Tier-Aware Email Is Non-Negotiable

If your SaaS has pricing tiers, every email you send should know which tier the recipient is on. A free user receiving an email about Enterprise features is confused at best, annoyed at worst. A Pro user getting upgrade prompts for the plan they already have is a trust killer.

The foundation of tiered email marketing is a clean plan attribute on every contact. When users change tiers, that attribute updates and their communication track shifts automatically. This sounds basic, but it is where most tiered SaaS companies fail. They set up onboarding but forget to adjust when users upgrade, downgrade, or churn.

Feature Gates Are Your Best Upgrade Trigger

Forget time-based upgrade campaigns. The highest-converting upgrade moment in tiered SaaS is when a user tries to use a feature they do not have access to. They have just demonstrated intent. They want the feature. They know it exists. All your email needs to do is show them the path.

Build event triggers for every major feature gate. When someone clicks a Pro-only feature on the Free plan, fire an event. Have a sequence ready that acknowledges what they tried to do, shows examples of what is possible with that feature, and provides a simple upgrade path. This behavioral approach converts at multiples of generic upgrade emails.

The Downgrade Conversation

Downgrades are an opportunity, not a failure. A user visiting your downgrade page is telling you something: they are not getting enough value from their current tier to justify the cost. The right email at this moment is not a panic discount. It is a genuine question: what changed?

Show them their usage data. Highlight features they actively use that are not in the lower tier. And if their usage genuinely fits a lower tier, let them downgrade gracefully. A user who downgrades happily will upgrade again when their needs grow. A user who feels trapped will leave entirely.