Churn Prevention

# Cancel Flow Patterns

Detailed cancel flow patterns by business type, billing provider, and industry.

---

## Cancel Flow by Business Type

### B2C / Self-Serve SaaS

High volume, low touch. The flow must work without human intervention.

**Flow structure:**
```
Cancel button → Exit survey (1 question) → Dynamic offer → Confirm → Post-cancel
```

**Characteristics:**
- Fully automated, no human in the loop
- Quick — 2-3 screens maximum
- One offer + one fallback, not a menu of options
- Mobile-optimized (significant cancellations on mobile)
- Clear "continue cancelling" at every step

**Typical save rate:** 20-30%

**Example flow for a $29/mo productivity app:**
1. "What's the main reason?" → 6 options
2. Selected "Too expensive" → "Get 25% off for 3 months (save $21.75)"
3. Declined → "Or switch to our Starter plan at $12/mo"
4. Declined → "We're sorry to see you go. Your access continues until [date]."

---

### B2B / Team Plans

Lower volume, higher stakes. Personal outreach is worth the cost.

**Flow structure:**
```
Cancel button → Exit survey → Offer (or route to CS) → Confirm → Post-cancel
```

**Characteristics:**
- Route accounts above MRR threshold to customer success
- Show team impact ("Your 8 team members will lose access")
- Offer admin-to-admin call for enterprise accounts
- Longer consideration — allow "schedule a call" as a save option
- Require admin/owner role to cancel (not any team member)

**Typical save rate:** 30-45% (higher because of personal touch)

**MRR-based routing:**

| Account MRR | Cancel Flow |
|-------------|-------------|
| <$100/mo | Automated flow with offers |
| $100-$500/mo | Automated + flag for CS follow-up |
| $500-$2,000/mo | Route to CS before cancel completes |
| $2,000+/mo | Block self-serve cancel, require CS call |

---

### Freemium / Free-to-Paid

Users cancelling paid to return to free tier. Different psychology — they're not leaving, they're downgrading.

**Flow structure:**
```
Cancel button → "Switch to Free?" prompt → Exit survey (if still cancelling) → Offer → Confirm
```

**Characteristics:**
- Lead with the free tier as the first option (not a save offer)
- Show what they keep on free vs. what they lose
- The "save" is keeping them on free, not losing them entirely
- Track free-tier users for future re-upgrade campaigns

---

## Cancel Flow by Billing Interval

### Monthly Subscribers

- More price-sensitive, shorter commitment
- Discount offers work well (20-30% for 2-3 months)
- Pause is effective (1-2 months)
- Suggest annual plan at a discount as an alternative

**Offer priority:**
1. Discount (if reason = price)
2. Pause (if reason = not using / temporary)
3. Annual plan switch (if engaged but price-sensitive)

### Annual Subscribers

- Higher commitment, often cancelling for stronger reasons
- Prorate refund expectations matter
- Longer save window (they've already paid)
- Personal outreach more justified (higher LTV at stake)

**Offer priority:**
1. Pause remainder of term (if temporary)
2. Plan adjustment + credit for next renewal
3. Personal outreach from CS
4. Partial refund + downgrade (better than full refund + cancel)

**Refund handling:**
- Offer prorated refund if significant time remaining
- "Pause until renewal" if less than 3 months left
- Be generous — bad refund experiences create vocal detractors

---

## Save Offer Patterns

### The Discount Ladder

Don't lead with your biggest discount. Escalate:

```
Cancel click → 15% off → Still cancelling → 25% off → Still cancelling → Let them go
```

**Rules:**
- Maximum 2 discount offers per cancel session
- Never exceed 30% (higher trains cancel-for-discount behavior)
- Time-limit discounts (2-3 months, then full price resumes)
- Track discount accepters — if they cancel again at full price, don't re-offer

### The Pause Playbook

Pause is often better than a discount because it doesn't devalue your product.

**Implementation:**

| Setting | Recommendation |
|---------|---------------|
| Pause duratio