Dose #171: The Right Way to Use Your Cancellation Flow (Platform by Platform)

Matt here with your weekly Subscription Prescription 💊

One of the biggest places you can improve retention for your subscription program is at the point of cancellation. Working with so many brands across platforms, however, we’ve learned that you can’t always do the same things. So, in this week’s dose, we dive into four of the more popular subscription apps and share what works best for each one.

This week’s dose is also a podcast episode. Listen to us on your favorite platform:

Optimize Your Subscriptions

If you’re looking for specific guidance on how to improve your subscription program, we’re running a special through the end of September. Buy an audit and get a free cancellation flow optimization.

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It’s a 50-page document with data, observations, and recommendations. The cost is $4500, and the project takes 2-3 weeks to complete.

Plus, you’ll get a full cancel flow optimization, with better cancel treatments, copy, and content proven to save more subscribers.

🩺 Recharge, Stay AI, SKIO, and Loop all approach cancellations differently. Get the most out of each.

There’s no silver bullet when it comes to reducing churn, but if you’re not using your cancellation flow properly, you’re definitely leaving money on the table.

Most subscription brands I talk to understand that it’s important to offer options like skipping, swapping, or discounting. However, few realize how differently the implementation of those tactics can appear depending on the platform being used. I recently took time to break down the four most common subscription apps I see, Recharge, Stay AI, SKIO, and Loop, and how each handles cancellation experiences.

Here’s what you should be thinking about, based on the platform you’re on. Let’s dive in!

Recharge: Don’t sleep on testing and copy control

One of the biggest mistakes brands make with Recharge is assuming that just because the feature exists, it’s working for them. Recharge has a solid cancellation flow engine. It lets you edit copy, offer save options like delays and discounts, and set up splash screen videos from founders. But it’s only as good as the intention behind it.

What most brands overlook is that Recharge also allows for meaningful A/B testing—so if you’ve never tested gifts versus discounts, or one-time versus recurring save offers, now is the time. I always recommend trying simple tests like 50% off next order versus 25% off the next two. Recharge makes that kind of test easy to set up, and the learnings are often surprising.

They also offer AI analysis of open-ended "Other" cancellation reasons. This can help you surface common complaints or issues that might deserve a dedicated reason and treatment. If you’re not reviewing those responses regularly, you might be missing patterns that are costing you revenue.

Stay AI: Let the engine optimize for you

Stay AI takes a different approach. Instead of choosing one option for one reason, Stay uses a dynamic engine to test and optimize save actions in the background. When a winner starts to emerge, that option is shown more and more.

This means you can load multiple offers against a single cancellation reason, like delays, discounts, and support messages, and Stay will learn which performs best over time for each cancellation reason. That’s a powerful setup, especially if you don’t have the bandwidth to manually test things.

This also means you need to be deliberate. If there’s only one action you want shown for a reason, don’t load in five options. Stick with one to keep control.

You can also embed content like graphics or videos in the portal, which can reinforce the message and help with education. I’ve seen brands use these spaces to great effect, especially when the cancellation reason has to do with doubts about product effectiveness.

SKIO: Front-load the save before the cancellation begins

What I appreciate about SKIO is how flexible it is in letting you present save options before someone even picks a reason. This is a big opportunity most brands miss.

You can prompt a skip or pause action right after someone clicks “Cancel,” even before they ever say why. Sometimes just presenting the idea of skipping is enough to change their behavior. I’ve seen brands double their save rates just by leading with this kind of proactive prompt.

SKIO also gives you tools like sub-reasons, which let you go deeper on generic options like “I’m not using it anymore” by branching into more specific paths. And unlike most other platforms, you can show multiple save actions - like offering a discount, skip, and a gift - under the same reason. That flexibility really matters because not everyone will respond to the same incentive.

If you want to be even more aggressive, you can show a save offer at the very end of the flow to try one last time before the cancellation finalizes.

Loop Subscriptions: Deeper analytics, smarter decisions

Loop has taken the analytics side of the cancellation flow further than most. They break things down into treatments, offers, and benefits pages. This matters more than it sounds.

For example, you might discover that offering a delay works better than a discount when someone says they have too much product, but a discount works better for someone who thinks the price is too high. Most platforms don’t let you track the effectiveness of those actions independently, but Loop does.

They also track what happens after a save—how many additional subscription orders come in after a discount or delay. That extra layer of insight helps you figure out which saves are actually worth it, not just which ones work in the moment.

Like others, Loop gives you the flexibility to embed graphics, change content based on reason, and, similar to SKIO, show multiple actions at once. But it’s the analytics layer that sets them apart. If you like to make decisions based on real outcomes, Loop gives you more to work with.

Cancellation flows aren’t something you should obsess over daily, but they do deserve your attention once or twice a month. Review performance. Launch a test. Swap a piece of copy or update a reason. These are small moves that can yield big retention gains over time.

If you're on Recharge, Stay, SKIO, or Loop and want to discuss how to tailor your flow to better fit your brand, I’m happy to help.

Until next Tuesday, that’s your Subscription Prescription. 💊

 - Matt Holman 🩺

The Subscription Doc