Keep customers who find your online subscription too expensive with better UX

Learning from audible’s negotiation tactics in their cancellation flow to reduce churn.

Recently I attempted to cancel an Audible membership that renewed automatically after a free trial. Before online subscriptions, the process of cancelling a service will usually involve a call centre, getting asked some some questions by the customer support team, then being transferred to the accounts or sales department. At this point a more savvy employee will find a way to keep you on, usually by offering you extra services or discounts that are often enough to keep you on until the next time something irritates or you notice a better deal elsewhere.

These offers work because customers rely on their emotional experiences with salespeople more than any of the traditional factors, according to research by the Peppers & Rogers Group, which showed that:

• 60% of all customers stop dealing with a company because of what they perceive as indifference on the part of salespeople
• 70% of customers leave a company because of poor service, which is usually attributed to a salesperson
• 80% of defecting customers describe themselves as “satisfied” or “very satisfied” just before they leave, and
• Customers who feel their salespeople are exceptional are 10 to 15 times more likely to remain loyal.

Today it’s becoming less common to see such offers happen because so many of our services have moved online. This is where my experience with Audible flips that formula on its head. They convinced me to remain a customer through clever and subtle tactics in the UX of their cancellation, mimicking the most important attribute of a good salesperson: Negotiation. In this case, we’ll be looking at price negotiation specifically as that was my problem with the service.

Anticipating the cancellation before it even happens

Starting from the membership details page in my account settings, before I’ve even started to cancel my account, three important details begin dissuading me from proceeding:

1. Subtle placement of the…