot.

Automation 3 — the weekly watchlist digest​

Trigger: Schedule

Add a Schedule trigger — for example every Monday at 8:00 AM — so the whole revenue team starts the week looking at the same list.

Action: Find rows

Add a Find rows action on the Accounts table with a Row filter that matches the watchlist: Renewal stage is Renewal — Upcoming OR Upsell flag is Expansion opportunity (use the any option to combine them). This is the set of accounts that need attention this week.

AI step: Write the digest

Add an AI → Generate (or AI → Summarize) step that turns those rows into a readable brief — grouped into "renewing soon" and "ready to expand," each with owner, value, and date — instead of a raw dump of records.

Action: Post it

Add a Post channel message action to your revenue or customer-success channel with the digest. Prefer to route by owner? Add a For each step over the found rows and a Send direct message action so every owner gets just their accounts. You can also add a Send or draft email to the revenue lead.

tip

Keep every automation on the same Accounts board so the three share one source of truth: the radar and the upsell watch write the flags, and the Monday digest reads them back. That closed loop is only possible because the data isn't scattered across a CRM, a spreadsheet, and a chat tool.

Or just ask Copera AI​

You don't have to build the graphs by hand. Open Ask Copera AI and describe the whole system:

"Create an Accounts board with columns for account name, owner, renewal date, contract value, seats used, plan seat limit, health score, a renewal stage, and an upsell flag. Then build an automation that 60 days before each renewal date flags the account, drafts renewal talking points, and DMs the owner. Add a second automation that when Seats used passes 90% of the plan limit flags the account as an expansion opportunity and notifies the owner. Finally, build one that every Monday finds every account that's renewing soon or ready to expand and posts a watchlist to our Revenue channel."

Ask Copera AI can create the board and its columns, then assemble all three automations for you. With the default Ask before acting permission mode, it shows a review card for each change before anything is created — so you approve the board and each automation before it exists. See What Copera AI Can Do for the full capability list.

Make it a standing teammate​

Early access

Standing AI teammates are rolling out gradually. When one is available in your workspace, a single named teammate — a "Renewal Manager" — can own this watchlist end to end: it watches renewal dates and usage signals, flags accounts, drafts the talking points, keeps the rows current, and posts the Monday digest to your revenue channel, all on its own schedule and under its own identity. A teammate works inside your workspace — it can create and update rows, post to channels, and DM owners, but it never deletes data and never sends outside the workspace, so customer-facing renewal emails still route through the automation's draft step for a person to send. Until teammates reach you, everything in this guide can be built today as an Automation. See AI teammates for what's coming.

Tips​

tip

Draft, don't auto-send, anything customer-facing. Renewal and expansion outreach should go out in draft mode so the owner reviews the wording before it reaches the account. Let the AI move fast internally and keep a human on the last mile.

tip

Push the flags back to your CRM. If your team lives in HubSpot, add a HubSpot → Upsert contact action to the renewal and upsell automations so the same signals appear on the record your reps already watch. Prefer Slack for alerts? Swap the channel message for a Slack → Message action. See Connectors.

tip

Set a spend cap on the digest. Because the weekly digest reads many rows and writes AI text, give it a per-automation spend cap so a large book of business can never run past a budget you choose, and check the usage dashboard to see where credits go.

tip

Start with renewals, add upsell later. Get the Date reached radar solid and trusted first — it's the highest-stakes miss. Once owners rely on it, turn on the upsell watch and the Monday digest.

Frequently Asked Questions​

Can Copera remind me before a contract renews?​

Yes. A Date reached trigger fires a set number of days before each account's renewal date — 60 days ahead, for example. The automation flags the account, drafts renewal talking points with an AI step, and direct-messages the owner, so a renewal never sneaks up on anyone.

How does Copera spot upsell opportunities?​

A Field changed trigger watches a usage signal — seats used, usage percentage, or a health score. When your condition is met (for example, seats used passes 90% of the plan limit) the automation flags the row as an expansion opportunity, drafts a pitch, and notifies the owner.

Does Copera email the customer automatically?​

Only if you choose that. The recommended pattern uses the Send or draft email action in draft mode, so the AI prepares the outreach and the owner reviews and sends it. Nothing reaches a customer without a person approving it first.

Can I get a weekly list of accounts up for renewal?​

Yes. A Schedule trigger runs every Monday, a Find rows action pulls every account on the watchlist, an AI step turns them into a readable digest, and a Post channel message action drops it in your revenue channel.

Do I need a separate CRM to run a renewal watchlist?​

No. You can run the whole watchlist on a Copera Accounts board, where renewal dates, usage, owners, and your conversations already sit together. If your accounts live in HubSpot, the HubSpot connector can upsert the same signals back to your CRM.