Two license renewal email designs side by side. Left shows a poor example with red X icon, plain text, and a small blue text link saying 'your account'. Right shows a good example with green checkmark icon, same text content, but features a prominent black 'Renew now' button that makes the call-to-action obvious and clickable.
Marketing tip: Make your call-to-action impossible to miss.
Buttons beat text links every time.
The easiest way to increase conversions/payments/signups is to add a button to your renewal emails, landing pages, etc.
When in doubt, add a button.