Show people how to get out before you ask them to get in. When shoppers hesitate over a subscription, they worry less about what it costs than about what they'll have to do the day they want to stop, and how long they'll spend on the phone to manage it.
The benchmark
Alongside your sign-up rate, track the share of subscribers who are still active after the third delivery. A high sign-up rate followed by a wave of cancellations in month two points to a subscription people didn't understand. Each of those departures cost you a discount and earned you no loyalty.
The calculation takes a few minutes in your subscription app: take the people who signed up three months ago, and count those whose third order shipped.
In our view, the averages published by app vendors mix categories that are too different to serve as a benchmark, so compare yourself to yourself, from one sign-up month to the next.
A sentence to say to your leadership:
"Our subscription rate counts entries. I suggest we also track, every month, the share of subscribers still active at the third delivery."
The rule
Next to the button, three pieces of information are enough: the frequency, the savings per delivery in euros, and a sentence saying people can pause, reschedule or cancel online at any time.
That last sentence also reflects a legal requirement. Since June 1, 2023, a contract that can be signed online must be cancellable online, through a free function labeled "cancel your contract" or an equally clear wording, and directly accessible from the interface.
The administrative fine can reach €75,000 for a company. Putting it front and center next to the button means announcing what you already have to do, at the very moment it reassures people.
The steps
- The comparison. One-time purchase and subscription appear side by side, each with its price.
- The default frequency. It follows actual consumption: a jar that lasts six weeks calls for a delivery every six weeks.
- The skip. People can skip a delivery from the reminder email in one click.
- The reminder. It goes out a few days before each charge, with the date and the amount.
- The cancellation. It happens online, without calling anyone.
Step 3 deserves a closer look. Someone who still has two packs in their cupboard wants to take a month off.
If the reminder email only offers "manage my subscription" and the page that opens highlights the cancel button, they cancel, when a "delay my next delivery" link would have kept them.
The trap
Preselecting the subscription. You'll gain sign-ups, then customers surprised by a second charge, bank disputes and furious reviews.
The DGCCRF, France's consumer protection authority, lists preselecting a paid option by default among the practices it considers unlawful, and the Consumer Code requires explicit consent for any payment added to the price of the main purchase. We read a preselected subscription on a product page as very close to that case, even if no text names it explicitly.
A subscription chosen with full knowledge lasts longer than one discovered on a bank statement.
