Increase retention by adapting your cancel experience to each subscriber. Personalized Cancel Flows ask why someone is leaving first, then respond with the save tactic most likely to keep them: a skip when they have too much product, a discount when price is the problem. Fully self-serve, no developer needed.
In this guide, we'll go through what you'll need, what your subscribers see, and how to build and publish your first flow.
Note: Personalized Cancel Flows are currently in Early Access. Please reach out to your Customer Success Manager if you'd like to join; participation helps our team gather live feedback to improve the feature before its general release.
Requirements
- You use Ordergroove's Subscription Manager, with a theme you manage under Subscriptions > Subscription Manager. Cancel flows aren't available in headless implementations yet.
- Supported subscriber-facing languages are English, French, and Spanish.
- If your legal team has given you specific requirements for your store's cancellation experience, share those details with your Customer Success Manager before you publish.
There's no minimum Subscription Manager version, and no restriction on your eCommerce platform. Shopify, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, or something custom — all that matters is that your subscribers manage their subscriptions in Ordergroove's Subscription Manager.
How Personalized Cancel Flows Work
A cancel flow is built from three pieces:
- A cancel survey. Your subscriber is asked why they're leaving before any save tactic is shown.
- A save tactic for each reason. Every reason in your survey is paired with one save tactic, so what you offer always responds to what your subscriber just told you.
- A backup save tactic. If the paired tactic can't be applied, the backup is shown instead, so your subscriber never reaches a dead end.
Only one cancel flow is live at a time. Everything else is kept as a draft or in your history.
What Your Subscribers See
- Your subscriber clicks Cancel Subscription in the Subscription Manager and confirms they'd like to continue.
- The cancel survey opens. Reasons are listed in randomized order, apart from your write-in option, which is always shown last.
- Based on the reason they select, they see the save tactic you paired with it.
- If that tactic can't be applied to them, they see your backup save tactic instead.
- If they continue without selecting a reason, they see the tactic you configured for No reason selected.
- If they decline the offer, the cancellation is completed.
Note: Subscribers can always continue to cancel without answering the survey. That path is intentional and can't be removed.
Save Tactics Available
Each reason in your survey is paired with one of the following:
| Save Tactic | What Your Subscriber Is Offered | Depends On |
|---|---|---|
| Skip Order | Skip the next order instead of cancelling. The following order ships on their normal frequency. | — |
| Pause Subscription | Pause for a period instead of cancelling. | — |
| Discount | A one-time retention discount applied to the next order of the subscription they were cancelling. | A published Retention Incentive, and subscriber eligibility |
| Swap Product | Switch to a different product instead of cancelling. | A configured SKU Swap group |
| Benefits Reminder | A reminder of the value they're already getting as a subscriber. | — |
| Custom Content | A custom screen with your own message and image. | Content you supply |
Discount and Swap Product both depend on conditions outside the flow, which makes them the two most likely to fall through to your backup tactic. Benefits Reminder has no dependencies at all, which is what makes it a reliable backup.
Setting Up a Retention Discount
The Discount tactic pulls from a Retention Incentive in Flex Incentives, and Ordergroove runs an eligibility check on each subscriber before showing it.
- Open up Ordergroove and go to Subscriptions > Flex Incentives.
- Click + Create Incentive > On-Demand Incentive > Retention Incentive.
- Give your incentive a Name, then set the discount Amount and Type (% or $).
- Configure your eligibility rules.
- Click Publish.
Eligibility rules are worth understanding before you launch, because they control how often a subscriber can claim a discount and whether brand-new subscribers see one at all. For a full walkthrough of the day-based and order-based cooldown rules, take a look at Retention Discounts.
What's Configured Out of the Box
Every new cancel flow starts from a complete default configuration. You can publish it exactly as it is, or adjust any part of it.
Your default survey opens with Could you tell us why you are canceling?, followed by Your feedback helps us improve your subscription experience. Seven reasons are paired with save tactics as follows:
| Default Reason | Save Tactic |
|---|---|
| I have too much of this product | Skip Order |
| It's too expensive for me | Discount |
| I didn't like this product | Swap Product |
| I prefer a different brand's product | Discount |
| I only wanted the intro offer for subscribing | Discount |
| I no longer use this product | Pause Subscription |
| It was something else | Discount |
Two more entries round out the default configuration:
- No reason selected is paired with Benefits Reminder. This isn't a reason your subscribers can pick. It's what they see if they continue past the survey without choosing anything.
- Backup Save Tactic is set to Benefits Reminder, which covers any subscriber whose paired tactic can't be applied.
A few things worth noting about the defaults:
- Discount does most of the work. Four of the seven reasons lead to a retention discount, so publishing the defaults without a published Retention Incentive means a lot of your subscribers will fall through to the Benefits Reminder instead. Set your discount up first.
- "It was something else" is always shown last, no matter how the other reasons get shuffled.
- Custom Content isn't used by default. If you want it, you'll need to add it to a reason yourself.
Updating Your Subscription Manager Theme
Before you can publish a cancel flow, your live Subscription Manager theme needs to support cancel flows. Publishing stays unavailable until it does, so this is worth sorting out first.
If an update is needed, you'll see a Subscription Manager theme update required banner at the top of the Cancel Flows tab.
- Open up Ordergroove and go to Subscriptions > Subscription Manager > Cancel Flows.
- Click Update Theme in the banner.
In most cases that's all there is to it. If your Subscription Manager is using an earlier theme (v0) or has code customizations that prevent an automatic update, you'll need a developer or technical resource to apply the changes. Take a look at How to Upgrade your Subscription Manager for those steps.
Your cancel flow also inherits its styling from your Subscription Manager theme, so your existing branding carries over with nothing to configure separately.
Note: Because publishing is gated on your theme, the dates under Previously Active always reflect when a flow was genuinely live to your subscribers.
Building Your First Cancel Flow
Ordergroove ships a complete default configuration, with reasons and save tactics already paired for you. You can publish it as it is, or adjust the pieces you'd like to change.
1 - Create Your Flow
- Open up Ordergroove and go to Subscriptions > Subscription Manager.
- Click the Cancel Flows tab.
- Click Create Flow.
- Click the pencil icon next to the flow name to rename it. Give it a name you'll recognize later, like Fall 2026 - discount led.
2 - Choose Your Language
Use the locale selector at the top of Cancel Flow Settings to choose which language you're writing copy for. If you serve subscribers in more than one supported language, switch locales and enter your copy again for each one.
Subscribers in any other language see your English copy, so it's worth making sure your en-US version reads well for a general audience.
3 - Edit Your Survey Copy
Click Cancel Survey Copy to edit the heading and supporting text your subscribers see when the survey opens. This is your framing, so keep it short and human.
4 - Review Your Reasons and Save Tactics
Under Cancel Survey Reasons, you'll see each reason paired with its save tactic. Click any reason to open it up, where you can set:
- Analytics category - the reporting bucket this reason rolls up to in Analytics. Pick the category that genuinely matches the reason, because this is what your charts are built on.
- Reason displayed to customers - the wording your subscribers actually read. Change this freely to match your brand voice.
- Save tactic - the offer paired with this reason.
Because the analytics category and the customer-facing text are separate fields, you can rewrite your copy however you like without affecting your reporting. Do keep the meaning of the two aligned, though, or your charts will tell you the wrong story. For more on how cancel reasons roll up into reporting, take a look at Subscriptions Cancel Reasons.
To change the copy on the save tactic screen itself, click Customize Copy. Until you do, the tactic will show Using default template. Click Preview to see that tactic the way a subscriber would.
5 - Add or Remove Reasons
- To add a reason, click + Add Reason, choose its analytics category, write the customer-facing text, and pair it with a save tactic.
- To remove a reason, open it up and click the trash icon.
We recommend keeping your list short. A long survey is harder to read, and it splits your data across categories too thinly to act on. Five to eight reasons that reflect why your subscribers actually leave will serve you better than a comprehensive list.
6 - Set Your Backup Save Tactic
Under If save tactic can't be applied…, choose a Backup Save Tactic. This is what your subscriber sees when their paired tactic isn't available, such as when they aren't eligible for a discount or their product has no swap options.
We recommend Benefits Reminder here, since it applies to every subscriber in every situation.
7 - Set Your "No Reason Selected" Tactic
No reason selected covers subscribers who continue past the survey without choosing a reason. Pair it with a tactic that doesn't depend on knowing why they're leaving, for example Benefits Reminder or Pause Subscription.
8 - Check Your Work Before Going Live
Use the preview panel to the right of your settings to click through the flow the way a subscriber would. Select different reasons and use Return to Survey to step back and try another path.
Test every reason before you publish. Because each one leads somewhere different, a single pass through the flow only shows you one branch of it.
If you want to see how the cancel flow looks on your Subscription Manager, you can use the Preview button in the top menu bar. We recommend taking a look first to double check the styling matches your store.
9 - Go Live
Click Save Draft to keep your work without going live. When you're ready, click the triple dots next to your flow on the Cancel Flows landing page and publish. If publishing isn't available, your live theme needs updating first — see Updating Your Subscription Manager Theme above.
Your newly published flow becomes your Live flow, and the flow it replaced moves to Previously Active.
Managing Your Flows
The Cancel Flows tab organizes your work into three groups:
- Live flow - the flow your subscribers see right now, along with the date it was published.
- Previously Active - your history, showing each flow that was live and the dates it ran. This is useful for tying a change in your retention numbers back to a specific flow.
- Drafts - everything saved but not published, with the date each was last modified.
Editing a Live Flow
You can't edit a flow while it's live. To make changes to your live flow:
- Click the triple dots next to your live flow and duplicate it.
- Make your changes in the copy.
- Publish the copy. It replaces the original as your live flow.
Turning Cancel Flows Off
Click the triple dots next to your live flow and disable it. Your subscribers return to your previous cancel experience, and personalized cancel flows stop running until you publish another one.
Measuring Performance
Open up Ordergroove and go to Analytics > Retention & Churn > Cancel Flow to see which reasons your subscribers select, which save tactics are keeping them, and what happens to their subscriptions afterward.
Your reporting is built on the analytics category assigned to each reason rather than the customer-facing text, so your data stays consistent even after you rewrite your copy.
For a full walkthrough of the charts and how to troubleshoot missing data, take a look at Cancel Flow Analytics.
Best Practices
- Start with the defaults. Every reason is already paired with a tactic that corresponds to it, so publishing the defaults gives you a working flow and a baseline to measure against. Down the line adjust based on your own data rather than guessing up front.
- Match the tactic to the objection. Relevance is the whole point of this experience. Offering a discount to a subscriber who just told you they have too much product spends margin on a problem a skip would have solved.
- Use Benefits Reminder or Pause as your backup. They're the only two tactics with no eligibility or configuration dependency, so they can't fail to display.
- Set up your retention discount before you publish. If you pair reasons with Discount but haven't published a Retention Incentive, those subscribers will fall through to your backup tactic instead.
- Rewrite the reason copy in your own voice. The default text is deliberately neutral. Your subscribers respond better to language that sounds like your brand.
- Give it time before you change it. Cancellation is a low-volume event compared to the rest of your program. Let enough subscribers move through the flow to draw a real conclusion before you start editing.
FAQ
Do I need a developer to set this up?
No. Building and publishing a cancel flow is fully self-serve. The one exception is updating your Subscription Manager theme, which may need a technical resource if your theme has code customizations that block an automatic update.
Can I edit my live flow?
Not currently. Duplicate your live flow, make your changes in the copy, and publish it to replace the original.
Why can't I publish my cancel flow?
Your live Subscription Manager theme most likely needs updating first. Check the Cancel Flows tab for the Subscription Manager theme update required banner. Publishing stays unavailable until your live theme supports cancel flows.
What happens to my existing cancel flow when I publish a personalized one?
Your personalized flow takes over automatically, with nothing to turn off.
If you want to go back, disable your live flow and subscribers return to your previous cancel experience. Your Subscription Manager's theme will remain updated and ready for you to enable Personalized Cancel flows again.
Why is a subscriber seeing the Benefits Reminder instead of the discount I configured?
They weren't eligible for the retention discount, so your backup save tactic was shown instead. Discount eligibility is controlled by the rules on your Retention Incentive in Flex Incentives.
Why don't my subscribers see the swap option?
Swap Product only appears when the product being cancelled belongs to a configured SKU Swap group. If it doesn't, your backup save tactic is shown instead.
Can I change the reasons my subscribers see?
Yes. Edit the Reason displayed to customers field on any reason. The Analytics category stays as it is, so your reporting isn't affected.
Can I control the order the reasons appear in?
No. Reasons are shown in randomized order so your data isn't biased toward whatever sits at the top of the list. Your write-in option is always shown last.
Can I use Personalized Cancel Flows with a headless implementation?
Not yet. Support for a headless Subscription Manager is planned for a future release.
What is the Custom Content save tactic for?
The other save tactics all make an offer that changes something about the subscription, like a skip, a pause, or a discount. Custom Content lets you show your own screen instead, with your own heading, message in plain text, and either an image or a YouTube video.
You can use it to point customers to your support team, explain a product change, or remind them of something specific to your brand or perks of their subscription. Custom Content isn't used in the default configuration, so you'll need to add it to a reason yourself.
What happens if a subscriber's language isn't English, French, or Spanish?
They'll see your English (en-US) copy. Cancel flows can be written in English, French, and Spanish, and subscribers in any other language fall back to English.
Can I change how my cancel flow looks?
Your cancel flow inherits its styling from your Subscription Manager theme, so your colors, fonts, and buttons carry across automatically. To change how it looks, edit your Subscription Manager theme and the cancel flow follows. Copy is separate — you edit that in the flow itself with Customize Copy.
Related Resources
- Cancel Flow Analytics - a full walkthrough of your cancel flow charts and how to troubleshoot missing data
- How to Upgrade your Subscription Manager - how to update your theme when an automatic update isn't possible
- Customer Actions in the Subscription Manager - everything your subscribers can do from the Subscription Manager, cancellation included
- Subscriptions Cancel Reasons - how cancel reasons roll up into your reporting
- Early Access Program - how Early Access works and how to join
Features in Early Access are supported directly by Ordergroove's product team. If you have questions about functionality or getting set up, reach out to your Customer Success Manager, or contact Ordergroove Support. We'll be happy to help and make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible.