I cancelled my Calm membership. Here’s all the emails they sent me

A lesson in what not to do with CRM strategy and monetisation

I used to love Calm. It’s no secret that working in tech can be stressful-as-hell. I’ve had panic attacks, I’ve been in tears, I’ve lost weight from stress.

In those moments, I used to turn to Calm. I’d pick up my phone, open the app and make a beeline to my favourite SOS sessions. I’d listen to bitesized meditations to calm me down.

Now, I’m in a better place. I feel happy and healthy, no more panic attacks or high stress levels. I manage my own time and clients — its bliss.

So, without the need for my painkiller — the Calm app — I cancelled my membership.

In the six months since, Calm proceeded to send me an email series to try and get me back into the app as a paying subscriber. I got discounts, web flows, free content, GIFs. Did it work? Well, let’s see.

We’ll go through the wild rollercoaster of a ride of Calm’s churner CRM series, and how they try and coax users back into the app with big discounts and web monetisation.

Day 0 of my cancellation: the standard confirmation

On the day I cancelled, I received a confirmation email from Calm. Its a basic moment, but some apps just leave it to Apple/Google to confirm you’ve cancelled.

Its 1000X better to send a bespoke email, as you create a lasting relationship with the user. Some users may plan to resubscribe later, so having a solid churn CRM strategy is key. That’s also why the option to pause a membership is also a nice touch.

My cancellation email from Calm: a missed opportunity.

What I don’t like is how generic it is. How many times have I read ‘we’re sorry to see you go’ on an off-boarding flow? Too many.

Calm missed an opportunity here.

I’ve churned in a good way — positive churn. Positive churn is when users reach a level where they don’t need the product anymore. For instance, in dating, if someone finds a partner through a…