feat: classy dark one-pager with modal, webhook, shiny gold, sticky nav
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oliver
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# Cancel Flow Patterns
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Detailed cancel flow patterns by business type, billing provider, and industry.
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---
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## Cancel Flow by Business Type
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### B2C / Self-Serve SaaS
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High volume, low touch. The flow must work without human intervention.
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**Flow structure:**
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```
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Cancel button → Exit survey (1 question) → Dynamic offer → Confirm → Post-cancel
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```
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**Characteristics:**
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- Fully automated, no human in the loop
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- Quick — 2-3 screens maximum
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- One offer + one fallback, not a menu of options
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- Mobile-optimized (significant cancellations on mobile)
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- Clear "continue cancelling" at every step
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**Typical save rate:** 20-30%
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**Example flow for a $29/mo productivity app:**
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1. "What's the main reason?" → 6 options
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2. Selected "Too expensive" → "Get 25% off for 3 months (save $21.75)"
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3. Declined → "Or switch to our Starter plan at $12/mo"
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4. Declined → "We're sorry to see you go. Your access continues until [date]."
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---
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### B2B / Team Plans
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Lower volume, higher stakes. Personal outreach is worth the cost.
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**Flow structure:**
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```
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Cancel button → Exit survey → Offer (or route to CS) → Confirm → Post-cancel
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```
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**Characteristics:**
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- Route accounts above MRR threshold to customer success
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- Show team impact ("Your 8 team members will lose access")
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- Offer admin-to-admin call for enterprise accounts
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- Longer consideration — allow "schedule a call" as a save option
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- Require admin/owner role to cancel (not any team member)
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**Typical save rate:** 30-45% (higher because of personal touch)
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**MRR-based routing:**
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| Account MRR | Cancel Flow |
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|-------------|-------------|
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| <$100/mo | Automated flow with offers |
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| $100-$500/mo | Automated + flag for CS follow-up |
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| $500-$2,000/mo | Route to CS before cancel completes |
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| $2,000+/mo | Block self-serve cancel, require CS call |
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---
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### Freemium / Free-to-Paid
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Users cancelling paid to return to free tier. Different psychology — they're not leaving, they're downgrading.
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**Flow structure:**
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```
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Cancel button → "Switch to Free?" prompt → Exit survey (if still cancelling) → Offer → Confirm
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```
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**Characteristics:**
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- Lead with the free tier as the first option (not a save offer)
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- Show what they keep on free vs. what they lose
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- The "save" is keeping them on free, not losing them entirely
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- Track free-tier users for future re-upgrade campaigns
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---
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## Cancel Flow by Billing Interval
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### Monthly Subscribers
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- More price-sensitive, shorter commitment
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- Discount offers work well (20-30% for 2-3 months)
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- Pause is effective (1-2 months)
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- Suggest annual plan at a discount as an alternative
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**Offer priority:**
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1. Discount (if reason = price)
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2. Pause (if reason = not using / temporary)
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3. Annual plan switch (if engaged but price-sensitive)
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### Annual Subscribers
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- Higher commitment, often cancelling for stronger reasons
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- Prorate refund expectations matter
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- Longer save window (they've already paid)
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- Personal outreach more justified (higher LTV at stake)
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**Offer priority:**
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1. Pause remainder of term (if temporary)
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2. Plan adjustment + credit for next renewal
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3. Personal outreach from CS
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4. Partial refund + downgrade (better than full refund + cancel)
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**Refund handling:**
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- Offer prorated refund if significant time remaining
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- "Pause until renewal" if less than 3 months left
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- Be generous — bad refund experiences create vocal detractors
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---
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## Save Offer Patterns
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### The Discount Ladder
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Don't lead with your biggest discount. Escalate:
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```
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Cancel click → 15% off → Still cancelling → 25% off → Still cancelling → Let them go
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```
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**Rules:**
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- Maximum 2 discount offers per cancel session
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- Never exceed 30% (higher trains cancel-for-discount behavior)
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- Time-limit discounts (2-3 months, then full price resumes)
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- Track discount accepters — if they cancel again at full price, don't re-offer
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### The Pause Playbook
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Pause is often better than a discount because it doesn't devalue your product.
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**Implementation:**
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| Setting | Recommendation |
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|---------|---------------|
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| Pause duration options | 1 month, 2 months, 3 months |
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| Default selection | 1 month (shortest) |
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| Maximum pause | 3 months (longer pauses rarely return) |
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| During pause | Keep data, remove access |
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| Reactivation | Auto-reactivate with 7-day advance email |
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| Repeat pauses | Allow 1 pause per 12-month period |
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**Pause reactivation sequence:**
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- Day -7: "Your pause ends in 7 days. We've been busy — here's what's new."
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- Day -1: "Welcome back tomorrow! Here's what's waiting for you."
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- Day 0: "You're back! Here's a quick tour of what's new."
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### The Downgrade Path
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For multi-plan products, downgrade is the strongest save:
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```
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┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
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│ Before you go, what about right-sizing │
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│ your plan? │
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│ │
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│ Current: Pro ($49/mo) │
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│ │
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│ ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │
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│ │ Switch to Starter ($19/mo) │ │
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│ │ │ │
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│ │ ✓ Keep: Projects, integrations │ │
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│ │ ✗ Lose: Advanced analytics, │ │
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│ │ team features │ │
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│ │ │ │
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│ │ [Switch to Starter] │ │
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│ └─────────────────────────────────┘ │
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│ │
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│ [No thanks, continue cancelling] │
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└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
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```
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**Downgrade best practices:**
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- Show exactly what they keep and what they lose
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- Use checkmarks and X marks for scanability
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- Preserve their data even on the lower plan
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- If they downgrade, don't show upgrade prompts for at least 30 days
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### The Competitor Switch Handler
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When the cancel reason is "switching to competitor":
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1. **Ask which competitor** (optional, don't force it)
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2. **Show a comparison** if you have one (see competitor-alternatives skill)
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3. **Offer a migration credit** ("We'll match their price for 3 months")
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4. **Request a feedback call** ("15 minutes to understand what we're missing")
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This data is gold for product and marketing teams.
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---
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## Post-Cancel Experience
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What happens after cancel matters for:
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- Win-back potential
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- Word of mouth
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- Review sentiment
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### Confirmation Page
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```
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Your subscription has been cancelled.
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What happens next:
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• Your access continues until [billing period end date]
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• Your data will be preserved for 90 days
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• You can reactivate anytime from your account settings
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[Reactivate My Account]
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We'd love to have you back. We'll keep improving based on feedback
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from customers like you.
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```
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### Post-Cancel Sequence
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| Timing | Action |
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|--------|--------|
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| Immediately | Confirmation email with access end date |
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| Day 1 | (Nothing — don't be desperate) |
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| Day 7 | NPS/satisfaction survey about overall experience |
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| Day 30 | "What's new" email with recent improvements |
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| Day 60 | Address their specific cancel reason if resolved |
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| Day 90 | Final win-back with special offer |
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**For detailed win-back email sequences**: See the email-sequence skill.
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---
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## Segmentation Rules
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The most effective cancel flows use segmentation to show different offers to different customers.
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### Segmentation Dimensions
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| Dimension | Why It Matters |
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|-----------|---------------|
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| Plan / MRR | Higher-value customers get personal outreach |
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| Tenure | Long-term customers get more generous offers |
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| Usage level | High-usage customers get different messaging than dormant ones |
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| Billing interval | Monthly vs. annual need different approaches |
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| Previous saves | Don't re-offer the same discount to a repeat canceller |
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| Cancel reason | Drives which offer to show (core mapping) |
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### Segment-Specific Flows
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**New customer (< 30 days):**
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- They haven't activated. The save is onboarding, not discounts.
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- Offer: Free onboarding call, setup help, extended trial
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- Ask: "What were you hoping to accomplish?" (learn what's missing)
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**Engaged customer cancelling on price:**
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- They love the product but can't justify the cost.
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- Offer: Discount, annual plan switch, downgrade
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- High save potential
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**Dormant customer (no login 30+ days):**
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- They forgot about you. A discount won't bring them back.
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- Offer: Pause subscription, "what changed?" conversation
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- Low save potential — focus on learning why
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**Power user switching to competitor:**
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- They're actively choosing something else.
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- Offer: Competitive match, feedback call, roadmap preview
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- Medium save potential — depends on reason
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---
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## Implementation Checklist
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### Phase 1: Foundation (Week 1)
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- [ ] Add cancel flow (survey + 1 offer + confirmation)
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- [ ] Set up exit survey with 5-7 reason categories
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- [ ] Map one offer per reason (simple 1:1 mapping)
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- [ ] Track cancel reasons and save rate in analytics
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- [ ] Enable pre-dunning card expiry emails
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### Phase 2: Optimization (Weeks 2-4)
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- [ ] Add fallback offers (primary + secondary per reason)
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- [ ] Implement pause subscription option
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- [ ] Set up dunning email sequence (4 emails over 10 days)
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- [ ] Enable smart retries (Stripe Smart Retries or equivalent)
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- [ ] Add MRR-based routing for high-value accounts
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### Phase 3: Advanced (Month 2+)
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- [ ] Build health score from usage signals
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- [ ] Set up proactive intervention triggers
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- [ ] A/B test discount amounts and offer types
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- [ ] Segment flows by plan, tenure, and usage
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- [ ] Post-cancel win-back sequence (coordinate with email-sequence skill)
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- [ ] Cohort analysis: churn by channel, plan, tenure
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---
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## Compliance Notes
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### FTC Click-to-Cancel Rule (US)
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- Cancellation must be as easy as signup
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- Cannot require a phone call to cancel if signup was online
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- Cannot add excessive steps to discourage cancellation
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- Save offers are allowed but "continue cancelling" must be clear
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### GDPR / Data Retention (EU)
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- Inform users about data retention period post-cancel
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- Offer data export before account deletion
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- Honor deletion requests within 30 days
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- Don't use post-cancel data for marketing without consent
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### General Best Practices
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- Always show a clear path to complete cancellation
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- Never hide the cancel button (dark pattern)
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- Process cancellation even if save flow has errors
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- Confirm cancellation with email receipt
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