Churn Prevention

What This Skill Does

This skill helps SaaS businesses reduce customer churn, both voluntary and involuntary, through optimized cancel flows, targeted save offers, and payment recovery strategies. It designs and optimizes cancel flows to retain customers and sets up dunning processes to recover failed payments. It is useful for customer success, marketing, and finance teams focused on improving retention.

When to Use

Build a new cancel flow from scratch. Optimize an existing cancel flow for higher save rates. Set up dunning processes for involuntary churn. Design targeted save offers to retain customers. Collect and analyze exit reasons from canceling customers. Improve payment recovery rates.

Key Features

Addresses both voluntary and involuntary churn. Provides guidance on cancel flow design. Helps set up dunning processes for payment recovery. Offers strategies for targeted save offers. Gathers context on current state, business, and goals. Works with various payment processors.

Before Starting

Check for context first: If marketing-context.md exists, read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for what's missing.

Gather this context (ask if not provided):

1. Current State

Do you have a cancel flow today, or is cancellation instant/via support? What's your current monthly churn rate? (voluntary vs. involuntary split if known) What payment processor are you on? (Stripe, Braintree, Paddle, etc.) Do you collect exit reasons today?

2. Business Context

SaaS model: self-serve or sales-assisted? Price points and plan structure Average contract length and billing cycle (monthly/annual) Current MRR

3. Goals

Which problem is primary: too many cancellations, or failed payment churn? Do you have a save offer budget (discounts, extensions)? Any constraints on cancel flow friction? (some platforms penalize dark patterns)

How This Skill Works

Mode 1: Build Cancel Flow

Starting from scratch — no cancel flow exists, or cancellation is immediate. We'll design the full flow from trigger to post-cancel.

Mode 2: Optimize Existing Flow

You have a cancel flow but save rates are low or you're not capturing good exit data. We'll audit what's there, identify the gaps, and rebuild what's underperforming.

Mode 3: Set Up Dunning

Involuntary churn from failed payments is your priority. We'll build the retry logic, notification sequence, and recovery emails.

Cancel Flow Design

A cancel flow is not a dark pattern — it's a structured conversation. The goal is to understand why they're leaving and offer something genuinely useful. If they still want to cancel, let them.

The 5-Stage Flow

[Cancel Trigger] → [Exit Survey] → [Dynamic Save Offer] → [Confirmation] → [Post-Cancel]

Stage 1 — Cancel Trigger Show cancel option clearly (no hiding it — dark patterns burn trust) At the moment they click cancel, begin the flow — don't take them to a dead-end form Mobile: make this work on touch

Stage 2 — Exit Survey (1 question, required) Ask ONE question: "What's the main reason you're cancelling?" Keep it multiple choice (6-8 reasons max) — open text is optional, not required This answer drives the save offer — it must be collected before showing the offer

Stage 3 — Dynamic Save Offer Match the offer to the reason (see Exit Survey → Save Offer Mapping below) Don't show a generic discount — it signals your pricing was fake One offer per attempt. If they decline, let them cancel.

Stage 4 — Confirmation Clear summary of what happens when they cancel (access, data, billing) Explicit confirmation button — "Yes, cancel my account" No pre-checked boxes, no confusing language

Stage 5 — Post-Cancel Immediate confirmation email with: cancellation date, data retention policy, reactivation link 7-day re-engagement email: single CTA, no pressure, reactivation link 30-day win-back if warranted (product update or relevant offer)

Exit Survey Design

The survey is your most valuable data source. Design it to generate usable intelligence, not just categories.

Recommended Reason Categories

Implementation rule: Each reason must map to exactly one save offer type. Ambiguous mapping = generic offer = low save rate.

Save Offer Playbook

Match the offer to the reason. Each offer type has a right and wrong time to use it.

Offer presentation rules: One clear headline: "Before you go — [offer]" Quantify the value: "Save $X" not "Get a discount" No countdown timers unless it's genuinely expiring Clear CTA: "Claim this offer" vs. "Continue cancelling"

See references/cancel-flow-playbook.md for full decision trees and flow templates.

Involuntary Churn: Dunning Setup

Failed payments cause 20-40% of total churn at most SaaS companies. Most of it is recoverable.

Recovery Stack

1. Smart Retry Logic Don't retry immediately — failed cards often recover within 3-7 days: Retry 1: 3 days after failure (most recoveries happen here) Retry 2: 5 days after retry 1 Retry 3: 7 days after retry 2 Final: 3 days after retry 3, then cancel

2. Card Updater Services Stripe: Account Updater (automatic, enabled by default in most plans) Braintree: Account Updater (must enable) These update expired/replaced cards before the next charge — use them

3. Dunning Email Sequence

Email rules: Subject lines: specific over vague ("Your [Product] payment failed" not "Action required") No guilt. No shame. Card failures happen — treat customers like adults. Every email links directly to the payment update page — not the dashboard

See references/dunning-guide.md for full email sequences and retry configuration examples.

Metrics & Benchmarks

Track these weekly, review monthly: