claude-skills-reference/marketing-skill/churn-prevention/references/cancel-flow-playbook.md

Cancel Flow Playbook

Complete reference for designing, building, and auditing cancel flows.

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The Cancel Flow Decision Tree

Customer clicks "Cancel" or "Cancel Subscription"
         │
         ▼
   [Show Exit Survey]
   "What's the main reason you're cancelling?"
         │
    ┌────┴─────────────────────────────────────────┐
    │                                               │
 Price/Value                              Other Reasons
    │                                               │
    ▼                                               ▼
Discount offer                        Match to reason category
(1-3 month, 20-30%)                   (see mapping table)
    │                                               │
    ▼                                               ▼
[Accept?]──Yes──► Charge updated    [Accept?]──Yes──► Apply offer
    │                                    │
    No                                   No
    │                                    │
    ▼                                    ▼
[Confirm Cancel]                    [Confirm Cancel]
    │                                    │
    ▼                                    ▼
[Post-cancel page + email]          [Post-cancel page + email]

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Stage-by-Stage Templates

Stage 1: Pre-Cancel Intercept

When triggered: User lands on cancel/subscription page, clicks "Cancel plan", or navigates to billing settings.

What to show: Brief value reminder (not a wall of guilt) + "Tell us why" framing.

Copy template:

Headline: Before you go, we want to understand
Body: Your feedback helps us improve. Take 30 seconds to tell us why 
      you're cancelling — and we might have a solution you haven't tried.
CTA: Continue to cancellation →

Rules:

• Don't block the cancel path
• Don't show this more than once per session
• Mobile: single screen, no scrolling required

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Stage 2: Exit Survey

Design specs:

• Single question, required
• Radio buttons (not checkboxes)
• 6-8 options maximum
• Optional open text at bottom: "Anything else we should know?"
• Submit advances to Stage 3 — don't show offer yet

Copy template:

What's the main reason you're cancelling?

○ It's too expensive for what I get
○ I'm not using it enough to justify the cost
○ It's missing a feature I need
○ I'm switching to a different tool
○ My project or need ended
○ It's too complicated or hard to use
○ I was just testing it out
○ Other: [text field]

[Continue →]

Data capture: Store the reason against the customer record. This is your product feedback goldmine.

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Stage 3: Dynamic Save Offer

Offer-to-reason mapping (full):

Selected Reason	Primary Offer	Secondary (if declined)	Skip Offer
Too expensive	30% off for 3 months	Downgrade plan	—
Not using it enough	1-month pause	Usage coaching call	—
Missing a feature	Feature roadmap share + workaround	Human support call	If feature genuinely doesn't exist and won't exist soon
Switching to competitor	Competitive comparison one-pager	—	If they've clearly made the decision
Project ended	2-month pause	—	—
Too complicated	Free onboarding session	1:1 support call	—
Just testing	—	—	Always skip — wrong fit, let them go
Other	Human support call	—	—

Offer presentation template:

[For price objection:]
Headline: Keep [Product] for less
Body: We'd hate to see you go over price. Here's what we can do:
      Get 30% off your next 3 months — that's [calculated dollar amount] saved.
      After 3 months, your plan returns to [original price].
CTA (accept): Claim my discount →
CTA (decline): No thanks, continue cancelling →

[For not using it enough:]
Headline: No charge for 60 days — pause your account
Body: Life gets busy. Put [Product] on hold for up to 60 days. 
      Your data stays intact, and you can resume any time. No charge during pause.
CTA (accept): Pause my account →
CTA (decline): No thanks, continue cancelling →

Offer rules:

• One offer per cancel attempt — never show multiple
• If they decline, go straight to Stage 4
• Don't re-show the same offer if they return to cancel within 30 days
• Track which offer was shown and whether it was accepted

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Stage 4: Cancellation Confirmation

What to include:

• Explicit confirmation of what will happen
• Access end date (specific date, not "end of billing period")
• Data retention policy (how long data is kept)
• Support contact in case they change their mind
• Confirmation button with clear copy

Copy template:

Your subscription will be cancelled.

Here's what happens next:
• Access continues until [specific date]
• Your data is retained for 90 days after cancellation
• After 90 days, your account data is deleted
• You can reactivate any time before [90-day date]

If you change your mind, contact [email] or reactivate at [reactivation URL].

[Confirm Cancellation]    [Go back]

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Stage 5: Post-Cancel Sequence

Immediate: Cancellation Confirmation Email

Subject: Your [Product] subscription has been cancelled

Hi [Name],

Your [Product] subscription has been cancelled as requested.

What happens next:
- Access continues until [date]
- Your data is saved for 90 days (until [date])
- To reactivate, visit: [reactivation link]

If this was a mistake or you have questions, reply to this email or visit [support link].

[Product] Team

Day 7: Re-engagement Email

Subject: Your [Product] account is still here

Hi [Name],

It's been a week since you cancelled. Your account and data are still intact 
until [date].

If anything changed, you can reactivate in one click — no re-setup required.

[Reactivate my account →]

No pressure — just wanted to make sure you knew the door's open.

[Product] Team

Day 30: Win-Back Email (send only if triggered by product update or relevant offer)

Subject: [Product] update: [specific feature they mentioned or relevant improvement]

Hi [Name],

Since you left, we shipped [specific update relevant to their cancel reason].
[2-3 sentence description of what changed.]

If [their specific problem] was why you left, it might be worth another look.

[See what's new →]    or    [Reactivate →]

[Product] Team

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Cancel Flow Audit Scorecard

Rate your existing flow on each dimension (0-10):

Dimension	0 pts	5 pts	10 pts
Accessibility	Cancel requires support ticket	Cancel in settings, but buried	Cancel clearly visible in billing settings
Exit survey	None	Optional, multi-question	Required, single question, maps to offers
Save offers	None or generic discount	Offers exist but not mapped	Offers matched to exit reasons
Confirmation clarity	Confusing terms	Mentions access end date	Clear date, data policy, reactivation path
Post-cancel sequence	Nothing	One generic email	Immediate confirmation + 7-day re-engagement
Dunning	None	Basic retry only	Retry + email sequence + card updater
Analytics	No tracking	Basic cancellation count	Reason tracking, save rate, recovery rate

Score interpretation:

• 60-70: Solid foundation. Fix the 0-5 rated dimensions.
• 40-59: Material revenue leaking. Prioritize survey + offer mapping.
• <40: Major opportunity. Build from scratch using this playbook.

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Platform Implementation Notes

Stripe

• Use Customer Portal for cancel flow (customizable via Stripe Dashboard)
• Enable Stripe Billing webhooks: customer.subscription.deleted, invoice.payment_failed
• Stripe Radar helps filter bot-initiated failures from real card failures
• Account Updater: enabled by default on most plans — verify in Dashboard > Settings

Chargebee / Recurly

• Both have native cancel flow builders with reason collection
• Dunning sequences configurable in-product
• Connect to your email provider (Intercom, Customer.io, etc.) via webhook

Custom / Homegrown Billing

• Build cancel flow as a separate route (not inline in settings)
• Store cancel_reason, save_offer_shown, save_offer_accepted per customer
• Retry logic: implement as a background job with delay queue